Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, Union General Ambrose E. Burnside sent General Jesse L. Reno from Roanoke Island to destroy the Culpepper Locks near South Mills on the Dismal Swamp Canal. Reno's 3,000 troops disembarked from their transports near Elizabeth City on April 18. The Union troops advanced the following morning on an exhausting march toward South Mills where Confederate Colonel Ambrose R. Wright posted his 900 men to command the road to the town. Reno encountered Wright's position at noon. The Confederates' determined fighting continued for four hours until their artillery commander, Captain W. W. McComas, was killed. To avoid being flanked, Wright retired behind Joy's Creek, two miles away. General Reno did not pursue them because of his losses and his troops' exhaustion. That evening he heard a rumor that Confederate reinforcements were arriving from Norfolk and ordered a silent march back to the transports near Elizabeth City. The losses were estimated at 114 Union and 25 Confederate soldiers. The Battle of South Mills was the only battle action near the canal. However, wartime activity left the canal in a terrible state of repair. The repairs and maintenance needed by the canal made travel difficult. Post-war, 20th century In 1892, Lake Drummond Canal and Water Company launched rehabilitation efforts and once again, a steady stream of vessels carrying lumber, shingles, farm products, and passengers made the canal a bustling interstate thoroughfare. By the 1920s, improvements in other modes of transportation meant another downturn for the canal, and commercial traffic had subsided except for passenger vessels. In 1929 it was sold to the federal government for $500,000. As recreational boating became popular in the mid-20th century, the canal became an important link to provide shelter from the brutal forces of the treacherous Atlantic Coast line off the Carolinas and the Virginia capes. Current use In modern times, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates and maintains the canal. The Dismal Swamp Canal is one of two inland routes connecting the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound. About 2,000 recreational boaters transit the canal each year as they pass through the Intracoastal Waterway. The canal was closed October 2016 to boating traffic after Hurricane Matthew caused a flash flood in Chesapeake, Virginia. The runoff from this storm filled the canal with silt and sand, making it impassable. The necessary dredging for navigation on the canal was completed November 2017 to