Not Fortifications, But Fiftyfications At Least

Not Fortifications, But Fiftyfications At Least. . Lt. Col. George Deas, Confederate Staff officer who inspected the Cape Fear District defenses in 1864, Wilmington, North Carolina was the second most fortified city in the South, behind Charleston. The city served as the hub of a vital transportation network that included 3 railroads and the Cape Fear River. The protection of that network dictated the Confederate defensive strategy for the area., Engineers anchored the defenses of the Cape Fear District with the existing masonry forts, Caswell and Johnston, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. They then constructed heavily armed earthen fortifications, such as forts Anderson, Fisher, Holmes, and Campbell, along the river. With both entrances to the river heavily defended, the engineers supplemented the defenses with heavy artillery batteries and entrenchments around the city, as well as torpedoes and obstructions in the Cape Fear River., The blockade runners fueled the "Lifeline of the Confederacy" and started at the hub of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in downtown Wilmington. This railroad ran into Virginia and brought much needed war materiel to Gen. Robert E. Lee's armies. "If Wilmington falls, I cannot maintain my army," warned Lee in late 1864. When his supply line was cut off by the fall of Fort Fisher in January 1865, the Confederacy was doomed., No one could form the slightest conception of these works, their magnitude, strength, and extent, who had not seen them, and General Whiting (the founder) must have had an abiding faith in the durability of the Confederacy when he expended so many years of labor on them. Adm. David D. Porter, The wharves are filled with provisions, clothing and ordnance. The RR depots are choked with supplies. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting, (captions) , 1862 "Map of the Cape Fear River and the Approaches to Wilmington, N.C." Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, View of Wilmington N.C. from Gleason's Pictoral Drawing Room Companion, Gen. W.H.C. Whiting, Maps of forts Holmes, Caswell, Johnston, and Battery Campbell. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, "Plan and Sections of Fort Fisher Carried by assault by the U.S. Forces Maj. Gen. A.H. Terry, Commanding, Jan. 15th, 1865. Library of Congress, Proudly sponsored by Carolina Marine Terminal