In the early evening hours of Thursday, January 12, 1865 a large Federal naval flotilla of approximately thirty warships, bearing 627 pieces of heavy artillery, and troop transports carrying some eight thousand troops arrived off the coast from Fort Fisher. With calm seas to assist them, both Admiral David Porter’s naval personnel and General Alfred Terry’s infantry were anxious to erase the blunders of last month’s abortive attempt to take the vital fortification which had helped keep Wilmington, North Carolina partially open to southern blockade runners. A massive artillery barrage and accompanying amphibious assault was planned for the 13th; at Fort Fisher Confederate commander Colonel William Lamb immediately notified General Braxton Bragg, overall commander of the Wilmington area of an impending Union attack against his beleaguered forces.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.