The Battle of Roanoke Island, an amphibious operation of the American Civil War, is fought on February 7-8, 1862, with Irishmen present on both sides of the battle.

The opening phase of what comes to be called the Burnside Expedition, the Battle of Roanoke Island is fought in the North Carolina Sounds, a short distance south of the Virginia border. The attacking force consists of a flotilla of gunboats of the Union Navy drawn from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, commanded by Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough, a separate group of gunboats under Union Army control, and an army division led by Major General Ambrose Burnside. The defenders are a group of gunboats from the Confederate States Navy, termed the Mosquito Fleet, under Captain William F. Lynch, and about 2,000 Confederate soldiers commanded locally by Brigadier General Henry A. Wise. The defense is augmented by four forts facing on the water approaches to Roanoke Island, and two outlying batteries. At the time of the battle, Wise is hospitalized, so leadership falls to his second in command, Colonel Henry M. Shaw.

During the first day of the battle, the Federal gunboats and the forts on shore engage in a gun battle, with occasional contributions from the Mosquito Fleet. Late in the day, Burnside’s soldiers go ashore unopposed. They are accompanied by six howitzers manned by sailors. As it is too late to fight, the invaders go into camp for the night.

On the second day, February 8, the Union soldiers advance but are stopped by an artillery battery and accompanying infantry in the center of the island. Although the Confederates believe that their line is safely anchored in impenetrable swamps, they are flanked on both sides and their soldiers are driven back to refuge in the forts. The forts are taken in reverse. With no way for his men to escape, Col. Shaw surrenders to avoid pointless bloodshed.

Aside from the men who are taken into captivity, casualties are rather light by American Civil War standards. The Federal forces lose 37 killed, 214 wounded, and 13 missing. The Confederates lose 23 killed, 58 wounded, and 62 missing.

Roanoke Island remains in Union control for the rest of the war. Immediately after the battle, the Federal gunboats pass the now-silent Confederate forts into Albemarle Sound and destroy what is left of the Mosquito Fleet at the Battle of Elizabeth City. Burnside uses the island as staging ground for later assaults on New Bern and Fort Macon, resulting in their capture. Several minor expeditions take other towns on the sounds. The Burnside Expedition ends in July, when its leader is called to Virginia to take part in the Richmond campaign.

After Burnside leaves, North Carolina ceases to be an active center of the war. With only one or two exceptions, no notable military actions take place until the last days of the conflict, when the Second Battle of Fort Fisher closes Wilmington, the last open port in the Confederacy.