At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 and continuing through 1864, thousands of soldiers, civilians and free and enslaved men labored to construct an earthen fort to provide protection for sleek blockade running vessels entering the Port of Wilmington, N.C.

Over a mile and a half of connected traverses and gun batteries mounting 47 heavy coastal cannons, Fort Fisher was the “Gibraltar of the South” and Wilmington was known as the “Lifeline of the Confederacy.”

According to Fort Fisher’s commander, Colonel William Lamb, “General (Robert E.) Lee had sent word that if the fort (Fisher) fell he could not maintain his army, (and that meant the loss of our cause) ….” Federal General Ulysses S. Grant and the Lincoln administration realized the strategic importance of Fort Fisher and Wilmington and sent a combined army-navy-marine force to capture the fort in December, 1864. Poorly executed, this first thrust failed.

The combined force returned on January 12, 1865 and began the largest bombardment and amphibious campaign in U.S. history up to WWII.  Nearly 3 million pounds of navy projectiles from the Federal fleet's 600 plus cannons were hurled against the fort dismounting most of the fort’s landface artillery.

The Federal force of 10,000 soldiers, sailors and marines attacked the fort with its garrison of roughly 2,500 soldiers. The bloody hand-to-hand combat lasted eight hours and resulted in Fort Fisher’s capture and almost 4,000 casualties.

Seventy Medals of Honor were awarded as testimony to the valor exhibited there.  Following the fall of Fort Fisher and closure of the Port of Wilmington, General Lee’s prophesy was realized when the Civil War ended within 90 days.