THE NAVY AT FORT FISHER

jiKUtVrVl'i.'f

mm

"-■*•.• >»*ssSBSs,,

iteis

tmm

wm

ASSAULT OF THE NAVAL COLUMN ON TI1E NORTH-EAST SALIENT OF FORT FISHER.

"by two colored brigades under General Charles J.Paine, the whole under the command of Major-General Alfred H. Terry . While lying at Beaufort,Admiral Porter determined to assjst in the landattack of the army by an assault upon the sea-faceof Port Fisher with a body of seamen. In a gen-eral order volunteers from the fleet were called for,and some two thousand officers and men offeredthemselves for this perilous duty.

General Terry arrived off Beaufort [see map, p.629] with his forces on the 8th of January, 1865,apian of operations was agreed upon, and the 12 thwas fixed for the sailing of the combined force.

Upon the morning of the 13th the iron-cladswere sent in to engage the fort. Going in muchcloser than before, the monitors were within twelvehundred yards of the fort. Their fire was in con-sequence much more effective.

The remainder of the fleet were occupied till 2P. M. in landing the troops and stores. This partic-ular duty, the provisioning of the army, and the pro-tection of its flank was afterward turned over tothe lighter gun-boats, whose guns were too smallto employ them in the bombardment of the fort,the whole under the charge of Commander J. II.Upshur, commanding the gun-boat A. D. Vance.

On the afternoon of the 13tli the fleet, exceptingthe iron-clads, which had remained in their firstpositions close to the fort, steamed into the severalpositions assigned them and opened a terrific fire.By placing a buoy close to the outer reef, as a guide,the leading ship, the Minnesota , was enabled toanchor nearer, and likewise the whole battle-linewas much closer and their fire more effective, thebest proof of which is the large number of gunsupon the land-face of the fort that was found to bedestroyed or dismounted. 4 The weight of fire was

4 According to the rejiort of General C. B. Comstock,General Terry ’s chief engineer, there were 21 gunsand 3 mortars on the land front; “ of these three-fourths were rendered unserviceable.” General H. L.Abbot states (“ Defence of the Sea Coast of the United.States,” p. 31), as a result of personal inspection imme-diately after the capture, that out of 20 guns on theland-face “ 8 guns and 8 carriages (10 In all) were dis-abled. Editors.

such that the enemy could make but a feeble reply.At nightfall the fleet hauled off, excepting the iron-clads, which kept up a slow fire through the night.

During the 14th a number of the smaller gun-boats carrying 11-inch guns were sent in to assistin dismounting the guns on the land-face. Theirfire was necessarily slow, and the presence of thesesmall craft brought the enemy out of their bomb-proofs to open upon them, during which the Huronhad her main-mast shot away. Upon seeing thisrenewal of fire, the Brooklyn , Mohican, and one ortwo other vessels were ordered in by Porter, andwith this reinforcement the fire of the fort slack-ened. The bombardment from the smaller gun-boats and iron-clads was kept up during the night.This constant duty day and night was very hardupon these small vessels, and the officers and crewof my own vessel, the Huron, were worn out.

Port Fisher was at this time much stronger thanat the first attack. The garrison had been reen-forced by veteran troops, damages by the first bom-bardment had been repaired, and new defensesadded; among which was a battery of light piecesin a half-moon around the sally-port, from whosefire the sailors suffered heavily in their assault.])

It was arranged that the grand bombardmentshould begin on the morning of the 15th, and theseparate assaults of soldiers and sailors should takeplace at 3 P. M. A code of signals was agreedupon between tlie two commanders, and the assaultwas to be signaled to the fleet by a blowing ofsteam-whistles, whereupon their fire would be di-rected to the upper batteries. After the assault ofthe sailors had failed the Ironsides used her 11-inchguns with great effect in firing into the traversesfilled with Confederates resisting the advance oftlie Union forces. At 9 A. M. the fleet was directed

| Colonel Lamb, writing, December, 1888, says :

“There were never in Fort Fisher, including sick, killed,and wounded, over 1900 men. [See detailed statement, p.661.] The sailors and marines, etc., captured from BatteryBnclianan, and those captured in front of the work, whileswelling the list of prisoners, cannot rightly be countedamong the defenders of tlie work. No new defense wasadded to tlie face of tlie fort between tlie battles. The re-doubt in front of tlie sally-port was there in December andhad been used against Butler’s skirmisli-line.”