The Battle of Fort Fisher North Carolina Civil War History, Results of the U S Navy Blockade of North
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Battle of Fort Fisher: Surrender and Aftermath
History of Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher's Fall Crippled the Confederacy, Causing Worries on the Home Front
On January 15, 1865, after over two days of relentless assaults from Union gunboats followed by a land attack of
3,000 troops, the Confederacy surrendered Fort Fisher, the only remaining protection for Confederate blockade runners. Early
in the war the Confederacy built the earthen Fort Fisher in a strategic location near the mouth of North Carolina's Cape Fear
River, which ensured that the port of Wilmington remained open. The fort soon became the primary defense for the Wilmington
supply line—the central artery bringing food and munitions to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. After Fort
Fisher's surrender, Union troops advanced to take Wilmington, and the supply line was irrevocably compromised, thus cutting
off the lifeblood of the Confederate military effort.
STEAMER S. R. SPAULDING
Off Fort Fisher, January 16, 1865
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| The Secretary of War has the honor to acknowledge the receipt
of the flag of Fort Fisher, and in the name of the President congratulates you and the gallant officers and soldiers, sailors,
and marines of your commands, and tenders you thanks for the valor and skill displayed in your respective parts of the great
achievement in the operations against Fort Fisher and in its assault and capture. The combined operations of the squadron
and land forces of your commands deserve and will receive the thanks of the nation, and will be held in admiration throughout
the world as proof of the naval and military prowess of the United States. |
Edwin M. Stanton
Secretary of War.
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Major-General TERRY and
Rear-Admiral PORTER,
Commanding,
etc. |
| Battle of Fort Fisher Historical Marker |
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When Fort Fisher fell, people throughout the Confederate States realized the devastating effects it would
have on the Confederacy's future. Fort Fisher's fall left the Confederacy more vulnerable, especially to the advancing march
of General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops, which was greatly feared. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Cornelia Phillips
Spencer (1825-1908) wrote of the fear she and others felt upon the fall of the fort and the subsequent fall of Wilmington.
In Chapter Two of her narrative, The Last Ninety Days of the War in North Carolina, Spencer writes: "What the fate of our
pleasant towns and villages and of our isolated farmhouses would be, we could easily read by the light of the blazing roof-trees
that lit up the path of the advancing army. General Sherman's principles were well known […] and had been thoroughly
put in practice by him in his further progress since. To shorten the war by increasing its severity: this was his plan—simple,
and no doubt to a certain extent effective" (p. 31).
In Columbia, South Carolina, seventeen-year-old Emma Florence LeConte (1847-1942) recorded similar sentiments
in the January 18th entry of her diary: "One piece of bad news is certain, namely that Fort Fisher has fallen at last. I had
expected to take great interest in the Soldier's Bazaar, but I cannot. It seems like the dance of Death, and who can tell
that Sherman may not get the money that was made instead of our sick soldiers. How long before our beautiful little city may
be sacked and laid in ashes. Dear Columbia, with its lovely trees and gardens. It is heart-sickening to think of it." Just
one month later, LeConte details Sherman's march through Columbia.
Sources: University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
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Recommended Reading:
American Civil War Ships, Ironclads, the Blockades and Blockade Runners
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