The CSS Neuse was one of 22 ironclads commissioned by the Confederate navy. Having a wide, flat bottom, the vessel resembled a river barge. When completed, the twin-screw steamer was plated with iron armor and measured 158 feet long and 34 feet wide. Delays in construction, low water, and lack of ground support prevented the gunboat from entering combat below Kinston. When Union troops occupied Kinston in March 1865, the Neuse was burned by its crew, resulting in a large explosion in her port bow, which sank the vessel. It stayed in the mud of the Neuse River, near Kinston, NC, until it was raised in 1963. A video of the raising shows much of the vessel intact but the original salvagers did so in order to obtain a large cache of gold, etc. which was rumored to have been onboard. The video, not available to the public, shows the salvagers destroying much of the ironclad in their futile search for the non-existent booty. The hull remains and is at the CSS Neuse historical site at Kinston. The visitor's center has thousands of artifacts from the Neuse.

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Walter Wells photo

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Walter Wells photo

(January 2008) C.S.S. Neuse State Historic Site, Kinston, NC
 
Brian Duckworth photo

(January 2008)  Marker  C.S.S. Neuse State Historic Site
 
Brian Duckworth photo