Combat· American Civil War
Second Fort Fisher Attack
The successful assault on the great earthwork guarding Wilmington, the last open Confederate port, marred for the Corps by a bloody failure on the beach.
While General Terry's army stormed the landward face, a naval brigade of some sixteen hundred sailors and about four hundred Marines was landed to assault the sea face. The plan miscarried badly: the sailors were to charge the parapet with cutlass and pistol while the Marines covered them with rifle fire, but in the confusion the formations tangled, and the brigade was sent across open beach into a withering fire that cut it down and broke the assault, the survivors falling back in disorder. The Marines and sailors fought gallantly, some almost reaching the wall, but the diversion cost them dearly. The Army's assault carried the fort regardless, and Fort Fisher fell on 15 January, sealing the Confederacy's last seaport.
Podcast episodes on American Civil War
Record no. 21