CSS Fanny was a small propellor-driven steamer used by the Confederate Navy to defend the sounds of northeastern North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. Originally operated by the Union, she was captured early in the war by the Confederate Navy, and later lost at the battle for Elizabeth City. Fanny is sometimes credited with being the first self-propelled aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

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Union Service

The Fanny was originally operated by the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. On August 3, 1861, while on the James River

James River (Virginia)

The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...

, ballonist

Balloon (aircraft)

A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....

 John La Mountain

John La Mountain

John LaMountain was a ballooning pioneer. He was privately contracted as an aerial observer by General Butler at Fortress Monroe during the American Civil War and is accredited with having made the first report of useful intelligence on enemy activity...

 made an ascent from the deck of the Fanny to observe Confederate positions, making the Fanny a balloon carrier

Balloon carrier

A balloon carrier or balloon tender was a ship equipped with a balloon, usually tied to the ship by a rope or cable, and usually used for observation. During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, these ships were built to have the furthest possible view of the...

. Previous water-launched balloon flights had taken place on barges.

Capture & Confederate Service

After the Federals captured Hatteras Inlet

Hatteras Inlet

Hatteras Inlet is a estuary in North Carolina, located along the Outer Banks, separating Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island. It connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pamlico Sound. Hatteras Inlet is located entirely within Hyde County.- History :...

 the Fanny was used to supply a Union army outpost at Chicamacomico, an Outer Banks

Outer Banks

The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....

 settlement north of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. While at anchor there it was surprised by a Confederate gunboat squadron on 1 October 1861. This squadron consisted of the CSS Curlew

CSS Curlew

CSS Curlew was an iron-hull North Carolina Sounds paddlewheel steamboat that was taken into the Confederate Navy in 1861. It was run aground at Fort Forrest and burned in the battle for Roanoke Island on February 8, 1862...

, CSS Raleigh

CSS Raleigh (1861)

CSS Raleigh was originally a small, iron-hulled, propeller-driven towing steamer operating on the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. She was taken over by the State of North Carolina in May 1861, and transferred to the Confederate States the following July. Her commanding officer during 1861-1862 was...

, and CSS Youngalaska. The Curlew closed first while the other two gunboats circled around to cut off any escape attempt. After a brisk half-hour engagement the Fanny was run aground and surrendered. A large quantity of commissary and quartermaster's stores was captured with the steamer. Also captured were members of Twentieth Indiana and the New York Zouaves. However, the Fanny's captain, J. H. Morrison, and his crew escaped, having essentially abandoned ship once the Confederate steamers approached. Refloated and taken
into the Confederate Navy, it was placed in command of Midshipman J. L. Tayloe, CSN.

Chicamacomico Incident

Four days later the Fanny participated in a relatively large Confederate naval and army effort to 1) encircle and attack the Union encampent at Chicamacomico, 2) take and destroy the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and 3) attempt to recapture the forts at Hatteras Inlet. The initial landing effort was successful, and the Union encampment at Chicamacomico was abandoned. However, the encirclement effort failed, and the Union troops were able to retreat back to the Hatteras Lighthouse. The next day Union reinforcements came up from Hatteras Inlet and chased the Confederate troops back to their transports. Both sides then retreated back to their base camps, the Union troops to Hatteras Inlet and the Confederate troops to Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....

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Battles at Roanoke Island and Elizabeth City

The Fanny spent the next four months patrolling Pamlico Sound, reconnoitering Hatteras Inlet, and towing supply schooners to Roanoke Island. On 7-8 of February 1862 the Fanny engaged the Union invasion force in the battle of Roanoke Island. The Fanny eventually retreated to Elizabeth City with the other surviving members of its gunboat squadron when ammunition supplies ran low. On February 10 the Fanny and the other gunboats were attacked by Federal gunboats advancing from Roanoke Island. In the ensuing battle it was run aground and blown up by her captain who escaped with his crew to shore.