Reference Entry
CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER
Off the North Carolina coast, the earthworks of Fort Fisher guarded the entrance to the Cape Fear River and the vital port of Wilmington, the last major Confederate gateway on the Atlantic. After an earlier Union attempt failed, a massive second expedition began on January 13th, 1865, with warships pounding the defenses while soldiers under Major General Alfred Terry prepared to storm the works.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Capture of Fort Fisher
Off the North Carolina coast, the earthworks of Fort Fisher guarded the entrance to the Cape Fear River and the vital port of Wilmington, the last major Confederate gateway on the Atlantic. After an earlier Union attempt failed, a massive second expedition began on January 13th, 1865, with warships pounding the defenses while soldiers under Major General Alfred Terry prepared to storm the works. Two days later, on January 15th, coordinated assaults by Army troops and a naval landing party fought their way up the long sand and sandbag fort, hand to hand in brutal close combat. By nightfall the garrison surrendered and Wilmington’s supply line was effectively doomed. The fall of Fort Fisher closed a critical route for blockade runners, tightened the noose around Confederate armies, and hastened the war’s end in the Carolinas and Virginia.
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