TIME-LIFE The Civil War in 500 Photographs by TIME-LIFE BOOKS

Author:TIME-LIFE BOOKS
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Publisher: THEI
Published: 2015-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Four Confederate soldiers stood in the battery at Fort Fisher. The unique fortress was built from earth instead of brick, and this enabled it to better withstand the shock of explosions.

Two massive U.S. Navy bombardments destroyed much of Fort Fisher’s artillery in preparation for an assault by Northern infantry.

Rear Admiral David D. Porter, commander of the U.S. Navy’s North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, unleashed the greatest naval bombardment of the war against Fort Fisher.

Major General Alfred H. Terry took command of Federal army operations against Fort Fisher after an unsuccessful attack on the fort in December of 1864.

The Lifeline of the Confederacy Is Severed

Dismayed by the army’s retreat, President Lincoln removed General Butler from his post. In his place he installed General Alfred H. Terry, an experienced commander who had experience successfully assaulting seacoast fortifications.

In January of 1865, a larger joint army-navy force under General Terry and Admiral Porter returned to Fort Fisher with a fleet of 59 warships and approximately 9,000 troops from the Army of the James. For three days, the fleet’s 627 guns pounded Fort Fisher, the largest naval assault of the Civil War. On January 15, General Terry sent in the infantry, supported by a group of volunteer sailors. Though the naval brigade quickly sustained casualties and turned back, the Federal infantry was able to scale the fort’s high earthen walls and engage in fierce hand-to-hand combat.

The 1,900-man Confederate garrison defending the fortress was outnumbered and fought valiantly. Both Colonel Lamb and General Whiting were seriously wounded. But the effort could not keep Federal troops at bay. After six hours, Fort Fisher fell and Wilmington, North Carolina, the South’s sole surviving seaport, was finally closed. After four years of unrelenting vigilance, the U.S. Navy’s blockade of the Southern coastline had the Confederacy in a chokehold.

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