The Fall of the Forts
There were several of them along the coast
(luring the (lays of the Civil War. Most im¬
portant and last to fall was Fort Fisher,
below Wilmington.
THE South was essentially agri¬
cultural and the outbreak of
hostilities in 1861 found it al¬
most entirely destitute of weapons
of warfare, and the thousands of
things necessary in the equipment
of an army and its maintainence
in the field. Seizure of the few
arsenals and forts did not begin
to meet the necessities of the
situation. During the first eighteen
months when the Southern forces
were almost uniformly successful,
and while the Federal army was
being transformed from mere
armed civilians, the Confederates
relied largely upon arms and
equipment captured from the
enemy. Federal General Banks
was derisively dubbed by Jackson's
troops as "Old Jack’s Commissary
General"; and even the tilts of the
wagons at Confederate head¬
quarters bore the mark "U. S. A."
Three Large Sounds
The Carolina coast is indented
with three great sounds — Curri¬
tuck. Albemarle and Pamlico — into
which empty many navigable riv¬
ers. with a rich agricultural back
country. This section formed the
"back door" to Norfolk, through
the Dismal Swamp Canal. There
was also rail connection between
Richmond and Wilmington and
New Bern. Through these chan¬
nels Lee's army received most of
its meagre supplies. The Federal
high command at an early date
realized the importance of the
Carolina coast, amounting in
reality to Lee’s rear, and as early
as 1861 planned a systematic cam¬
paign against it.
The State made such pitifully
inadequate provision as it could,
but was forced to rely almost en¬
tirely upon its own efforts, inas¬
much as the Confederate govern¬
ment could not spare adequate
troops from its regular forces in
the Virginia theatre.
Hatteras Inlet was the key to
the sounds, and here two so-called
"forts" were built, with others at
Ocracoke Inlet, Roanoke Island
and other strategic points. There
were no long range or rifled can-
THE STATE. MAY 4. 1046
If?/ IK. C. LAWRENCE
non. only smooth bores and but
few of these. The troops manning
the works were few in number
and mostly inexperienced, poorly
armed and equipped: many having
only "squirrel" shot guns, at¬
tached to which were carving
knives in lieu of bayonets.
On August 26. 1861. a Federal
fleet under Flog Officer Stringham,
accompanied by a large force
under General Butler, attacked
Hatteras Inlet, overcame its weak
defences and captured its works.
In January 1862, an armada sailed
from Fortress Monroe with the
capture of eastern Carolina as its
objective. It consisted of 20 ves¬
sels under Admiral Gainsborough,
accompanied by transports bearing
15.000 troops under General Burn¬
side. There were but two raw
regiments to defend Roanoke Is¬
land. and its antiquated artillery
was no match for the rifled guns
of the Federals; neither could the
two raw regiments withstand the
Kwerful force under Burnside.
e defending "fleet" mounted but
eight guns and were soon forced
to retire from action. The island
was captured, and the entire sound
territory, one third of the State,
including the back entrance into
Norfolk, was at the mercy of the
enemy.
Attack on New Bern
The Federals soon moved to cap¬
ture the vital railway arteries.
On March 13. 1862. the Federal
land and sea forces attacked New
Bern. The gallant L. O B. Branch,
soon to give his life for his cause,
had less than 5,000 poorly equipped
troops, supported by smooth bore
guns, wherewith to resist the on¬
slaught of the powerful opposing
force. After a spirited battle, the
Confederates were forced to re¬
treat, leaving New Bern in the
possession of the enemy. Fort
Macon at Beaufort was taken in
April, and the entire Carolina
coast, except from Wilmington to
the South, was in the possession of
the enemy. Loss of eastern Caro¬
lina forced the Confederates to
evacuate Norfolk, an irreparable
loss to the Southern cause.
Burnside was now within strik¬
ing distance of the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad — a vital
necessity to the maintenance and
supply of Lee’s army. This road
served two essential defensive serv¬
ices. Over it were transported
supplies for Lee’s army from the
coastal States; and also over it
moved the stream of supplies
which ran the Federal blockade
through the ports of Savannah.
Charleston and Wilmington.
Happily, before Burnside could
strike this vital artery, the suc¬
cesses of Lee and Jackson in Vir¬
ginia. and their invasion of Mary¬
land, caused the hasty withdrawal
of the major part of Burnside’s
army to Maryland, where McLel-
lan was loudly calling for rein¬
forcements, and for a time the
precious railroad was compara¬
tively safe from attack and there
was a breathing spell for the
State.
The Situation at Wilmington
There came a time, however,
when the South had been stripped
almost bare of supplies, and when
the Confederates had to rely more
and more upon supplies which
ran the blockade through the port
of Wilmington. Charleston and
Savannah had both been lost, but
Wilmington was still open, pro¬
tected by Fort Fisher, and through
this port and the Weldon Rail¬
road a steady stream of essential
supplies reached the armies under
Lee, besieged in Petersburg.
There were two entrances into
Cape Fear from the ocean— the
mouth of the river, protected by
Forts Caswell and Johnson at
Southport: and "New Inlet” pro¬
tected by the guns of Fort Fisher-
"Gibraltar of the South" — under
whose protecting artillery the
blockade runners ran the gauntlet
( Continued on page 30)
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