First Battle of Fort Fisher

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First Battle of Fort Fisher


caption="Capture of Fort Fisher" by Kurz and Allison, 1890.
partof=the American Civil War
date=December 7 – December 27 1864
place=New Hanover County, North Carolina
result=Confederate victory
combatant1= flagicon|USA|1863 United States (Union)
combatant2= flagicon|CSA|1863 CSA (Confederacy)
commander1=Benjamin Butler (army)
David D. Porter (navy)
commander2=Braxton Bragg
William Lamb
strength1=Expeditionary Corps, Army of the James
strength2=District of the Cape Fear
Fort Fisher Garrison
casualties1=320 (US and CS)
casualties2=320 (US and CS)

The First Battle of Fort Fisher, fought from December 7 to December 27 1864, was a failed attempt by Union forces to capture the fort guarding Wilmington, North Carolina, the South's last major port on the Atlantic Ocean.

After the failed Bermuda Hundred Campaign, Major General Benjamin Butler and his Army of the James were assigned to an amphibious expedition against Fort Fisher. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had originally designated one of Butler's subordinates, Major General Godfrey Weitzel, to lead the expedition, but Butler, the senior major general of volunteers in the Army, demanded that he lead the troops himself and Grant acquiesced.

Fort Fisher, on Confederate Point, nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the Confederacy", was a formidable target commanding the Cape Fear River. It encompassed 14,500 ft.² and was surrounded by a 10-foot parapet and a network of bombproofs, most of which were 30 feet high. Many obstructions were laid around it, including land mines (called torpedoes in this era), abatis, and deep ditches. There were more than 50 heavy cannon, including 15 Columbiads and a 150-pounder Armstrong gun, behind a 60-foot mound of earth near the sea, named the Mound Battery. The fort's garrison of 1,400 men was commanded by Colonel William Lamb. Additional reinforcements were available from General Braxton Bragg at Sugar Loaf, 4 miles away.

The Union naval expedition under Rear Admiral David D. Porter comprised the largest fleet of the war, nearly 60 warships plus troop transports for 6,500 soldiers. Learning that the Union troops had embarked from Hampton Roads on December 13, Confederate General Robert E. Lee dispatched a division under Major General Robert F. Hoke to reinforce Lamb.

Butler did not coordinate the timing with Porter adequately, so that when his troops departed reinforcements discouraged further Union attempts. Despite explicit orders from Grant that he was to besiege the fort if he could not seize it, Butler called off the expedition on December 27 and returned to Fort Monroe.

The fiasco at Fort Fisher, specifically Butler's disobeyance of his direct orders—orders which Butler failed to communicate either to Porter or to Weitzel—gave Grant an excuse to relieve Butler, replacing him in command of the Army of the James by Major General Edward Ord. President Abraham Lincoln, recently reelected, no longer needed to keep the prominent Republican in the Army and he was relieved on January 8 1865.

ee also

* Second Battle of Fort Fisher
* Wilmington, North Carolina, in the Civil War

References

* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/nc014.htm National Park Service battle description]
* Eicher, David J., "The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War", Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
* McPherson, James M., "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)", Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0.