FORT JOHNSTON
★ ★ ★
Guardian of the Cape Fear River
CONFEDERATE LIFELINE
On January 9, 1861, as secession fever swept the
South, an armed body of civilians overwhelmed
Fort Johnston’s lone occupant, Ordinance Sgt.
James Reilly, and demanded the keys. Reilly quick¬
ly surrendered them and received a receipt in
return. North Carolina Gov. John W. Ellis, howev¬
er, on January 11 ordered Fort Johnston and sev¬
eral other strongholds restored to the Federal gov¬
ernment. The Confederates reoccupied the fort on
April 16, after the fall of Fort Sumter, once again
taking possession from Reilly. He soon resigned
On Ffebruary 29. 1864, U.S. Navy Lt.
William B. Cushing led a small party
ashore at night to kidnap Confederate
Gen. Louis Hebert, Fort Johnston's
commanding officer. Hebert was away,
so Cushing's raiders took another offi¬
cer to let the garrison know they had
breached the fort’s security. Cushing
took possession of Fort Johnston and
Smithville (present-day Southport)
for Federal forces on January 18, 1865,
after Fort Fish a* fell. Union troops
assembled nearby for the assault on
Fort Anderson in February.
Lt. William B. Cushing
Maj. James Reilly,
Confederate artillery
Courtesy Cape Fear Museum
from the U.S. Army, joined the
Confederacy as an artillery
officer, and, in a strange twist
of fate, oversaw the surrender
of Fort Fisher to Union forces
on January 15, 1865.
Behind you is the
Cape Fear River, flowing
between Oak Island and Bald
Head Island. During the war,
vessels attempting to run the
Federal blockade of Southern ports passed
through this inlet en route to Canada, Bermuda,
the Caribbean islands and Cuba. They steamed
back to Wilmington with tons of military sup¬
plies, which railroads transported to Petersburg
and Richmond in Virginia to support Gen. Robert
E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Eventually,
the Union blockading squadron sealed every
Southern port except Wilmington, which was
protected by Fort Fisher, Fort Johnston, and sev¬
eral other fortifications on the Cape Fear River.
Fort Johnston barracks, 1865. The building in front of you was built
about 1810 and used as officers' quarters. The white columns were added
during the 20th century.
In 1745, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized the construc¬
tion of a fort here to protect the Cape Fear River from the Spanish.
Little more than a century later, Fort Johnston (named for colonial
governor Gabriel Johnston; also called Fort Pender) and other Confed¬
erate forts helped safeguard the river and Wilmington from attack by
U.S. Navy forces. Fort Johnston remained an active military facility
until decommissioning began in 2004
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