Battle of Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher

After many Union expeditions against the south, there was only one major port still in Confederate hands – Wilmington, North Carolina. In December, 1864 the Federals set out to close it, but first they had to capture Fort Fisher. A Union squadron under Rear Admiral David Porter was sent, along with an army under Benjamin Butler. The navy bombarded the fort on December 23, but it did little damage. Fort Fisher was built out of dirt, which absorbed the shock of the balls much better than masonry forts like Fort Sumter. Two days later Butler's army landed and began preparing to assault, but the entire expedition was called off when news arrived that a division of Confederate reinforcements was coming, and Butler called off the expedition, in direct disobedience to orders.

Butler

Grant and Lincoln were upset by Butler's failure. Butler was a Democrat politician. Since Lincoln had just won reelection to the presidency he no longer needed the worry about the repercussions of punishing Butler. Therefore Butler was removed from command. 9,000 Federal troops were sent back to Fort Fisher, this time under the command of Major General Alfred Terry, who had experience in this type of warfare from the siege of Charleston. By this time the garrison of Fort Fisher was 1,900 strong. The 6,400 man strong division under Robert Hoke was stationed just north of the fort. These were all under the command of Major General W. H. C. Whiting. On January 13 the Federal infantry landed between Fort Fisher and Hoke's forces, which did not attempt to stop the landing.

Porter on one of his ships

On January 15, 150 years ago today, the attack on the fort began. Terry and David Porter had developed a plan with good coordination between army and navy. The fight began with Porter's ships bombarding the Confederate works. They successfully silenced most of the Confederate guns. The a force of 2,000 sailors and marines landed it assault the fort's seaward face, while Terry's infantry attack and the land side. The assault of the navy troops was a failure. The plans for the marines to lay down a covering fire were not executed, and all of the Federals tried charging toward the fort's Northeast Bastion. From there the Confederate drove them back with heavy casualties.

Navy sailors attacking the fort

This attack did draw the defender's attention away from the landward side. At 2:00 pm the Union division under Adelbert Ames charged forward. An advance part used axes to cut through the obstacles around the fort, while the rest of the troops followed close behind. Although many soldiers fell, shot by snipers on the wall, the Federals pushed forward and gained the interior of the fort. The fight, however, was still not over. Confederates still continued to resist, and the remaining guns on the seaward side were turned on the wall which had fell into Yankee hands. Whiting himself gathered some Confederate defenders and personally led a counterattack. It was driven back, and Whiting himself badly wounded. He would later die after the battle.

Federals attacking Fort Fisher

The Federal assailants continued to push forward, driving back Confederate resistance. They were ably supported by Porter's ships, which continued to lob shells int o the fort. However, after hours of fighting, they still had not secured the fort. Both sides were behind defensive positions and the fighting raged on after sunset. Colonel William Lamb, the Confederate who was directly responsible for the fort's defenses, gathered what survivors he could to try to make a united counterattack, but he himself fell wounded. During the battle, Whiting had been send messages to department commander Braxton Bragg begging for more troops. Bragg did not believe the fort was in serious trouble, and instead sent Alfred Colquitt to relieve Whiting.

Soon after Colquitt landed at the fort, the situation began to deteriorate rapidly. The Federlas were determined to win the fort that night, and the Federals sent a flanking party outside the wall to strike the last pocket of Confederate resistance. This pressure was too much to bear. Colquitt and his staff realized what was happening, and hurried to escape in their rowboats. The rebels in the last traverse raised a white flag to announce the fort's surrender. At 10:00 pm the fort was officially turned over to the Federals.

A cannon in Fort Fisher, whose mussel was shot away during the battle

This fort was one of the most fiercely contested during the entire Civil War. The casualties were high, but the number was increased even further when the fort's magazine exploded the next day, killing and injuring 200 Federal soldiers and Confederate prisoners sleeping on its roof. The losses from this battle were 1,341 Federals and 583 Confederate killed and wounded, with the rest of the garrison falling prisoner. With Fort Fisher in Union hands, Wilmington fell a month later. All of the major sea ports were now Federal hands.

USS Mahopac

Battle of Petersburg – Beauregard Holds On

Beauregard

150 years ago today the Confederates in Petersburg were still struggling to hold on, hoping that reinforcement arrived before the weight of Grant's numbers took their toll. Lee still did not have certain information that the troops opposing Beauregard were from Grant, not Butler. The Federals had been reinforced to 80,000 men by the arrival of Warren's corps, and Beauregard's 14,000 men should not have been able to maintain their line. But they were because of the failure of the Federal generals to coordinate the assaults and use their strength effectively. One Confederate wrote:

Three times were the Federals driven back, but they as often resumed the offensive and held their ground. About dusk a portion of the Confederate lines was wholly broken and the troops in that quarter were about to be thrown into a panic, which might have ended in irreparable disaster, when happily, as General Beauregard, with his staff, was endeavoring to rally and reform the troops, Gracie's brigade ... came up.... It was promptly and opportunely thrown into the gap on the lines and drove back the Federals, capturing ... prisoners. The conflict raged with great fury until after 11 o'clock at night.

After beating back the attacks all day, Beauregard's tired troops fell back in good order to a shorter line which had been had been marked out, and began digging defenses. Beauregard sent a staff officer to Lee with the message, “Unless reinforcements are sent before forty-eight hours, God Almighty alone can save Petersburg and Richmond.”

Richmond

The report of the staff officer, along with recent messages from Beauregard, finally convinced Lee that Grant was indeed south of the James. Therefore he got two divisions moving before dawn on June 18th to reinforced the hard-pressed rebels in Petersburg. When these forces arrived, they brought the total forces defending the city up to 20,000.

Butler on the Bermuda Hundred

Bermuda Hundred

Yet another attack in Virginia made in coordination with Grant's advance on Lee was an expedition led by Major General Benjamin Butler which set out to move by sea and threaten Richmond and cut Confederate supply lines. Butler landed with his Army of the James at Bermuda Hundred on May 5^th.

His first priority was to establish a line of entrenchments across the Bermuda Neck, the space between the Appomattox and James Rivers, so that the rebels could not crush his army against the rivers. When he finished these me made several excursions, but none in enough force to drive off the Confederates guarding Richmond, Petersburg, or the railroad between them. The Confederate commander in the area, P. G. T. Beauregard, had scrambled to gather an army to meet him. The southern commanders handled their men well. D. H. Hill, a good fighter who had lost his command by quarreling with his commanders, volunteered to serve as a volunteer aid in the emergency.

Butler

Butler made several movements to attack Drewry's Bluff, a key position on the James River and on the Union path to Richmond, but he fumbled the plans and it was the Confederates who attacked first instead. Beauregard planned to hold Butler's forces at Drewry's bluff while another column was sent to hit him from the flank. When this attack was made 150 years ago today, when the flanking column hit light resistance its commander, Chase Whiting, became flustered and withdrew, and later turned over his command. Although Beauregard's plan to bag Butler did not go off, Butler was so frightened by the day's events that he withdrew to Bermuda Neck. There he remained for some time, working on strengthening his entrenchments. Butler, by his mistakes and incompetence, had been unable to make any use of the opportunities before him, and had allowed himself to be corked at the Bermuda Hundred by a force far smaller than his own.

Drewry's Bluff

Battle of Big Bethel

When Virginia seceded, there was one fort on there soil that remained in the hands of the American government. Fort Monroe, on Old Point Comfort, near Hampton Roads and New Port News, did not have to fear Confederate attack because it could only be attacked on a narrow causeway, and it was supported by the Union navy. This foothold would be an important point in the attacks on Virginia. The commander of the fort was Major General Benjamin F. Butler. The Confederate commander of the peninsula was Col. John Magruder. Magruder placed his men at Little Bethel Church and Big Bethel Church. Butler decided they needed to be driven back because they harassed his outposts at the fort.

On the night of June 9th, 2,500 Union troops moved to launch a surprise attack on the Confederate forces. Before they reached the Confederate lines, the 7th and 3rd New York began to attack fire at other. By the time it was over, the Confederates were alerted to their presence, and a few dozen men were injured. The Union commander decided not to call off the attack.

Union Troops Attempt to Advance Against Confederate Artillery

But to reach the Confederate line, the Unions would have to cross a bridge and capture entrenchments. On the right they tried to form their lines and charge, but they were quickly broken by the artillery fire from the Confederate lines. On the left, 1,500 troops successfully crossed the creek by a ford to attempted to flank the Confederate line. But the Confederates were ready. As the 1st New York charged forward, believing there was nothing to oppose them, a North Carolina regiment rose from hidden fortifications, and poured in a heavy fire. The commander of the Union regiment jumped to the top of the fence, trying to lead his men forward, but he was shot by the Southerners. After remaining in that position for twenty minutes, the New York troops fell back, seeing they could not capture the position.

The Union attacks having failed, they fell back to Fort Monroe. The 2,500 Union troops suffered 18 killed, 53 wounded, and 5 missing. The 1,200 Confederates suffered only 1 killed and 7 missing. Private Henry Wyatt of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers was the first Confederate killed in combat in the Civil War. From this came the start of North Carolina's boast that they were, "First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, and Last at Appomattox."

This battle demonstrated the fact that while surprise attacks could be very effective, if surprise was lost they were no longer useful. It also showed that with fewer soldiers, if they were behind entrenchments, could easily defeat larger forces.