Nautical Research Journal 61
6. T e bombardment of Forts Hatteras and Clark showing sidewheel steamer Harriet Lane located second from the leſt in the middle. (Naval History & Heritage Command)
Harriet Lane continued to serve a vital role in Union naval operations. In the spring of 1861, the cutter served as a guard ship in Hampton Roads where it shelled Confederate strongholds behind enemy lines. In June, its armament was augmented with two additional 32-pound cannons. In August, Harriet Lane participated in the Battle of Hatteras Inlet located on the North Carolina coast. T is campaign was one of the fi rst amphibious operations of the war and it resulted in a major Union victory. Of the battle, Harper’s Weekly reported, “Harriet Lane opened fi re. With her rifl ed guns she did good execution. Several projectiles going into the [Confederate] battery and one going directly through the ramparts. T e fi re was so hot that the enemy went into a bombproof . . . and soon the white fl ag rose.” With the fall of
forts Hatteras and Clark on either side of the inlet, Union forces captured 25 heavy cannon and 1,000 Confederate troops. T e cutter’s fusillade had such a demoralizing eff ect on the troops at Fort Clark that Confederate forces later coined the term to be “Harriet Lane’d,” meaning to suff er or be demoralized.
Harriet Lane proved so useful to the war eff ort that the United States Navy assumed offi cial control over the cutter in September 1861. Heroic Navy commander Richard Wainwright relieved Captain Faunce and Harriet Lane was turned over to the Navy. USS Harriet Lane served in a number of notable assignments as fl agship of the Potomac River Flotilla and later as fl agship for Admiral David Porter. T e ship participated in the captures of New Orleans and Pensacola; initial attacks on the Confederate
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