"The first shot fired by the enemy was from the [USS New] Ironsides
. . . . Soon after the bombardment commenced in earnest, shot and shell, shrapnel, &c., flying thick as hail, but perhaps
a little hotter." — Capt. Samuel B. Hunter, Company F, 36th North Carolina Regiment
DECEMBER 24, 1864 — CHRISTMAS EVE
• 1:40 a.m. — The Union "powder vessel," USS Louisiana,
explodes harmlessly off Fort Fisher.
• Dawn — A thick fog shrouds the ocean as the grand Union
armada begins moving into battle position off Federal Point.
• 12:40 p.m. — The Union fleet (64 warships) opens the first
bombardment of Fort Fisher. The U.S. Navy's five largest frigates—Susquehannah, Wabash, Colorado,
Powhatan, and Minnesota—are on hand for the attack. The USS Colorado alone, with 52 guns, has more
armament than all of Fort Fisher (which mounts a mere 47 heavy guns and mortars). The Federal fleet boasts more than 600 cannons.
• 1:00-4:30 p.m. — Confederate Brig. Gen. William W. Kirkland's
Brigade (of Hoke's Division)—having reached Wilmington around midnight on December 23—reaches the Confederate
defensive line at Sugar Loaf, north of Fort Fisher. At Sugar Loaf, Kirkland (arriving with roughly 1,300 men), joins about
1,200 men and boys of the North Carolina Junior and Senior Reserves, a regiment of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery.
• 1:00 p.m.-Dusk — The Union fleet pounds Fort Fisher with
an unprecedented naval bombardment, firing roughly 10,000 rounds of solid shot and explosive shell. Colonel Lamb's headquarters
building is destroyed, and Confederate barracks and various outbuildings are set ablaze. Confederate return fire finds its
mark among the vessels of the fleet, and the massive shot-torn fort weathers the storm intact.
• Late Afternoon — Confederate Maj. Gen. W. H. C. Whiting
enters Fort Fisher and confers with Col. William Lamb.
• Dusk — The Union fleet hauls off, and returns to positions
further out to sea.
DECEMBER 25, 1864 — CHRISTMAS DAY
"I saw plainly that [Fort Fisher] had not been materially injured by
the heavy and very accurate shell fire of the navy . . . and having a distinct and vivid recollection of the two unsuccessful
assaults on Fort Wagner [South Carolina], both of which were made under four times more favorable circumstances than those
under which we were placed, I returned [to Gen. Benjamin F. Butler aboard the gunboat Chamberlain] and frankly reported
to him that it would be butchery to order an assault on that work under the circumstances." — Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel,
commanding XXIV Army Corps
• Morning — About 20 Union vessels shell the beach north
of Fort Fisher (near Kirkland's position). The warships, led by the USS Brooklyn, shell Confederate positions at Sugar
Loaf, Battery Gatlin, and Battery Anderson in an effort to carve out a safer landing zone for Federal infantry forces.
The incessant naval bombardment of Fort Fisher resumes and Union warships
hurl another 10,000 rounds upon the beleaguered bastion.
• 2:00 p.m. — A Union naval party—in small boats,
and led by Lt. Cmdr. William B. Cushing—endeavors to find the channel and take soundings at New Inlet. Adm. David D.
Porter is anxious to plot a safe course across the bar, prior to sending his lighter draft gunboats through the inlet into
the Cape Fear River behind Fort Fisher. Porter hopes to silence the Mound Battery and adjacent installations prior to crossing
the bar.
• 2:00 p.m. — Union infantry hits the beach, as the amphibious
assault force rows ashore in john boats. Bvt. Brig. Gen. N. Martin Curtis is the first Union soldier to set foot on Federal
Point. Curtis is joined by Gen. Godfrey Weitzel and about 500 men of the First Brigade, 2nd Division, XXIV Army Corps. The
Federals spar with Kirkland's skirmishers as they strive to secure a beach head.
Curtis strikes southward with elements of the 142nd and 112th New York Regiments.
Kirkland's skirmishers are overwhelmed, and the Confederate brigadier opts to withdraw to Sugar Loaf, to assure the protection
of the main Rebel defensive line (guarding the road to Wilmington) until reinforcements from Hoke's Division can arrive.
• 3:00 p.m. — Curtis and Weitzel advance, with about 250
men of the 142nd New York, to within one and one-half miles of the land face of Fort Fisher.
Curtis moves a reconnaissance force southward to Howard's Hill. A command
post is established at the abandoned Battery Holland, and Curtis pushes his men to within 75 yards of Shepherd's Battery,
opposite the fort's western salient.
• 3:20 p.m.-Dusk — Lt. William Walling, 142nd New York,
pilfers a large Confederate garrison flag, knocked down by the naval bombardment, from the outer wall of Shepherd's Battery.
Lt. George Simpson climbs a telegraph pole and severs the telegraph line with
a hatchet, thereby cutting a line of communication running northward from the fort. Perched high atop the telegraph pole,
Lieutenant Simpson spies the interior of Fort Fisher. Here, Simpson confirms for the Union that Fort Fisher is indeed a two-sided
work, and not a four-sided bastion as previously conjectured.
Curtis is excited by the news that the rear of the fort is wide open; and
he is convinced the bastion can be taken by an infantry assault. Weitzel and General Butler, however, fear that the fort is
too strong to be taken with such a small attacking force. Moreover, they fear for the safety of their troops after nightfall,
as the Federals are sandwiched between two strong Rebel positions—Fort Fisher to the south, and the Sugar Loaf line
to the north. Butler calls a halt to the operation.
• Dusk — Dark clouds gather over Federal Point, and the
wind picks up considerably.
• Nightfall — Federal Chief Engineer Cyrus Comstock and
Second Division commander Adelbert Ames reach Battery Holland. Ames encourages the eager Curtis to make an assault. Comstock
agrees.
As night falls, Curtis advances a skirmish line composed of elements of the
3rd, 117th, and 142nd New York Regiments.
• Dark — The Union naval bombardment abruptly ceases.
Inside Fort Fisher, Lamb and Whiting hurry Confederate troops from their bomproofs
on both faces of the fort to man the northern battlements and the low berm behind the fort's palisades.
As the Union line advances on Fort Fisher in the darkness, Colonel Lamb gives
the order for his men and artillery to open fire.
Encouraged by the seeming lack of Confederate manpower just a short time earlier,
Ames and Comstock are shocked by the sudden blast of Rebel fire. After a brief period of confusion and indecision, Ames and
Comstock heed Butler's orders and return to the Federal landing zone north of Fort Fisher.
Troops from the First Brigade remain at the front until a staff officer arrives
to tell a disappointed Curtis that most of the Federal landing force has returned to the transports offshore. By the time
Curtis reaches the landing zone, the weather has deteriorated to a point that precludes a safe departure for his troops. Thus
Curtis—with more than 600 men of the First Brigade and several hundred Rebel prisoners captured by the 117th New York—will
be stranded on the beach for the next two days.
DECEMBER 26
• Fort Fisher—with its garrison—remains intact.
• Gen. Benjamin Butler departs for Hampton Roads, Virginia.
• 12:00 p.m.-Late Afternoon — Shortly before noon, Confederate
Gen. Braxton Bragg arrives at Sugar Loaf. Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke reaches Sugar Loaf with Hagood's Brigade and the rest of
Kirkland's men later in the afternoon.
DECEMBER 27
• Instead of overwhelming Curtis's vulnerable troops, Bragg is
content to let them escape; and the Federals are soon rescued from the beach.
• As the Union fleet sails away from Cape Fear, Colonel Lamb orders
his Confederate gunners at Fort Fisher to fire a defiant parting volley toward the "beaten" enemy.
• Night — The steamer Wild Rover runs the blockade
at New Inlet.
• Lamb and Whiting are greatly dissatisfied with Bragg's inactivity
and failure to crush the enemy near Sugar Loaf.
• Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Navy Secretary Gideon Welles
are infuriated to learn of the failure of the expedition to capture Fort Fisher.
DECEMBER 28
• Morning — The steamer Banshee runs the blockade
at New Inlet.
• 5:30 p.m. — President Abraham Lincoln queries Grant: "If
there be no objection, please tell me what you now understand of the Wilmington expedition, present and prospective."
• An exasperated Grant replies: "The Wilmington expedition has
proven a gross and culpable failure. Many of the troops are now back here [in Virginia]. Delays and free talk of the object
of the expedition enabled the enemy to move troops to Wilmington to defeat it. After the expedition sailed from Fort Monroe
[Va.] three days of fine weather were squandered, during which the enemy was without a force to protect himself. Who is to
blame I hope will be known."
Credit: ah.dcr.state.nc.us