Friends of Fort Fisher

Who are the Friends of Fort Fisher?

Friends of Fort Fisher is a membership-based nonprofit formed to support Fort Fisher State Historic Site.  We partner with Fort Fisher State Historic Site and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to preserve this historic battlefield and training ground, interpret the Fort Fisher stories and promote a greater understanding of and appreciation for the significance of Fort Fisher’s role in our history. 

Fort Fisher, toward the end of the American Civil War, is considered by many to be so strategically significant that its fall can be credited with hastening the end of our country’s bloodiest war. By December 1864, Wilmington, NC stood as the last remaining Confederate port open on the eastern seaboard, and its supplies were referred to by General Lee as the lifeblood of his men. Fort Fisher guarded the Atlantic entrance to the Cape Fear River which led to Wilmington, protecting both the city and the blockade runners which supplied its port. Lincoln understood the importance of Fort Fisher and called for Union forces to take the Fort. The Union attacked and was thwarted in late December, 1864, but returned on January 13, 1865. Deep in the night of January 15, 1865, the Fort fell. Wilmington fell by mid-February and Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox less than three months after the fall of Fort Fisher.

In 1941, Fort Fisher became militarily significant once again as a WWII auxiliary post for Camp Davis, in Holly Ridge, NC, training at least 43 different anti-aircraft battalions, coast artillery regiments and engineer, signal corps, ordinance and air warning units.

It was listed on the National Register of historic Places in 1966.

Fort Fisher is a North Carolina and National treasure. Its stories include those who built, defended, fought at, trained at and, in many cases, died on its grounds. Today Fort Fisher State Historic Site is growing. With over 900,000 visitors last year, it is North Carolina’s most visited historic site! It serves local families, school groups, retirement groups, military groups, Jr. ROTC, Boys/Girls Club summer camp, YMCA summer camp, Fort Fisher descendants and tourists.