After Taking Fort Fisher, I Think Our Troops Could Storm Hell Itself.

After Taking Fort Fisher, I Think Our Troops Could Storm Hell Itself.. Lt. Joseph J. Scroggs, 5th United States Colored Troops. The wounding of Col. William Lamb eventually left command of Fort Fisher to Maj. James Reilly, who faced an impossible task of attempting another counterattack. It was quickly repulsed and, less than an hour later, a fourth brigade entered the sally port, joining three Union brigades already inside the fort. With nightfall approaching, Gen. Adelbert Ames entrenched his troops. But Union forces continued to press the attack., Gen Robert F. Hoke's troops failed to attack the Union fieldworks north of Fort Fisher. Gen. Alfred Terry ordered his reserve brigade, commanded by Col. Joseph C. Abbott, into the fort. Assisted by naval gunfire, Abbott's brigade of 1,400 troops began final operations to secure the fort., General W.H.C. Whiting and Colonel Lamb were moved on stretchers from Pulpit Battery to Battery Buchanan. Lamb recalled, "When we left the hospital, the men were fighting over the adjoining traverse and the spent balls fell like hailstones around us. The remnant of the garrison then fell back in an orderly retreat along the sea-face, the rear guard keeping the enemy engaged as they advanced slowly and cautiously in the darkness...", At 10:00 p.m., Adm. David Dixon Porter's flagship the USS Malvern, received a message transmitted by torch from the battlements of Fort Fisher. Letter by letter it spelled out: "THE FORT IS OUR [sic]." The flagship signaled the fleet and repeated the Admiral's order., Confederate authorities received a telegraphed message from Battery Lamb around 10:30 p.m. advising them of the situation: "All at once firing has ceased; also signals; and the whole fleet are now throwing rockets up - all colors. It is fully believed that the fort has surrendered...", Colonel Albert M. Blackman's 27th United States Colored Troops and Colonel Abbott's brigade secured Battery Buchanan and 500 captives. General Terry received the official surrender of Fort Fisher from mortally wounded Gen. W.H.C. Whiting., At once the southern sky was full of rockets and many colored lights, and as the showers of red, white, and blue stars fell into the sea, we knew that the navy was proclaiming victory. Col. John W. Ames, Second Brigade commander, Paine's Division, U.S. Colored Troops, There was a great burst of rockets and blue lights and the men manning the rigging cheered as the guns roared with saluting charges...I could hear the fleet rejoicing over the downfall of the great rebel stronghold. U.S. Ensign Robley Evans, When the rockets from the ships and display of colored lights and blowing of whistles announced the surrender of the fort, I felt that all had not been done to save it. Capt. Charles Elliott of Kirkland's Brigade, (captions) , "The war in America: Interior of Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, during the second bombardment." 1865. The Illustrated London News, March 18, 1865. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Col. John W. Ames, US Fleet celebrating the fall of Fort Fisher." Harper's Weekly, February, 1865. North Carolina Office of Archives and History