16 January 1865 A.D.
Wilmington, NC & a Few Confederates Points on NC Coastline Abandoned;
Ft. Fisher Victory for Union; Wilmington, NC Closed as Confederate Port
Editors. “1865 – With Fort Fisher lost and foreseeing that the
Union fleet’s entrance into the Cape Fear River would cut the waterborne
communications system, General Bragg ordered the evacuation of the remaining
Confederate positions at the mouth of the river.” This Day in U.S. Military History. N.d. https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/january-16/. Accessed 15 Jan 2015.
1865 – With
Fort Fisher lost and foreseeing that the Union fleet’s entrance into the Cape
Fear River would cut the waterborne communications system, General Bragg
ordered the evacuation of the remaining Confederate positions at the mouth of
the river. At 7 a.m. Forts Caswell and Campbell were abandoned and
destroyed. Fort Holmes on Smith’s Island and Fort Johnson at Smith-ville were
likewise destroyed by the retreating garrisons, which fell back on Fort
Anderson, on the west bank of the Cape Fear River between Fort Fisher and
Wilmington. “The Yankees,” wrote one Confederate, not perceiving the full
import of the fateful results, “have made a barren capture. . . .” In fact,
however, Wilmington, the last major port open to blockade runners, was now
effectively sealed and General Lee was cut off from his only remaining supply
line from Europe. Rear Admiral Porter recognized the implications of the Union
victory more clearly. He wrote Captain Godon: . . . the death knell of another
fort is booming in the distance. Fort Caswell with its powerful batteries is in
flames and being blown up, and thus is sealed the door through which this
rebellion is fed.”
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