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Battle of Fort Fisher: Surrender and Aftermath
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
Recommended
Reading: Hurricane of Fire: The Union Assault on Fort Fisher
(Hardcover). Review: In December 1864 and January 1865, Federal forces launched the greatest amphibious assault the world
had yet seen on the Confederate stronghold of Fort Fisher,
near Wilmington, North Carolina.
This was the last seaport available to the South--all of the others had been effectively shut down by the Union's
tight naval blockade. The initial attack was a disaster; Fort
Fisher, built mainly out of beach sand, appeared almost impregnable against
a heavy naval bombardment. When troops finally landed, they were quickly repelled. Continued below…
A second attempt
succeeded and arguably helped deliver one of the death blows to a quickly fading Confederacy. Hurricane of Fire is a work
of original scholarship, ably complementing Rod Gragg's Confederate Goliath, and the first book to take a full account of
the navy's important supporting role in the assault.
Recommended
Reading: Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort
Fisher. From Publishers Weekly: Late in the Civil War, Wilmington, N.C., was the sole remaining seaport supplying Lee's army at Petersburg,
Va., with rations and munitions. In this dramatic account, Gragg describes the
two-phase campaign by which Union forces captured the fort that guarded Wilmington and the subsequent occupation of the city
itself--a victory that virtually doomed the Confederacy. In the initial phase in December 1864, General Ben Butler and Admiral
David Porter directed an unsuccessful amphibious assault against Fort
Fisher that included the war's heaviest artillery bombardment. Continued
below…
The second
try in January '65 brought General Alfred Terry's 9000-man army against 1500 ill-equipped defenders, climaxing in a bloody
hand-to-hand struggle inside the bastion and an overwhelming Union victory. Although historians tend to downplay the event,
it was nevertheless as strategically decisive as the earlier fall of either Vicksburg or Atlanta. Gragg
has done a fine job in restoring this important campaign to public attention. Includes numerous photos.
Recommended
Reading: The Wilmington Campaign and the Battle for Fort Fisher, by Mark A. Moore. Description:
Full campaign and battle history of the largest combined operation in U.S.
military history prior to World War II. By late 1864, Wilmington
was the last major Confederate blockade-running seaport open to the outside world. The final battle for the port city's protector--Fort Fisher--culminated
in the largest naval bombardment of the American Civil War, and one of the worst hand-to-hand engagements in four years of
bloody fighting. Continued below…
Copious illustrations,
including 54 original maps drawn by the author. Fresh new analysis on the fall of Fort Fisher, with a fascinating comparison
to Russian defenses at Sebastopol during the Crimean War. “A tour de force. Moore's Fort Fisher-Wilmington Campaign is the best publication of this
character that I have seen in more than 50 years.” -- Edwin C. Bearss, Chief Historian Emeritus, National Park Service
Recommended
Reading: The Wilmington
Campaign: Last Departing Rays of Hope. Description: While prior books on the battle to capture Wilmington,
North Carolina, have focused solely on the epic struggles for Fort Fisher, in many respects this was just
the beginning of the campaign. In addition to complete coverage (with significant new information) of both battles for Fort Fisher, "The Wilmington Campaign" includes the first
detailed examination of the attack and defense of Fort Anderson. It also features blow-by-blow accounts of the defense of the Sugar Loaf Line
and of the operations of Federal warships on the Cape Fear River. This masterpiece of military
history proves yet again that there is still much to be learned about the American Civil War. Continued below…
"The Wilmington
Campaign is a splendid achievement. This gripping chronicle of the five-weeks' campaign up the Cape Fear River adds a crucial dimension
to our understanding of the Confederacy's collapse." -James McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom
Recommended Reading: Masters of the Shoals: Tales of the
Cape Fear
Pilots Who Ran the Union Blockade. Description:
Lavishly illustrated stories of daring harbor pilots who risked their lives for the Confederacy. Following the Union's blockade of the South's waterways, the survival of the Confederacy depended on a handful of
heroes-daring harbor pilots and ship captains-who would risk their lives and cargo to outrun Union ships and guns. Their tales
of high adventure and master seamanship became legendary. Masters of the Shoals brings to life these brave pilots of Cape Fear who saved
the South from gradual starvation. Continued below…
REVIEWS:
"A valuable and meticulous accounting of one chapter of the South's failing struggle against the Union."
-- Washington
Times 03/06/04
"An interesting picture of a little appreciated band of professionals...Well documented...an easy read." -- Civil War
News June 2004
"An interesting picture of a little appreciated band of professionals...Will be of special interest to Civil War naval
enthusiasts." -- Civil War News May 2004
"Offers an original view of a vital but little-known aspect of blockade running." -- Military Images 03/01/04
"Surveys the whole history of the hardy seamen who guided ships around the Cape Fear's
treacherous shoals." -- Wilmington
Star-News 10/26/03
"The story [McNeil] writes is as personal as a family memoir, as authoritative and enthusiastic as the best history."
-- The Advocate 11/15/03
“Outstanding and compelling depictions of seamen courage and tenacity...Heroic, stirring, and gripping
stories of the men that dared to confront the might and power of the US Navy.” – americancivilwarhistory.org
Recommended
Reading: Gray Phantoms of the Cape Fear
: Running the Civil War Blockade. Description:
After the elimination of Charleston in 1863 as a viable entry port for running the blockade,
Wilmington, North Carolina,
became the major source of external supply for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The story of blockade running on the
Cape Fear River was one of the most important factors determining the fate of the South.
With detailed and thought-provoking research, author Dawson Carr takes a comprehensive look at the men, their ships, their
cargoes, and their voyages. Continued below…
In mid-1863,
the small city of Wilmington,
North Carolina, literally found itself facing a difficult
task: it had to supply Robert E. Lee's army if the South was to continue the Civil War. Guns, ammunition, clothing, and food
had to be brought into the Confederacy from Europe, and Wilmington
was the last open port. Knowing this, the Union amassed a formidable blockading force off storied Cape Fear. What followed was a contest unique
in the annals of warfare. The blockade runners went unarmed, lest their crews be tried as pirates if captured. Neither did
the Union fleet wish to sink the runners, as rich prizes were the reward for captured cargoes. The battle was thus one of
wits and stealth more than blood and glory. As the Union naval presence grew stronger, the new breed of blockade runners got
faster, quieter, lower to the water, and altogether more ghostly and their crews more daring and resourceful. Today, the remains
of nearly three dozen runners lie beneath the waters of Cape
Fear, their exact whereabouts known to only a few fishermen and boaters.
Built for a special mission at a brief moment in time, they faded into history after the war. There had never been ships like
the blockade runners, and their kind will never be seen again. Gray Phantoms of the Cape
Fear tells the story of their captains, their crews, their cargoes, their
opponents, and their many unbelievable escapes. Rare photos and maps. “This book is nothing shy of a must read.”
Recommended
Reading: Storm over Carolina: The Confederate Navy's Struggle for Eastern
North Carolina. Description: The struggle for control of the eastern waters of North Carolina
during the War Between the States was a bitter, painful, and sometimes humiliating one for the Confederate navy. No better
example exists of the classic adage, "Too little, too late." Burdened by the lack of adequate warships, construction
facilities, and even ammunition, the South's naval arm fought bravely and even recklessly to stem the tide of the Federal
invasion of North Carolina from the raging Atlantic. Storm Over Carolina is the account of the Southern navy's struggle in North Carolina waters and it is a saga of crushing defeats interspersed with moments of
brilliant and even spectacular victories. It is also the story of dogged Southern determination and incredible perseverance
in the face of overwhelming odds. Continued below...
For most of
the Civil War, the navigable portions of the Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, Chowan, and Pasquotank rivers were
occupied by Federal forces. The Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, as well as most of the coastal towns and counties, were also
under Union control. With the building of the river ironclads, the Confederate navy at last could strike a telling blow against
the invaders, but they were slowly overtaken by events elsewhere. With the war grinding to a close, the last Confederate vessel
in North Carolina waters was destroyed. William T. Sherman
was approaching from the south, Wilmington was lost, and the
Confederacy reeled as if from a mortal blow. For the Confederate navy, and even more so for the besieged citizens of eastern
North Carolina, these were stormy days indeed. Storm Over Carolina describes their story, their struggle, their history.
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