The Fall of Fort Fisher
Updated: Dec 22, 2024
The 159th anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher came and went without any great national fanfare, yet this massive land-sea assault on the imposing seacoast Confederate fortification at the mouth of the Cape Fear River south of the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina was historically significant. The fall of Fort Fisher and the subsequent fall of Wilmington to Union forces closed the last port remaining to the beleaguered Confederate States of America and sealed the Confederacy's doom.
The Second Battle of Fort Fisher followed a failed attempt to take the fortifications during the 1864 Christmas season and the fighting to take the fortifications was fierce. I was, for a time, a tour guide for the State of North Carolina's Department of Cultural Resources at Fort Fisher. A new visitor center is slated for opening soon. If you are a student of American Civil War history/American history, you owe it to yourself to visit Fort Fisher. Less than ten percent of the original fortifications remain, but the remaining and restored fortifications and the visitor center tells a tale of courage, determination, and sacrifice.
Below are links to a video on the Second Battle of Fort Fisher by the Marine Corps Association, a link to a number of resources relating to the Second Battle of Fort Fisher by the Marine Corps Association, a link to a video on the First Battle of Fort Fisher by The Raleigh Civil War Roundtable, and a link to the Fort Fisher State Historic Site.
"The Second Battle of Fort Fisher"
"THE GIBRALTAR OF THE CONFEDERACY FALLS TO A JOINT ARMY, NAVY, AND MARINE CORPS AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT."
"The First Attack on Fort Fisher, NC (December 1864)"
Fort Fisher State Historic Site
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