The Coastal Battle

The Coastal Battle

The coast of North Carolina was well sought after as both a means of transportation and resources. The confederacy wanted the many sounds of the Intercostal Waterway for the movement of its troops and materials. These waters supplied whatever was necessary for Lee’s North Virginia Army, which was the main source of opposition for the Union’s expansion into the south. The Union’s ability to ship goods to its southern armies was being impeded by the many confederate blockade-runners. These blockade-runners were mainly stationed in the port of Wilmington, which they used to repair and re-supply. Wilmington, located on the mouth of the Cape Fear River, also marked the beginning of the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad, equally vital to confederate operations. The Union assault began from the north, in which General Burnside slowly captured relatively mall, yet strategic forts. This system of small battles carried on throughout the war in this area until the eventual battles of Fort Fisher, and fall of Wilmington in 1865, marking the climax and end of the war. Another large, primary port of the region, New Bern, became a target of union ambition to end the war. It, like Wilmington, supplied the confederacy with many badly needed supplies, which, during the end of the war, became more and more scarce to the dieing cause. However, the issue of the fast blockade runners, darting between Union lines and confederate trading partners, became more and more evident a reason to capture Wilmington. Although the Union army won the Civil War, North Carolina remained a persistent objective to be captured.