The ports at Beaufort, Wilmington, New Bern and Ocracoke, part of the Outer Banks (a chain of barrier islands that sweeps down the North Carolina coast from the Virginia Capes to Oregon Inlet), were early involved in the chaos that grew into the Civil War. Though smaller than their counterparts in South Carolina, the small river ports were useful for the import of war materiel and the export of cash producing crops, through their use of the inlets that led from sounds to sea. Written from official records, contemporary newspaper accounts, personal journals of the soldiers, and many unpublished manuscripts and memoirs, this is a full accounting of the Civil War along the North Carolina coast.

The Outer Banks have long been of interest to geologists, historians, linguists, sportsmen, and beachcombers. This long series of low, narrow, sandy islands stretches along the North Carolina coast for more than 175 miles. Here on Roanoke Island in the 1580s, the first English colony in the New World was established. It vanished soon after, becoming the famous "lost colony." At Ocracoke, in 1718, the pirate Blackbeard was killed; at Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island important Civil War battles were fought; at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills the Wright brothers experimented with gliders and in 1903 made their epic flight. The Graveyard of the Atlantic, scene of countless shipwrecks, lies all along the ever-shifting shores of the Banks. This is the fascinating story of the Banks and the Bankers; of whalers, stockmen, lifesavers, wreckers, boatmen, and fishermen; of the constantly changing inlets famous for channel bass fishing; and of the once thriving Diamond City that disappeared completely in a three-year period.

North Carolina's Hatteras Island was home to many Civil War firsts--among them the first Confederate capture of an armed Union vessel and the first combined amphibious assault of the Confederate army and navy. The Confederates' desire to regain control of this Outer Banks island and Hatteras Inlet saw the capture of the U.S. gunboat "Fanny" and led to the famous Chicamacomico Affair at Live Oak encampment. The skirmish featured harrowing acts of valor by the Twentieth Indiana Regiment, as well as a path toward victory for the Confederate forces. Follow alongside author Lee Oxford as he offers a detailed portrait of the sands of Live Oak and discover in vivid detail a remarkable story of war.

North Carolina's Hatteras Island was home to many Civil War firsts--among them the first Confederate capture of an armed Union vessel and the first combined amphibious assault of the Confederate army and navy. The Confederates' desire to regain control of this Outer Banks island and Hatteras Inlet saw the capture of the U.S. gunboat "Fanny" and led to the famous Chicamacomico Affair at Live Oak encampment. The skirmish featured harrowing acts of valor by the Twentieth Indiana Regiment, as well as a path toward victory for the Confederate forces. Follow alongside author Lee Oxford as he offers a detailed portrait of the sands of Live Oak and discover in vivid detail a remarkable story of war.

A noted Civil War historian chronicles the fascinating role played by North Carolina’s Hatteras Island in the War Between the States. Hatteras Island was home to many Civil War firsts—among them the first Confederate capture of an armed Union vessel and the first combined amphibious assault of the Confederate army and navy. With illuminating research and vivid prose, historian Lee Oxford demonstrates why these episodes make Hatteras Island vital to the story of the Civil War. The Confederates' desire to regain control of this Outer Banks island saw the capture of the U.S. gunboat "Fanny." This in turn led to the famous Chicamacomico Affair at Live Oak encampment. The skirmish featured harrowing acts of valor by the Twentieth Indiana Regiment, as well as a path toward victory for the Confederate forces.

Eleven battles and seventy-three skirmishes were fought in North Carolina during the Civil War. Although the number of men involved in many of these engagements was comparatively small, the campaigns and battles themselves were crucial in the grand strategy of the conflict and involved some of the most famous generals of the war. John Barrett presents the complete story of military engagements across the state, including the classical pitched battle of Bentonville, the siege of Fort Fisher, the amphibious campaigns on the coast, and cavalry sweeps such as Stoneman's raid. From and through North Carolina, men and supplies went to Lee's army in Virginia, making the Tar Heel state critical to Lee's ability to remain in the field during the closing months of the war, when the Union had cut off the West and Gulf South. This dependence upon North Carolina led to Stoneman's cavalry raid and Sherman's march through the state in 1865, the latter of which brought the horrors of total war and eventual defeat.

As the wounds of the Civil War are just beginning to heal, one fateful summer would forever alter the course of a young girl’s life. In 1868, on the barren shores of post-war Outer Banks North Carolina, the once wealthy Sinclair family moves for the summer to one of the first cottages on the ocean side of the resort village of Nags Head. Seventeen-year-old Abigail is beautiful, book-smart, but sheltered by her plantation life and hemmed-in by her emotionally distant family. To make good use of time, she is encouraged by her family to teach her father’s fishing guide, the good-natured but penniless Benjamin Whimble, how to read and write. And in a twist of fate unforeseen by anyone around them, there on the porch of the cottage, the two come to love each other deeply, and to understand each other in a way that no one else does. But when, against everything he claims to represent, Ben becomes entangled in Abby's father's Ku Klux Klan work, the terrible tragedy and surprising revelations that one hot Outer Banks night brings forth threaten to tear them apart forever. With vivid historical detail and stunning emotional resonance, Diann Ducharme recounts a dramatic story of love, loss, and coming of age at a singular and rapidly changing time in one of America’s most beautiful and storied communities.