Here are a few thoughts on the Battle of Plymouth, North Carolina to mark the upcoming anniversary of the battle. This is all detailed in
The Fight For the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina, January-May 1864.
THREAD ONE: What led the Confederates to attack Plymouth, North Carolina in April 1864?
In early Jan. 1864, from his headquarters outside Orange, Va., Robert E. Lee wrote Jefferson Davis recommending an offensive in North Carolina to capture New Bern, the key Union base there. He proposed this operation for two reasons.
First, Lee was in the middle of a supply crisis. His troops were lacking nearly everything and his correspondence at the time repeatedly broadcast his anxiety over this. The capture of Union positions in NC would open up large, agriculturally rich areas to feed his army. Second, military
victories in NC would aid the Confederate political situation there.
Beginning in 1863, a growing peace movement, informally led by editor
William Holden, was calling for NC to leave the Confederacy. Lee knew
successful operations would help counter this.
Curiously, Davis offered to command Lee's proposed military operation, a clear example of his tendency to micromanage. The President then recommended the role to Lee, who begged off. Eventually, the pair tapped the NC Dept. commander, the hapless George Pickett.
In February, Pickett led an unsuccessful expedition against New Bern, hampered by the absence of ironclads still under construction on the Neuse and Roanoke Rivers. Following the New Bern failure, Lee anticipated further operations and left some of his army's troops in NC.
By
April, the ironclad Albemarle was complete and the Confederate high
command determined to resume the offensive. The town of Plymouth was the
target, a fortified Union position on the Roanoke. Casting Pickett
aside, Confederate leaders handed the task to Tar Heel Robert Hoke.
