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The Civil War Blockade runners and battlefields Fort Fisher: The most famous stories of the Civil War in our region revolve around Fort Fisher. The state historic site there has new interpretive exhibits and a well-preserved fragment of the once-vast fortifications. See links at right for details. Fort Anderson: Confederate fortifications lie atop Colonial ruins. See links for more.
Forks Road Battlefield: After Fort Fisher fell in January 1865, Confederate forces retreated to a spot south of Wilmington where the old Federal Point Road threaded through a narrow neck between two swamps. They hastily built earthworks there for a last-ditch defense of the city, but had to retreat again when Gen. Braxton Bragg abandoned Wilmington. The defensive line at Forks Road has been preserved on the grounds of the new Cameron Art Museum at South 17th Street and Independence Boulevard. The earthworks, and a remaining fragment of the Federal Point Road, are at the end of a paved walkway off the museum's parking lot. Topsail defenses: To defend Wilmington from the north, the Confederates built a battery facing Topsail Sound in present-day Hampstead. The battery's guns once dueled with a Union gunboat. Earthworks known as the Virginia Creek line remain in the Pelican Reef subdivision off U.S. 17. State salt works: The only food preservative available in the 1860s, salt was a strategic commodity. Typical Confederate soldier's rations consisted of cornmeal and bacon -- preserved with salt. A vast complex of evaporation ponds and boiling pans was set up along Masonboro Sound to extract salt from seawater. A state historical marker on Carolina Beach Road and Mohican Trail marks the site. Bentonville Battleground: Location of the last major battle in North Carolina, this state site is an hour and a half drive north of Wilmington. Off U.S. 701 north of Newton Grove, it is accessible from I-40 exit 341. In the war's final weeks, Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston scraped together an army to challenge William Tecumseh Sherman, who was moving north to join Ulysses S. Grant for the final blow to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The ferocious battle at Bentonville March 19-21, 1865, accomplished little but to delay Johnston's surrender to Sherman at Durham Station, two weeks after Lee surrendered to Grant. Bellamy Mansion: Finished just before the war began, this house became headquarters for Union Gen. Alfred Terry after Wilmington fell in early 1865. On the mansion's grounds are slave quarters, built for owners' house servants. The house, at Market Street and Fifth Avenue, is open for tours. NEXT: Plagues, monuments & ironclads: |
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