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

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.”