Wilmington North Carolina in the Civil War

During the Civil War, Wilmington provided a vital service to the confederacy. Singled out after the fall of many other major ports such as Mobile, Alabama, Wilmington became the target of attack for many Union forces coming from both the north and the south. The Confederacy relied greatly on many outside resources from empires such as the British, who dominated the triangle trade and vital manufactured supplies as well ass raw materials from the West Indies. It was blockaded for a long duration of the war, but many goods were still smuggled in and out of it, making Wilmington a still thriving part of the Confederate economy. Goods from Wilmington, if relating to the war effort, went straight to Northern Virginia through a railroad to help provide support for Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, which remained one of the main buffer zones and areas of combat between the two sides. Wilmington was even considered more valuable to capture by the union forces than Richmond. The key to capturing the city and fort was to use both the army and navy to prevent any escape. The city remained free from complete occupation until February 22, 1865. Due to the fall of this city, the war ended in just three months because General Lee could no longer support his army or maintain a strong force of opposition. General Bragg managed to pull a retreat from the city with minimal casualties. He fought in many other forts along the Cape Fear River as they escaped with what remaining force they had.


http://www.nccivilwar150.com/history/lifeline.htm

Battle of Fort Fisher

The Battle of Fort Fisher lasted for two days, and began in 1865 towards the end of the war. The importance of the fort was to maintain a steady stream of supplies to the Confederacy because almost all of the other ports in the region had been captured by Union troops, and the port at Wilmington was the only major one left. The fort was named after a fallen colonel who had died in the Battle of Bull Run. There were several major batteries installed on the fort, which is located between the marshlands of the Cape Fear River mouth, and the Atlantic Ocean. There were in fact two separate battles at fort Fisher. Ditches were placed, along with landmines and wire to deter Union amphibious attacks. This was successful for the first battle, in which it managed to hold off Union forces. General Bragg, who I have written about previously, was one of the North Carolina generals that later provided reinforcements for the veterans of the fort. The initial loss was also caused by confusion amongst the Union troops, and they were called off to prevent further damage. The Bahamas and Nova Scotia were two major resources to the Confederates, and were vital to the war effort. The secret of the fort and its ability to withstand the many bombardments of the Union ships was the fact that it was made of piled dirt, and secret passageways between each bunker. After visiting this fort many times, I always wondered why it was made of dirt and there were wooden doors opening into mounds of earth that they never let us in, but this research really helped to clear this out. This picture was also pretty cool.


"Fort Fisher - The Fort." NC Historic Sites. Web. 05 Jan. 2010. .

Possible Topics

· Secession
· Fort Fisher
· General Bragg
· Coastal war
· Wilmington
· New Bern
· Sherman’s Carolina march
· 37th (and other specific regiments)
· Formation of its army
· Final defeat
· Role of troops in and out of state battles
· Resources and why they were important to the Confederacy
· Memorials
· Regional views of the war at the time
· Relation with other Confederate States
· Effect on the politics/people today
· Terrain and effect on the fighting
· Why there was not much fighting
· Battle of Fort Fisher I
· Battle of Forth Fisher II
· Style of economy before the war
· Views of the state by other states

Holiday Assignment #4

Lastly, for this assignment, I have decided to write a little about the North Carolina 37th and their role both in and out of the state. This regiment is also known as the Tar Heels. It has so far been difficult to find enough information about them, and the only resources I can find are websites. Some books I have found have small paragraphs of information, but that’s about it. It began in 1861 and was created as soon as the war had begun. Most of its volunteers were from the mountainous west or from around Charlotte. They were initially given muskets and lead balls, a technology that was dated at the time. These were replaced later by converted percussion cap rifles, many of which were converted from muskets captured in the War of 1812. The regiment itself played a major role in battles from Northern Virginia to Gettysburg. Heir most famous battle occurred while deterring the advance from General Ambrose Burnsides down through the Carolinas. Although they were successful in temporarily prolonging the life of the Confederacy, they were unsuccessful in maintaining proper numbers and morale, and their colonel had been captured and was going to be used by federal soldiers, along with 49 other confederate officers, as cannon fodder. By the end of the war, 115 out of 2,000 soldiers, including officers, were able to surrender. They became known as the tar heels due to their ability to stand their ground in the numerous battles that they fought, but this tactic must have also caused such losses.

Holiday Assignment #3

Yet another book that I found about North Carolina in the Civil War is titled Sherman’s March Through the Carolinas. In fact, the first line of the book is what really caught my attention. It states that, General William Tecumseh Sherman always maintained that the Carolinas campaign of 1865 was his greatest military achievement.” A quote from Sherman later begins to explain that the famous march to Savannah that he later took may have gathered everyone’s attention and is popular among historians, but he viewed it as “child’s play”. I believe this to be one of the main aspects of my paper. This is the kind of change in history that I’ve been looking for. The Civil War is controversial and has many different views and retellings of different stories, but to find an entire book written with the help of a UNC professor about something I had never even heard of seems like a great opportunity. The march through the Carolinas occurred after the march to Savannah, in early 1865. It also discusses how the push to move Sherman out of the deep south became a top priority of the Confederates, and that stopping his advance into the Carolinas was the first, and most important step in doing so. Sherman also seemed to have realized this, and did not underestimate the small, but strong fighting force he had put up against him. He could also, however, see the disparity of the confederates, when they claimed that England and France had joined their cause.

Holiday Assignment #2

For this Blog, I am going to describe the role that the mountainous region of North Carolina played in the Civil War. This was one of the first regions to first start organizing actual companies and outfits of soldiers. In fact, some even did so before North Carolina official seceded from the Union. The Black Mountain Boys from Yancey County, the Watauga Troopers of Watauga County, and the Rough and Ready Guards of Buncombe County are three examples that the book brings to mind. What is most unique about this region during the war, in my opinion, is the controversy surrounded around it. The difficultly traversed terrain meant that traitors form both sides used them as a safe hold. This separated communities against each other, and even family members who had different ideas of the war. This mentality carried on for years after the war. This region also has less monuments and graves for its veterans than the rest of the state, but the veterans met more personally during reunions to remember their own sacrifices and pay homage to those who died. Even the first casualty of the entire war was a North Carolina soldier named Henry Wyatt (he was actually a member of the 37th, adding to the legacy of the Tar Heels). With a total of 125,000 soldiers sent to fight in the war, the acts of men joining together on their own accord and enlisting in groups comprised much of the war effort, and this region seemed to showcase this reoccurring theme.

Holiday Assignment #1

Earlier this month, before the holiday vacation, my dad went down to North Carolina. I asked him if he could find anything on North Carolina’s role in the Civil War, and he managed to find me a book in a local library called Remembering North Carolina’s Confederates. Flipping through this book, the chapters are divided into one covering each of the four geographical areas of North Carolina, one on Jefferson Davis, and one on the soldiers’ involvements in battles outside of the state. For this first assignment I brushed over the part on coastal plains and am going to give a brief description of what was in it. The coast of North Carolina saw the majority of real battles that took place on the state’s soil. The Northern cities such as New Bern and the Outer Banks were captured relatively soon by the Union army, but southern ports such as the one in Wilmington and the Fort Fisher complex, fell in early 1865. These served as some of the last ties to the outside world for the confederates and provided vital supplies. This area contains the most civil war memorials in the state, as well as the largest civil war graveyards. A number of Civil War generals, one even which died in Gettysburg are scattered across the state, buried with different memorials and statues. The book even discusses the legacy of some of these generals. One of them, Charles M. Stedman who was born in Wilmington North Carolina, was a U.S. representative until 1930, and was the last Civil War veteran to do so.