Crestcom bank center for military studies. Graggs work on battle of gettysburg won an award for best civil war book that year and his history of fort fisher earned a prestigious fletcher pride award for Civil War History is thats given out yearly from the new york city civil war roundtable. Lets give rod gragg a warm welcome. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you. Pleasure for me to be in a room full of historians and i say that seriously because i have learned, i may write a lot but the folks who really know the civil war are those of you who read a lot. And i appreciate that. Before i begin, if you dont mind i would like to tell you the story about the young history major who decided after he got a bachelors degree in history that probably ought to go get a masters degree in business so he could earn a living. [ laughter ] so he was accepted and enrolled in a distant Prestigious School of business. And wondered soon after he got there if he made the right decision because he failed his first exam and so did everyone in the class. Now the professor was notoriously ira scible. He came in after the exam, plopped the papers on the lectern and said ive never seen anything like this. This is the worst performance on an exam i have ever seen in my career. I dont know how anybody but a buffoon could perform so poorly. I want every buffoon in this room stand up. In the rear a young history major stood up. Professor peered over his classes so, young man you are admitting youre a buffoon. No, sir. The history major said very respectfully. I just hate to see you standing alone. Like john ford said about some of those john wayne movies they are not true but they ought to be. When the morning sun broke over the atlantic horizon in december of 1864, wait bathed a nation torn asasunder. Back in 1861 in the wars heady opening days most americans had predicted a brief and bloodless conflict settled within a few months with little loss of life. Instead what had followed, of course, on countless fields of fire was a great and gory contest which had ground on year after year, unleashing an unimaginable harvest of death and suffering and destruction into the lives of americans north and south. By late 1864, almost 600,000 of americas sons had already died in this seemingly endless conflict. Thousands more were dying weekly. They had fallen in staggering numbers at pastoral sounding places like bull run, and malvern hill and little round top. At antietam, 23,000 fell in a single day. In one assault at cold harbor 7,000 fell in eight minutes it was reported. In the wars sprawling military camps tens of thousands grew ill and died of killers like measles and dtyphoid fever. In the south homes and farms were destroyed. Towns and cities were set ablaze. Inflation, shortages and threat of invasion made living hard for many. In the north, as in the south, frequent casualty reports carried grief into countless homes. Still the war continued to call americas sons to distant fields of death. Alongside a stretch of North Carolina beach in late 1864, would unfold a mighty drama intended by Northern Forces to force an end to this massive bloodbath that surged across america. There, in the mouth of the river the largest joint armynavy operation of the civil war would be staged. If successful, it could place the south in the final stranglehold and could lead the north to a final victory. It would be a deadly contest, a life and death struggle for men in blue from new york, connecticut, New Hampshire, pennsylvania, indiana, and defenders in gray mainly from North Carolina, some from georgia and south carolina. The target of the norths greatest was a fortress famous on both side of the atlantic, fort fisher. The confederate goliath. By december of 1864, federal forces controlled the mississippi river, splitting the confederacy north and south. Elsewhere the south was being dismembered by invasion. General william t. Sherman, his overpowering columns had laid waste to a long stretch of po. Confederate president Jefferson Davis, some members of the confederate congress, and some southerners still held to the hope that southern independence could somehow be achieved if the beleagured confederacy could hold on and outlast the war weary north. But compounding the confederacys ever worsening dilemma was the stranglehold of an increasingly Effective Navy blockade and steady lost of seaports due to the combined power of army and naval forces. One by one, southern seaports from norfolk to galveston had been captured and closed and the confederacy was slowly isolated from the rest of the world. By late 1864, wilmington, North Carolina alone survived as the confederacys sole major seaport. Sleek, fast blockade running vessels lined the docks at wilmington, bringing in british newfoundland rifles, ammunition, percussion caps, lead, tin, other articles of war while take out cotton and rice as exports. By late 1864, wilmington had become the lifeline of the confederacy. Defending wilmington was a formidable line of defenses that stretched from the city on both sides of the river for 20 miles to the rivers mouth. Which opened into the atlantic via two inlets. This mighty collection of forts and artillery batteries known as the Defense System was anchored at the mouth of the river by the largest fortification in the confederacy, fort fisher. Located on the tip of a peninsula known as Confederate Point during the war, fort fisher was roughly shaped like a number 7 with its top or land face stretching for half a mile across the peninsula from the cape hill river to the atlantic and its sea face stretching for a mile along the beach to the south. It was known as the gibraltar of the south. It was one of historys great fortresses. At one point 40 pieces of heavy artillery. Its gun chambers were protect by high hill traverse which were hollow or bomb proof. It also boasted a 60foot high sea face battery called the mound battery and a cuttingedge of military piece of technology on its land face, a modern style mine field, which dozens of artillery shells were connected by wires to a battery which would detonate them at the feet of assaults infantry. Fort fisher was famous in the south and feared by some in the north. Fort fishs creator and commander, the man who had directed most of the construction of this world famous fortress, was a 29yearold southern officer who had no professional training as a military engineer. His name was william lamb. He was a native of norfolk, virginia. Son of the citys mayor. Had graduated if i beta kappa with a law degree from william mary at age 19. Optimistic, talent, devout, a book lover, a natural student, william lamb was considered brilliant by some. At age 20 he became a newspaper editor. Paper his father bought him. When the war erupted, he joined the Confederate Army and was quickly promoted to major. In 1862 he was made an Army Quartermaster and was transferred to wilmington where he soon became colonel and commander of this fledgling fort fish. While lamb continued strengthening fort fisher, some 500 miles to the north in washington, d. C. , federal authorities at the highest level were making plans for the great forts destruction. And the closing of the seaport of wilmington. President lincoln, and u. S. Navy secretary gideo wells were convinced the fall of fort fisher would close wilmington and close wilmington is the last operational major seaport in the confederacy that isolates the south and help hasten a northern victory in the war. Lincoln authorized the necessary naval and army forces for fort fisher campaign. He said he would do so if general grant was willing. Grant now the commanding general of all northern armies had been reluctant to support a campaign that he believed would require a massive armynavy operation, but now he too agreed it was time. So in early december 1864, approximately 6400 federal troops were withdrawn from the virginia front and were marched aboard a flotilla of troop ships bound from assault on far away fort fish. The principle Northern Force for the fort fisher campaign consisted of the 2nd division, 24th corps of the army of the james. An army created some six months earlier by a troop merger. The army of the james had yet to prove itself. Its troops were combat veterans and had seen a lot of fighting in virginia. But they had enjoyed few victories. Also selected for the fort fisher campaign were troops of the 3rd division of the allblack 25th corps. Black troops with white officers. Paid less than white troops. Subjected to discrimination. Often used to clear brush for t u. S. Colored troops as they were known still had to prove themselves to critics who asked would they really fight . Placed in command of Army Operations for the expedition was a 29yearold west pointer general Godfrey Wetzel but as the troop ships prepared to steam southward the unexpected occurred. General wetzels superior officer, the head of the army of the james, exercised the privilege of rank and announced that he would accompany the expedition, which meant he would really be in command. The army the decision to involve himself in the fort fisher campaign created a high ranking stir because ben butler was almost certainly the most controversial officer in the Northern Army. Butler was a political general, a wealthy, 46yearold massachusetts attorney, a volunteer officer, and a prominent northern democrat in a war being waged by a republican administration. He was eccentric riding about on horseback adorned in bedroom slippers in the dark of night reading poetry and reciting it aloud and he was controversial. In new orleans where he was military governor in 1862, he had been accused of seizing a Million Dollars from the french consulate. He was nick named spoons butler for reportedly appropriating southern silverware and in the south after he ordered southern women jailed as prostitutes for insulting northern officers in new orleans, chamber pot manufacturers cranked out a line of products, pots with butlers face on the bottom. He had introduced aerial warfare to the civil war by sending up observers in hot air balloons, which proved to be a useful idea. He had proposed attacking confederate earthworks with fire hoses, which did not prove to be a good idea. He was, it seemed, always at the center of some dispute. Quote, old ben is like a cuddle fish muddying its own water, said a fellow officer, and is competent on the field of battle as much as an opium eater is in council. For the fort fisher expedition ben butler had come up with a secret weapon. He had read a newspaper article about a terrible terrible death and damage in britain caused by the accidental explosion of a boatload of gun powder and it inspired an idea. He had many of those. Why not fill an old ship with tons of gun powder, butler reasoned, float it near fort fisher, and blow it up . Butler believed the powder boat, as he called it, might flatten fort fisher, maybe flatten wilmington 20 miles away, and give his troops an easy victory. The u. S. Armys chief engineer studied the powder boat proposal, privately declared it as likely to damage fort fisher as, quote, firing feathers from muskets. However, admirable david d. Porter, given command of the naval fleet sent to accompany the army and bombard fort fisher in the campaign believed that butlers powder boat might revolutionize naval warfare. He intended for the u. S. Navy to get its share of the glory if that happened. Admiral porter loved the navy. The sea was in his blood. He was a fourth generation naval officer. His great grandfather had been a merchant seaman. His grandfather had commanded an american privateer in the revolution. His father and namesake was an American Naval hero from the war of 1812. Porter, himself, had gone to sea at age 10. During the civil war he had risen in rank rapidly. He commanded a mortar flotilla, played a key role in the capture of new orleans, and was cited for his role in the capture of vicksburg. His wartime achievements had enabled him to skip two ranks. He was promoted from captain to rear admiral and so at the time of the fort fisher campaign he was one of the norths most famous naval figures. Porter was bright. He was resourceful. Energetic. Competent. He was also, critics said, gruff, opinionated, cocky, competitive, and fier fiercely ambitious. Typically, porter acted quickly and decisively when given command of operations for the navy for the fort fisher expedition. Drawing ships from the u. S. Navys north atlantic blockading squadron, he organized one of the largest fleets ever assembled in america. 56 war ships, including a 3, h 00 ton colorado 3,400 ton colorado with its crew of 600. Four monitor class war ships and what was at that time probably the navys most famous vessel, the iron plated, heavily armed steam frigate u. S. S. Ironsides. Porter also provided butlers floating bomb. To do that he picked an aging blockading vessel, the u. S. S. Louisiana from the war of 1812, which was packed with 200 tons of gun powder in bags and barrels. The flotilla of army transports entered the atlantic near newport news on the afternoon of december 14th, 1864, heading southward toward the North Carolina coast. Admiral porters naval fleet arrived first. Admiral porter decided himself to detonate the powder boat offshore fort fisher without general butlers knowledge. Far out to sea, away from the floating bomb, the sailors of admiral porters fleet lined the ships railings, period inered e darkness at night, and waited for the powder boat to explode at a safe distance. The great blast was expected at 1 00 a. M. , december 24th, but nothing happened. Soon it was 1 30. 1 35. 1 40. 1 45. Then at 1 46 the powder boat exploded. A bright flash illuminated the darkness toward the shore in the distance. Soon after, thick smoke rolled over the fleet followed then by silence and darkness. Aboard the u. S. S. Wilderness, the Northern Naval officer who watched the explosion stated simply, well, theres a fizzle. [ laughter ] the great powder boat explosion was a failure. It was loud. It rattled windows in wilmington 20 miles away. It severely frightened some young, southern secentry sentri beach but did nothing to harm fort fisher. General butler was furious when he learned his powder boat had been exploded without him. He believed admiral porter had set off the floating bomb so he could claim all the glory for himself and that he had botched the job. Butler wanted to abandon the fort fisher campaign and take his troops back to virginia. Finally, he was persuaded by Staff Officers to go ahead with the landing and put the army ashore just for a reconnaissance and force. Meanwhile, the federal naval bombardment had begun at precisely 12 45 p. M. On december 24th when the u. S. S. New ironsides opened fire on the fort. The fleets 56 war ships were anchored in prearranged battle stations in a mile long line opposite the fort. The combined fire power of the fleet was more than 10 times the fire power of the fort and unleashed an astonishing barrage of power that by some accounts was the greatest naval bombardment in American History at that time. Quote, it was a splendid yet wicked sight, a Northern Naval sailor would recall. What a shower of shell we must have pounded down on their devoted heads. Our shells would bury themselves in the sand and earthworks and explode there in all directions. One continual roar like the heaviest thunder. The smoke was so thick at times it completely hid the sun. It was a sight never to be forgotten. The fort fisher garrison found the naval bombardment anything but splendid. Most were artillery troops, mainly the 36th, 40th, and 10th North Carolina artillery regiments supported by some gun crews from the Confederate Navy and several companies of teenagers from the North Carolina junior reserves. Most waited out the naval bombardment inside fort fishers earthen bomb proofs but for those who had to man the guns during the bombardment it was terrifying. I never saw shells fall so thick a member of the forts garrison would later recount. They came down like hail. And i thought every one would get me. The naval bombardment began on Christmas Eve and it continued through christmas day, sending more than 20,000 rounds, a Million Pounds of iron, hurtling toward fort fisher. However, the navys aim was poor. Much of the twoday barrage fell in the Cape Fear River behind the fort. General butlers troops began landing on christmas day, brought ashore by a long line of navy launches. The advance troops were new yorkers from the 112th new york frant and were led by a towering 64, 29yearold, colonel martin curtis. Curtis was a Small Town School teacher and post master in civilian life. A volunteer officer in the war who had been wounded earlier in the fighting and then stuck in an army desk job. Now he was a Brigade Commander in the 24th army corps and he was eager for action. Curtis led a force of northern troops close to the fort while the naval bombardment was under way and while the forts garrison was hiding inside the bomb proofs. Fort fisher, to his eyes, therefore, appeared empty. Undefended. Curtis was sure that an immediate ground assault would capture the fort if butler would order it and he had no orders. Before he could get permission to do so curtis learned that general butler had surprised everybody and called off the assault. A reconnaissance report had convinced general butler the navy had failed to destroy fort fishers artillery and the confederates were reportedly rushing reinforcements down the peninsula to the fort. So general butler headed northward in his headquarters ship, leaving scores of his troops stranded on the beach until the navy eventually rescued them. Butlers decision to withdraw sparked a National Controversy in the north and became front page news. Grant had cautioned butler troops should not be removed if they were landed. And he believed that butler had intentionally disobeyed his orders. Admiral porter, meanwhile, having witnessed the failure of the powder boat explosion, began to put distance between himself and the powder boat, blamed it all on butler, including the expeditions failure to capture fort fisher. The issue reached the white house. This time ben butlers political connections were not enough to save him. Four days into the new year of 1865 president lincoln issued executive order number one, which removed general butler from command of the army of the james. Meanwhile, the southern troops defending fort fisher viewed the aborted federal attack as a major victory. A parade was held. Fort fishers garrison was jubilant. However, fort fishers commander, colonel william lamb, did not share that joyful attitude. Lamb was sure, he said, the Northern Forces would be back, and soon. Colonel lambs solemn prediction was shared by general William Henry chase whiting, who had been the confederate commander of the cape fear region until the eve of the federal attack. Whiting had graduated from west point in 1841 with a scholastic record that would not be surpassed until the graduation of Douglas Macarthur more than 60 years later. In the prewar u. S. Army, whiting had been seen as a rising star in the Army Engineering corps. His family was from the north, but when war came, he chose to serve the south. In Confederate Service he had risen in rank rapidly from major to general in six months. Whiting had been at the opening shots in charleston. Promoted on the field at first manassas. Made Brigade Commander by the seven days campaign. Chase whiting seemed destined for war time glory. And then his fortune suddenly crashed. Whitings troubles began when he offended confederate president Jefferson Davis by describing one of daviss president ial directives, publicly, as foolish. Davis was incensed. It was said of the president that he never forgot a friend nor forgave an enemy. So in 1862, general whiting was posted to wilmington as departmental commander of a department that at the time seemed to be a place where nothing was happening. Even so, as colonel lambs superior and mentor whiting helped forge fort fishers mighty reputation. However, when news of a pending federal attack on wilmington reached president davis, he ordered whiting replaced by an officer who was the president s friend. A general named braxton bragg. Bragg was a west point graduate, a mexican war combat veteran, but he had overseen a series of disasters in the southern war cause, including the loss of the southern rail hub at chattanooga, some said. He was a harsh disciplinarian. It was said that he shot a deserter a day. And he was reviled by many of his troops. Instead of cheering him, when he appeared, braggs troops would jeer. Bully for bragg. Hes hell on retreat. Bragg was generally disliked by his fellow officers and some of whom said that he quarrelled with everyone. One officer who knew him insisted that once while the general was simultaneously serving as both Quarter Master and company commander, that bragg fell into an argument with himself. And had to summon his commander to settle the dispute. When he was given command of wilmington, a richmond newspaper editorialized, bragg has been sent to wilmington. Goodbye, wilmington. [ laughter ] you cant make this up. So far, however, wilmington and fort fisher had survived both the federal christmas attack and general braggs new command, but on january 12th, 1865, the Northern Army and navy expedition returned. For the Second Attack on fort fisher admiral porter had strengthened the fleet to 59 war ships with a total of 627 guns aboard the 21 troop transports there were almost 9,000 troops this time. The troops from the First Expedition plus reinforcements. Additional artillery had been added. In baltimore, another 4,000 troops were standing by if needed. In command of the federal army of the james now, instead of general butler, was a new commanding general, general alfred h. Terry, age 38. Terry may have seemed like an odd choice for Army Commander for this he pe digs. He was not a west pointer, and in civilian life he was a lawyer and clerk of court in new haven, connecticut. A quiet, reserve man who spent his spare moments in peace time playing the flute. But grant had good reasons for choosing terry. Like general butler and most officers in the war, terry was a volunteer officer. He was also a seasoned combat commander, experienced in joint army navy operations, competent, quiet, dependable, cooperative, a dramatic contrast to the controversial ben butler. At 8 30 a. M. On friday, january 13th, the federal fleet opened fire again on fort fisher. This time the naval bombardment was more accurate, more devastating, more deadly. The fire did not fall into the Cape Fear River. Instead, it inflicted serious casualties on the forts defenders and one by one began wrecking fort fishers heavy artillery. Colonel lambs garrison huddled in the bomb proofs, hoping to wait out the bombardment. When the defenders emerged to man the forts guns and return fire from time to time, they risked quick death from this horrendous rain of iron. The federal infantry landing began that morning. Launch after launch ferried northern soldiers ashore until most of general terrys 9,000 troops were deployed on the beach. General bragg allowed them to land unopposed. Shot and shell from the naval bombardment continued to rain on fort fisher and at the height of the federal naval bombardment to colonel lambs shock general whiting appeared without notice at lambs side in the fort. Whiting, now under general braggs command, had left wilmington headquarters without orders. He was dismayed, he reported, to have seen braggs hands shaking as he worked out evacuation of the southern troops even before the fighting began. Incensed, whiting stormed out of headquarters without orders, stormed down the street of wilmington to the dock side, commandeered a steamer, and went to fort fisher. Despite and when he arrived at fort fisher, whiting gave lamb anything but an optimistic greeting. Lamb, my boy, he announced, ive come to share your fate. You and your garrison are to be sacrificed. Well, despite whitings gloomy prediction, and even though he had barely 1,500 troops in the fort now, colonel lamb remained confident of fort fishers defenses and its defenders. In the woods north of fort fisher, meanwhile, general terry deployed his northern troops in lines stretching from the Atlantic Beach across the peninsula to the banks of the Cape Fear River. A main line faced fort fisher and in the rear a secondary line faced northward where terry feared a confederate attack from the rear. Actually, waiting for an order to attack the federal rear were reinforcements that had been sent south from lees army in virginia. 6,000 troops commanded by general robert e. Hoke of North Carolina. They were seasoned, combat troops, north carolinians sent to defend their home state, and they were ready to do battle. It was general terrys worst fear, especially if a rear attack came at night and the federal fleet could not provide fire support for fear of hitting federal troops. From inside fort fisher, colonel lamb and general whiting repeatedly sent messages urging general bragg to attack, attack, attack. But bragg did not. The bombardment continued to pound fort fisher throughout saturday, january 14th. Then on sunday, january 15th, 1865, the Northern Army made its move. The sun rose over the atlantic horizon in a cloudless blue sky that morning. In the woods north of fort fisher the federal front line troops were in position, waiting for orders to assault the great fort. According to general terrys attack plan, the naval bombardment would cease at a prearranged time and then the soldiers from the army of the james would rush the fort. The troops would make the assault in three brigades, one after another, aiming for the extreme western flank of the forts land face overthe Cape Fear River. At the same time, 2,000 men in a naval brigade composed of sailors and marines drawn from the naval fleet would assault fort fishers northeast bastion. The angle of the fort where the land face met the sea face at waters edge. The naval brigade force, which was admiral porters idea, was composed entirely of volunteers. And they faced a deadly challenge. They would charge the fort over approximately one mile of open beach, largely armed with nothing more than hand guns and cutlasses. At 3 35 that afternoon, the fleet ceased fire and the war ships blew their steam whistles, which was the call for the assault to begin. In charge of the naval brigade was a 33yearold naval officer, Lieutenant Commander randolph briese one of the favorite officers, and briese was having a hard time. The volunteers who composed the naval brigade were not trained infantrymen and knew nothing about making an infantry assault. They were brave, but they were not infantry soldiers. They were sailors and ships cooks, firemen, coal heavers, sail makers, carpenters. At least one of them, a third class boy on the u. S. S. Palatan was practically a child. General terrys orders called for the sailors to delay their assault until the infantry scaled the forts wall on the far end of the fort near the river. But the sailors were determined to be the first inside the fort. Interservice rivalry. And as soon as the fleets steam whistles gave the signal, the sailors and their complement of u. S. Marines charged down the beach toward the fort. Fort fishers defenders rushed from their bomb proofs when the bombardment ceased. They knew that meant the federal infantry assault, which they expected, was probably taking place. Colonel lamb and general whiting believed the main assault would be directed at the forts northeast bastion where the land face met the sea face in an angle. And so they posted almost half the surviving members of the forts garrison at that point high atop the forts earthen walls. Lamb and whiting could not see the army of the james and the distant tree line and when they saw the naval brigade charging down the beach they believed that was the main assault on the fort. Colonel lamb ordered his troops to hold their fire until the naval brigade was within easy range. On they came. Sailors and marines, advancing at a run so close to the surf that they unknowingly flanked the forts mine field. They were 300 yards away from the wall of the fort at the northeast bastion, 250, 200, 150, then colonel lamb gave the order to fire. It was a murderous volley. It flattened the front row of seamen. The whole mass of men, said one of them later, went down like a row of falling bricks. The survivors were quickly up, resumed the assault, until another volley tore into their ranks. They tried to go on. A few made it to the fort wall. But everywhere men were falling and the naval assault abruptly ended. We were packed like sheep in a pen, one of them said later. While the enemy were crowding the ramparts not 40 yards away and shooting as fast as they could fire. The shrieks and groans mingling with fiendish rattling around us were enough to cause one to feel like he was in h echtell. The naval officers unwisely charged to the front in the Assault Force and now were pinned down under fire with the sailors. Lieutenant commander briese finally stood up and called for the sailors to assume resume their assault. Charge, men. He shouted. Dont retreat. In the rear, some of the sailors lying on the beach began shouting, what did he say . Was it to retreat . And then a chorus of yells arose from the ranks of sailors and marines lying on the beach, retreat retreat all at once, almost all of the survivors were on their feet and back up the beach they raced in a panic. Leaving behind their dead sailors and marines and the wounded. Atop the northeast bastion, fort fishers defenders climbed up on the parapats and whooped and yelled in victory as they watched the northern sailors and marines frantically flee up the beach. For colonel lamb and general whiting, it was the supreme moment of triumph. But it was brief. Colonel lamb realized something was wrong. In the distance to the west toward the Cape Fear River he could see battle smoke and movement on the forts batteries nearest the river. Men were moving there, struggling atop the fort wall, and above the struggle and the smoke lamb could see battle flags, not his, not the forts, they were northern battle flags, and he knew the enemy was inside the fort. General terry, while the naval brigade was making its assault, had launched the army assault as planned. Directing it toward fort fishers river side battery, three brigades, one after another. As the first brigade rushed the fort without realizing it, they charged through the forts infamous mine field. But no mines exploded. Apparently the lines connected the mines to their electric battery had been severed by the naval bombardment. In the lead of the assault were new york troops from the first brigade, 2nd division, 24th army corps, army of the james known as curtiss brigade. They were led by colonel Newton Martin curtis, the officer who had ventured so close to fort fisher during the First Expedition before butler called it off. Now the new yorkers scaled the fort wall near the river and were atop the battery by the time the naval brigade was fleeing down the beach. The southerners defending the river side battery were men of the 36th North Carolina artillery led by captain kitchen brady. The 26yearold officer had been raised in a nearby coastal fishing village. He had barely 250 men to face an assault by several thousand northern infantry but he deployed his troops on the fort wall and they unleashed a searing fire into the mass of enemy troops crammed together and swarming up the slopes of the fort. A fierce outburst of musketry greeted the first heads that rose above the level of the fort, one of the northern soldiers would later recall. At least one flag and its bearer rolled down the slope. But our men made some sort of foothold on the slope and delivered over the parapat a fire as fierce as the one they received. The river Side Entrance to fort fisher was defended by two Field Artillery pieces and the gun crews managed to get off two rounds of canister that took down scores of troops in blue uniforms. As curtiss first brigade scaled the fort wall general terry ordered his second brigade to join the assault. It was penny packers brigade. They were troops from new york and pennsylvania led by terrys youngest colonel, 20yearold Galusha Pennypacker who some said was the youngest Brigade Commander in the army. An orphan from pennsylvania, Galusha Pennypacker volunteered for service at age 16 and had steadily risen through the ranks to colonel and Brigade Commander. He was a tested combat veteran, despite his youth, and he already carried the scars of 13 battle wounds. Supported now by pennypackers troops, curtiss new yorkers pushed the southerners off the forts river side battery, pushed on to the next battery. Drove the southern defenders from the third and the fourth. There the fourth battery, the defenders held firm and the fighting became close up and face to face. A comrade next to me on the traverse was shot in his brains and killed, one of the north carolinians would later recount. His brains splattered on my face. Among the federal troops who, one who fell atop the fort, was colonel pennypacker who was shot down with battle flag in hand and was carried to the rear with a serious wound. Seeing enemy soldiers now inside fort fisher general whiting sent colonel lamb to round up more defenders while he led a counterattack with the troops that had turned back the naval assault. Down the giant earthen land face wall they charged and plunged into the massive men in blue now atop the fort wall near the river. It was a soldiers fight now a southern survivor would later testify. As a man would fall, another would spring up to take his place. Our officers were loading and firing with us. It was a handtohand fight. At the center of the struggle general whiting was shot twice, hit in the thigh, and went down. His men dragged him out of the fight and carried him to the forts Field Hospital. Colonel lamb, meanwhile, rounded up a force of every soldier he could find. He deployed them behind a line of shallow earth works and he ordered them to pour fire into the blue uniformed troops swarming in and over the forts river side batteries. On the forts land faced wall, meanwhile, as general whitings command battled curtiss and pennypackers northern troops, incoming artillery rounds suddenly exploded among troops on both sides. The fire apparently came from battery buchanan, a huge battery on the southern tip of the fort, which was manned by confederate sailors and it was claimed whose officers were allegedly drunk during the battle. The deadly fire tore into whitings troops as friendly fire but also seemed a stalled federal advance. Land now had the hope the enemy intruders could be stopped and maybe even turned back if only general bragg would order an assault on the federal rear. Finally, general bragg ordered general hoke to make the assault on the federal rear of the army. Two brigades of North Carolina troops, kirklands and klemans brigades. Good troops. Experienced fighters. Moved through the woods north of fort fisher and attacked the federal rear line. They engaged white troops from the 24th army corps on the federal right and black troops from the 25th army corps on the federal left. The white troops withdrew under heavy fire. But the black troops held firm. As they unflinching traded fire with hokes southerners, solid, experienced combat veterans, lees army, the u. S. Colored troops answered the question, often posed by critics. Black troops would fight and fight well. Even so, as the right flank of the federal rear guard began to give way, some of hokes field officers were certain that the entire federal line in the rear was finally about to break. And then general bragg ordered hokes troops to cease their assault and retreat back up the peninsula. Braggs decision meant that fort fishers surviving troops would have to fight alone. Inside the fort meanwhile the federal push down the land face wall ground to a halt. Watching the battle from a distance with a baroed pair of binoculars, general terry ordered in more troops. Another brigade would go in. Third brigade, 2nd division, 24th army corps, known as bells brigade. It was composed from troops from indiana, New Hampshire, new york, and was commanded by 27yearold colonel louis bell, son of a New Hampshire governor, bell was a graduate of brown university. In civilian life he was an attorney, a prosecutor, amateur scientist, devoted husband and father, and a combat veteran and Brigade Commander. The troops of the 3rd brigade, bells brigade, quickly moved forward to join the battle on the forts towering land face wall. Just as the brigades assault began, however, colonel bell took a Sharp Shooters round through the body and fell mortally wounded. His troops obediently kept going anyway, rushing past their fallen colonel, spilling into the fort, scaling its high earthen walls, adding their strength to the federal troops already inside. From his position inside the fort, colonel lamb could see more men in blue pouring into his fort, fighting his troops atop the batteries and in the forts interior. Despite their superior numbers, the federal troops seemed to hesitate under the fierce fire unleashed by the forts thin line of defenders. If they were struck hard now, lamb reckoned, maybe the enemy soldiers would fold up and retreat in a panic like the sailors had done. Lamb ordered the troops around him to rise and charge in a desperate counter attack, a bayonet charge. They obeyed, but as they arose with fixed bayonets, colonel lamb was hit. It was a serious wound. Lamb was struck by a federal mini ball probably a 58 caliber lead bullet. It hit his left hip, fractured his hip bone, and knocked him flat. When the troops around him saw him go down, they faltered and that ended the counter attack. Lamb was carried off to the forts Field Hospital to join general whiting. But like bells and pennypackers northern soldiers, the north carolinians defending fort fisher would not give up despite the command void left by the absence of whiting and lamb. They kept fighting, giving ground stubbornly, slowly being pushed back from one land face battery to another, but giving up ground at a bloody cost to the Northern Army. Command of fort fishers defense now went to lambs surviving subordinate major james riley. But there was little that he could do. It was now a soldiers fight. Face to face, hand to hand. On top of the forts land face walls. The northern troops had a definite numerical advantage, but on the walls of the fort in such close quarters with soldiers on both sides crammed shoulder to shoulder against each other, Numerical Strength did not immediately matter. The forts defenders were giving ground very grudgingly and they were defending North Carolina soil, their homes, and their families. And despite their lack of experience they fought as hard as men could fight that day. It was later said to be by both sides some of the bitterest handtohand fighting of the war. A soldier would be shot in the head by a rifle ball. The survivor later recollected. There was no outcry. Simply a spurt of blood and it was all over. An agonizing clamor came from the wounded men laying in the sand. The dead lay near each other their faces in the sand and others had fallen in a heap of broken limbs and mangled bodies. Men unable to stand and fire their pieces handed up the guns of their dead and helpless comrades and reloaded them again and again. At dusk, however, the federal advance appeared to stall again. About midway down the forts land face. Colonel curtis, leading the fight at the front of his troops, sent a courier hustling to the rear with a request for more reinforcements. Instead of reinforcements, however, he received orders to entrench, to dig in on the forts earthen wall, and wait for morning. The order came from Brigadier General ames, the Division Commander and curtiss immediate superior. Ames was a west pointer. He had a lot of combat experience. A resume of military honors. But he loathed colonel curtis. Ames and curtis were engaged in a personal feud during the fort fisher campaign. Ames had made his headquarters aboard the troop ship that curtis commanded. But when the ships were ordered to set sail, from virginia, ames was at general butlers headquarters courting the generals daughter. After a long wait, curtis ordered the troop ship to sail anyway without his superior officer, and when ames caught up with the expedition after hitching a ride on a hospital ship, he and curtis had a heated argument in front of the troops. By the time they went into battle, they were not speaking to each other. So in the midst of the bloody fighting on the land face at dusk, curtis repeatedly requested reinforcements. And general ames repeatedly ordered him to stop the fight and dig in for the night. Curtis refused to obey. The confederates were about to break, he argued. Ames finally sent a courier with an arm load of spades up to the front. Up to the top of a battery where the fight was raging. In the midst of the shouts and the blood and the death, this courier appeared and presented his arm load of shovels to curtis. Infuriated, curtis angrily threw the spades over the crest of the battery on to the confederates on the other side. I always wondered, what did they think . Its raining shovels are the Northern Forces out of bullets . But curtis kept fighting. Then, minutes later, he was knocked flat by an exploding artillery shell, which took out one of his eyes, knocked him unconscious, and forced his soldiers to drag him to the rear. Now general terry had to make the crucial decision. It was almost night time. He had put in three brigades into the fort. His troops had been fighting for hours. All three of his Brigade Commanders were dead or wounded. The federal advance seemed stalled. And his Division Commander wanted to stop fighting and entrench for the night. Terry was at a Pivotal Point in the battle. Should he stop, set up for a siege, or should he risk more loss of life and push on . He chose to keep fighting, ignoring general ames call to dig in. He ordered more reinforcements. Charging into the fort now at terrys orders was a fourth brigade. Troops from New Hampshire and connecticut, commanded by colonel joseph c. Abbott and adding to those numbers terry called for the u. S. Colored troops of the 25th army corps. For the First Time Since federal forces had moved against fort fisher, black troops were now heading for the front. The federal reinforcements poured into the fort. The momentum shifted to the men in blue. Many of the federal troops were fresh now while the forts defenders were far fewer in number and nearing exhaustion. Still, the fighting was bitter and bloody. It was cold steel with the butt of a gun a northern officer would remember. Men would blaze away in the darkness. Hoarse voices were shouting orders in the shadowy forms of friend and foe could now and then be seen by the flash of exploding shells or the blaze of musketry. It was all like some kind of hideous dream. But the forts surviving defenders were exhausted and almost out of ammunition. The forts chaplain had been collecting cartridges from the dead to supply those still fighting but it was not enough. Fort fishers garrison had fought stubbornly, courageously, these men from North Carolina, but now their fight was nearing an end. The breakthrough came for the Northern Army came when fresh troops from the 7th New Hampshire moved through the darkness along the base of the fort land face, flanking the forts remaining defenders, and then rushed over the fort wall and opened fire on the southerners from the rear. Surrounded now by a host of blue uniforms, fort fishers surviving defenders finally gave up. After six hours of ferocious fighting, all resistance collapsed and the federal army of the james held fort fisher from the river to the ocean. General whiting and colonel lamb were lying side by side with the forts battle wounded when whiting looked up and saw an officer in a blue uniform standing over him and looking down at him. It was general terry now the victor of the battle of fort fisher. General whiting as the ranking southern officer spoke words that had once seemed unthinkable to him. I surrender, sir, to you, the forces under my command. Fort fisher had fallen. Wilmington was sealed. And the confederacy had lost its last major seaport. Atop fort fishers blood soaked ramparts the victorious northern troops cheered and jumped and hugged each other in a wild celebration as the naval fleet blew its whistles and set off fireworks. Victory, a northern soldier would later write. And we proclaimed it, too, from sea and shore, echoed back wilder and heartier cheering than had ever before disturbed a midnight at this place. My very heart went up in thanksgiving. Men grasped each other and wept only as brave men can in the hour of victory. When dawn came to fort fisher on january 16th, it revealed a dramatically different post. Gone was the garrison in confederate gray replaced by northern troops in blue uniforms. The forts mighty line of heavy artillery was wrecked. Guns battered, broken, dismounted. And there, too, was horrible evidence of the battles fury and the destruction of the naval bombardment. Scarcely a square foot of ground was without some fragment or unexploded shell, recorded a northern soldier. Heavy guns burst, others knocked to pieces, dead bodies of rebels lying where they fell with wounds so horrible it would sicken the beholder. Some with heads off. Some cut in two. Some disembowelled. Every possible wound that could be inflicted. Oh, this terrible war. In what was the result of the northern victory at the battle of fort fisher . Confederate officials regarded the loss of fort fisher as a stunning blow. Alexander stevens, confederate Vice President , pronounced it one of the greatest disasters to befall the south since the beginning of the war. Faced with the loss of wilmington, the souths last major seaport, confederate secretary of war james seven resigned from his office. Some congressmen called on davis to step down in favor of robert e. Lee as dictator. The fall of fort fisher convinced other confederate congressmen that the south should finally make terms with the north. A few weeks later after the fall of fort fisher, president lincoln and u. S. Secretary of state William Seward met with a confederate peace commission, but the meeting achieved nothing. President davis said president lincoln was unwilling to compromise because the south had lost its last major port and was isolated. With the capture of fort fisher and the port of wilmington the confederacy was isolated from the rest of the world. There were no other major ports open to the south. And small ones could do nothing to replace wilmington. The life line of the confederacy had been severed forever. No more imported weapons or food stuff would be rolling up the railway from wilmington to lees army of northern virginia. To many, north and south, it appeared that one of the final nails had been driven into the confederate coffin. Indeed, robert e. Lees surrender at appomattox would come less than three months later. Thank you. [ applause ] any questions . Yes, sir. A long time ago i read somewhere that butler and porter, especially porter, had a great deal of animosity for butler, so much so that he ordered his navy on the first assault to shoot poorly and to aim for the Cape Fear River. Is there anything that supports that in the Current Research . Ive never seen any evidence of that. I will say that the relationship between the two was strained. Butler actually invited porter to his headquarters ship. Butler had a captured blockade runner. Porter had the u. S. S. Malvern. It was a nice ship for the fleet and for any admiral but when he went aboard butlers headquarters boat, he was really amazed at the opulence and probably not real happy about it. While he was there he did make a comment that the security was terrible and then a bomb went off while they were meeting, something they thought was designed to look like a piece of coal and it was tossed into the boiler and so they had to evacuate the ship and his palatial headquarters ship sank. So a lot of bad blood. You couldnt have picked two people who were so different in so many ways. I never heard that, and i find hard to believe that the, that porter would do that. He really was a sailors sailor and he was controversial in his own way. One of his men said he would be willing to tramp down any officer, any friend to advance his career, but he loved the navy. So i would not believe that without seeing some evidence but it does bring us to the thought about the relationship between the two of those. Yes, sir . What was ames response the next morning after he had been encouraging everybody to quit fighting and dig in and all of a sudden theyve won the next morning . Thats a great question. Ames didnt say much. Ames had distinguished himself at gettysburg. He was an excellent field officer. But this whole feud thing with them went on and on. And ames didnt say much except he wrote his after action report and you would have thought ames won the battle. Then years later, years later a Veterans Group in new york city was meeting at delmonicos restaurant and it was announced in advance, you know, like we are doing here, they made presentations on different topics. And it was announced ames was going to speak on the battle of fort fisher. This was in the 1890s. They were elderly by then. And so ames came and stood at the lectern and delivered this. General terry had recently died. Terry ended up being one of the rare volunteer officers who kept his rank, stayed in the regular army. He was the officer that sent custer to the little big horn and he was, had a distinguished career after the war but became ill and died. Not long after he died, ames asked to make this presentation. In it, critics said, he took credit for the fort fisher and basically according to critics, their interpretation was that he really told terry what to do and thats why things worked out the way they did. Well, sitting in the audience was colonel curtis. One eye. Who had distinguished himself with a post war career, political leadership, writing books, and a fierce defender of general terry and what had happened at fort fisher. And he knew that ames was there so in the middle of the ames speech when he reached a point where curtis thought he was really claiming that he had been responsible for the victory, according to the new york times, curtis stood up and clenched his fist and glared with his eye and said, you craven hearted coward. Then everything fell apart. Now, that was great for me. Because what happened was, adrian terry, general terrys brother, was also angry. He sent a letter to everybody he knew and trusted and said, write me your account of fort fisher. Im going to write a book. Well, he never did, but thanks to him i did. [ laughter ] and i am really grateful that collection of work that he did because they didnt think any of that would be published and they were so frank that all these details kind of poured out about what was going on. Thank you for that. Yes, sir . Back here. Im sorry, maam. A question about hoke. You said bragg sent hoke and then recalled hoke. Was there any conflict there between those two . I know hoke went on to fight in bentonville. What happened to bragg . I think everybody generally agrees hoke was a competent officer and, you know, he followed orders and pulled back as he was told to. Your question was, what happened to bragg . More scorn was of course put on bragg and he ended up not with a command but ended up with president davis till the very end on the president s trail from richmond. Bragg was with him for a long time. Somebody asked me one time, can you tell us something good that bragg did . And i dont pick on general bragg. I dont. I just reported what was written. But he did create a really nice bridge in galveston after the war. [ laughter ] and i will add to that, when this book came out, 1991, i was in a Grocery Store not far from my home and was pushing my shopping cart. Had seven kids so im pushing my shopping cart and this very nice elderly lady came walking by. I did not know her. She looked at me and said, youre mr. Gragg. I said yes, maam. She said you wrote that book on fort fisher. I said yes, maam. She said, you said bad things about general bragg. I said, maam . She said, he was my ancestor. I was afraid to go to the Grocery Store for weeks. Another question . Yes. Regarding the over firing of the fort, i had heard a different story. I had heard that when lamb and whiting was observing the initial firing of the shells they noticed they were firing on the flag of the confederacy and they moved the flag back to the river and by that means more than half of the shells ended up in the river and, therefore, and therefore minimized the damage. Is that the right story . I dont know. I havent heard that they moved it. Wouldnt surprise me. But it is true, reports that the sailors were undisciplined as fighters and they got into a contest to try to knock down the garrison flag and they over shot the fjord. So that part did happen. I just dont know if they moved the flag. I need to find out about that. Thank you. Anyone else . Youve been a great group. Thank you so much. Weeknights this week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight foreign dignitaries and Holocaust Survivors gather to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the auschwitz concentration camp. Then the United States Holocaust Museum in washington, d. C. Hosts a comemerative ceremony to remember those who perished and mark Holocaust Remembrance Day followed by holocaust scholars discussing the brutality of the nazi regime. American history tv tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan 3. Civil war scholar Timothy Smith explores the 1863 battle of champion of hill part of