Our Occupation Of The Fort, Was Not Equivalent To Its Possession.

Our Occupation Of The Fort, Was Not Equivalent To Its Possession.. Dr. James Mowriss, 117th New York Regiment. The city of Wilmington was captured on February 22, 1865. Union troops continued to occupy Fort Fisher and Federal Point under the Union military occupation policy known as General Order Number 8, issued on February 27, 1865., Postwar occupation was not without incident. Maj. Frederick W. Prince, post commander in April 1865, described "the bursting of 10 inch Columbiads while firing a salute in honor of the restoration of the old flag on Sumpter[sic] killing two men of the 2nd Pa. Heavy Artillery.", White Union troops occupied the fort until they were mustered out of service in August, 1865. Due to strained relations between black Union soldiers and the larger white community, several companies of the 37th United States Colored Troops were reassigned to Fort Fisher and other Cape Fear District forts for the remainder of their service. There was considerable strife between the white and black troops, and fighting was commonplace., On May 24, 1867, Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton declared, "Forts Hatteras, Fisher and Johnson, North Carolina, are to be abandoned, and the public property in each taken charge of by the Department to which it pertains." Troops occupying the Cape Fear District disbanded, but for a lone ordnance sergeant from the 40th US Infantry who remained at Fort Fisher until 1868., In February 1867, the United States government purchased 5 acres of land from a local resident for the construction of Wilmington National Cemetery. Union remains were moved from the Wilmington City Cemetery and nearby forts, and reinterred in the new cemetery. The Confederate dead were reinterred to the mass grave at Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington., Years later, Colonel Lamb, who served at Ft. Fisher, came to pay respects to his men who died there before the war and "was told that a contractor for the [U.S.] government had stolen their bones.", (captions) , Soldiers from Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, pose at Fort Lincoln, shortly after the Civil War. The unit was among those that saw action at Fort Fisher. Library of Congress, Auction notice for the public buildings at Fort Johnston and Fort Fisher, from the Wilmington Post, October 12, 1867.