Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s capture of Hatteras Inlet in August 1861 gave Federal forces a foothold for attacks up the rivers and sounds of eastern North Carolina. Confederate authorities responded by constructing earthen fortifications to protect the mainland, especially at Roanoke Island and on the Roanoke, Pamlico, Neuse, and White Oak Rivers. Huggins Island Battery was built that fall, and in November Capt. Daniel Munn occupied it with his company, the Bladen Stars. First considered an independent company for local defense and special service in North Carolina, the unit was later designated Co. B, 36th North Carolina Infantry Regiment (2nd North Carolina Artillery), and in January 1862 it mustered four officers and 64 men. On February 19, 1862, after Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s expedition captured Roanoke Island, Munn withdrew the company from Huggins Island. The guns and ordnance were transported to Morehead City and then to New Bern, where they fell into Burnside's hands when he occupied the town on March 14. In August 1862, Federal forces sent a small army-navy expedition against the salt works on the White Oak River at Swansboro, led by Gen. Thomas G. Stevenson with seven companies of the 24th Massachusetts Infantry and a detachment of the 1st New York Marine Artillery. Seven light army steamers and the navy gunboat Ellis carried the force past Huggins Island and the abandoned position. Today, Huggins Island Battery is the only unspoiled Confederate earthen fortification remaining on the North Carolina coast.