Image above: View from Second Deck of the Fort Fisher Visitor Center, 2025. Courtesy America's Best History.
Spotlight on Lesser Known History
Fort Fisher, North Carolina
America's Best History Spotlight
On this page we're going to Spotlight the lesser known historic sites and attractions that dot the history landscape across the USA and are worth a visit if you're in their area. And while they may be lesser known, some are very unique, and will be that rare find. You'll be, at times, on the ground floor, or maybe even know something others don't. It'll be fun. Visit them.
Fort Fisher, North Carolina
Our visit for Fort Fisher was for its 160th Anniversary, and from the moment we traversed the road along the ocean and saw the traverses of the fort, plus an impressive building that serves as the Visitor Center, we knew we were in for something huge (even huger during the Civil War) and something special. Even though this fort is much less known outside the North Carolina and South Carolina area, it's attendance, as one park ranger told us, approaches one million visitors per year. And it should. Okay, it's helped by being in a beach tourist town with the North Carolina Aquarium at the end of the road, but that takes nothing away from what you see, both inside the Visitor Center, and at the fort itself. It is purely spectacular. And the interpretation is to p notch as well. Don't miss a guided walk if there's one the day you visit. You'll walk around, atop, and inside the earthern, two story high fort, to gun positions that pounded the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Fear river against Union gunboats as Confederate blockade runners with supplies scooted past them into Wilmington, North Carolina, the last port open for Southern supplies until the two battles would rage and halt supplies to the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond near the end of the war. Don't miss this fort if you're a history buff, and bring a new one along. Cool for kids, too.
Image above: Drawing of Union Ships under Admiral Porter in Atlantic Ocean attacking Fort Fisher. Courtesy Library of Congress.
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Info, What's There Now, History Nearby
Fort Fisher, North Carolina
This fort, as well as others that protected the ports of the Confederacy, was a necessary and strategic part of the South getting suipplies into the interior. However, as one by one of these ports fell to the blockades of Union ships that would ring them, the success of blockade runners became less and less as the years of war passed. And suddenly, Fort Fisher, a huge earthen fort, both in height and position, became the last one standing under Southern control. While today it is still spectacular in size, reaching down to the North Carolina aquarium and up to the Visitor Center, perhaps one half mile in length, it also stretched across the peninsula of Bure Beach at a much greater width. Today, the Atlantic Ocean verticle wing of the fort would be in the ocean several hundred yards due to the waves that have pounded the coast. You can walk along the rocks that protect it today if you wish to get an idea of where the wall would have been. Otherwise you can wander around the state historical park by yourself or on a guided tour. Do both. Ramparts, cannons, traverses, huge mounds of dirt, a statue to the south, and more, awaits. So why did the fort eventually succumb to Union military pressure? We'll tell that story in more detail below; but it would take two battles, one in December 1864 and the other in January 1865 to breach it, including fifty-six Union ships under Admiral David Dixon Porter to bombard the fort to surrender with help from his infantry friends.
Image above: Two story high northern walls of Fort Fisher today, 2025. Courtesy America's Best History. Below: Lithograph of battle to take Fort Fisher by Union infantry, 1890, Kurr and Allison. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Where Is It
Fort Fisher State Historic Park is located on the peninsula of Kure Beach southeast of downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Its address is 1610 Ft. Fisher Boulevard, South Kure Beach, North Carolina 28449E.
Minute Walk in History
The Civil War was nearing its end, and Fort Fisher had allowed Wilmington, North Carolina to be the only southern port open for all of the war until January 1865. However, after two battles with dozens of Union vessels in the Atlantic and Cape Fear Rivers, the fort could hold off the Union no more. There would be no more supplies by sea for the Confederates sieged at Petersburg or Richmond. Follow the walks and talks of the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher, then go visit one of the most interesting Civil War forts in American History.
What is There Now
Fort Fisher, North Carolina
You will first notice a large glass Visitor Center, two stories high mirroring the fort itself. It opened in 2024 and encompasses twenty thousand square feet. Inside there is a gift shop, facilities, and visitor information on the first floor. On the second, you'll climb steps, or take the elevator to the second floor exhibit area. Take the steps if you can; you will be hovered over by a large drawing of the extent of the fort in its active days. Upstairs, there is a movie explaining the battles, and a square path of exhibits around each turn. Special event space is also there. Outside, the fort takes full attention. From the covered portico, you walk down toward the traverses that guarded the north from infantry action, which did come, and take a circular walk along the outside of its walls, where waysides explain the action, until, to the west, the main gate from the Cape Fear River area, or the underground entrance where the storage of munitions once lay. The soldiers did not live beneath the walled traverses, but in tent cities within the walls.
When Open and How Much
Fort Fisher does not have an entrance fee. When we were there, the Guided Walk cost $10 per person, which is usually 90 minutes long. A forty-five minute tour is $2 per person. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, and closed on various holidays.
Fees and hours are subject to change.
Website
Fort Fisher State Historic Site
History Nearby
Wilmington, North Carolina itself is a pleasant town to walk or have a good meal in, but its three main historic sites are Fort Fisher, the North Carolina Aquarium (on Ft. Fisher Road south of the fort) in Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, and the Battleship North Carolina. Of course, from Wilmington north into Virginia, the area is replete with American Revolution and Civil War sites, Bentonville and Averasboro, plus national seashores.
Photos, History, and More Spotlights
History of the Fort
The fort began with a few sand mounds and twelve cannon placements in the spring of 1861, but after Colonel Lamb arrived in July 1862, he expanded the fort to its eventual massive size. It would stretch one mile on the sea side, and one-third of a mile on land. The two entrances to the Cape Fear River allowed blockade runners, with shelling from the fort to keep the Union ships occupied. There were twenty-two cannons on the sea mounds, which ranged in height from twelve feet to sixty-five feet. The land face had twenty-five guns on fifteen twenty-five foot mounds over eighteen hundred yards. Beneath were powder magazines in bombproof shelters. The Confederate ships would bring supplies for General Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia from Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Nova Scotia, i.e. the British colonies. It was known as the Malakoff Tower or the Gibraltar of the South. Over one thousand people were used to build the fort, including five hundred slaves.
Today, only ten percent of the original fort exists, one hundred and eighty yards of the northern land face, plus seventy-five yards of land where the fort would have been toward the ocean. South at Federal Point, partial remains of Battery Buchanon exists. Even though that number seems minor, what is left is awesome.
Photo above: Confederate cannon pointing from the Fort, 1865, Timothy H. O'Sullivan. Courtesy Library of Congress. Below: The Northern walls, first three traverses, of Fort Fisher, 1865, Timothy H. O'Sullivan. Courtesy Library of Congress.
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History of the First Battle
As Fort Fisher remained the only open Southern fort, of course, Northern admirals and generals knew that if they could destroy Fort Fisher, then they would prevent supplies by sea. After Mobile fell in August, Maj. William H. C. Whiting was replaced by General Braxton Bragg. Fort Fisher had two thousand four hundred troops within it. However, Bragg was sent, with two thousand troops, to reinforce the lines against General Sherman in Georgia, and General Robert Hoke took command. He brought troops with him. With knowledge of these changes, on December 24, 1864, the Union under General Benjamin Butler and Admiral David Dixon Porter attacked the garrison of Fort Fisher. It started with a naval bombardment.
After a lull in firing from Fort Fisher, the Navy landed Butler's troops, but they were quickly engaged by Hoke. For two days, the Union fought but made no significant headway. Butler retreated, even though that was against the order of General U.S. Grant. Grant was no pleased.
Image above: Wayside near outside entrance to fort on Cape Fear side, 2025. Courtesy America's Best History. Below: Living history soldiers inside the walled casements under traverses, 2025. Courtesy America's Best History.
History of the Second Battle
A second attempt would be made several weeks later, this time with General Alfred Terry replacing General Butler. On January 12, 1865, a Union amphibious squadron of fifty-six ships sailed down the Atlantic Ocean, still under the command of General David Porter. They bombarded the sea and land faces of the fort with thousands of shells for two and one half days. Terry's troops were landed north of the fort, eight thousand under Adelbert Ames. On January 15, two thousand more troops landed northeast of Fort Fisher under Union Lt. Commander Kidder Breese. This land assault was launched with three thousand three hundred men, including the 27th U.S. Colored troops. Breese was initially repulsed at the confluence of the sea and land defenses, but Ames' men entered the fort on the northern face. Fighting most of the day into night, the Union finally captured Fort Fisher after hand to hand battles caused many casualties.
Killed, wounded, and missing for the Union numbered Army 664, Navy 393, including 199 killed. The Confederates at Fort Fisher took a higher toll; 1,900 with the fort captured, including 583 killed or wounded. Various sources list differing tallies of men engaged, killed, or wounded.
Photo above: Confederate position at Fort Fisher toward the Atlantic, 1865, Timothy O. Sullivan. Courtesy Library of Congress. Below: From top of Fort Fisher looking toward the Cape Fear River, 2025. Courtesy America's Best History.
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