Analysis Of The Battle Of Fort Fisher And The Wilmington Campaign

The purpose of the Staff Ride was to provide background and context of the circumstances of

the Civil War that lead to the Wilmington Campaign while conducting extensive site visits of the

Battle of Fort Fisher and the Wilmington Campaign. Through preliminary study and

comprehensive discussion of the field study, the class learned about the strategies, plans, battles,

and leaders of the Battles for Fort Fisher and the overall Wilmington campaign, from both Union

and Confederate perspectives to included successes and failures. Analysis during the Staff ride,

integrating information gained through preliminary study and field study enabled the class to

better understand the successes and failures of both sides and the resulting outcomes’

Karl Warner, program and education coordinator for the

U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center.

5. Battle of Fort Fisher and Wilmington Campaign areas of discussion.

a. Wilmington was “the lifeline of the Confederacy,” the strategic Center of Gravity.

(1) The Union’s Anaconda Plan sought to impose a blockade of the Confederacy from

trading with foreign nations; ensuring to cut off the flow of critical supplies and cripple the

Confederate States of America (CSA) economy. As the strategic Center of Gravity for the

Confederacy, the city of Wilmington was the last remaining operational port in which the

Confederacy was able to receive critical resources to sustain their war efforts, distributed by the

Wilmington railroad system. As evidence of Wilmington’s vital importance to the Confederacy,

less than four months following the Union’s success in the capturing Wilmington, the

Confederacy collapsed, and the U.S. Civil War was over.

(2) The critical requirement of the Sustainment warfighting function is evident in the

Union’s strategy of isolating the Confederacy from external resources with the Anaconda

Campaign. Union leadership understood the limitations the CSA faced in sustaining

b. The Battle(s) for Fort Fisher was the largest joint U.S. military operation of its time.

(1) The Union’s joint Army-Navy operations to capture Fort Fisher, the Confederacy’s

critical defensive position of Wilmington’s seaport, was the largest of its kind at the time and

was not surpassed in size and scope until Operation Overlord, the Battle of Normandy during

World War II. The Union’s first attempt to capture Fort Fisher failed mostly due to the

incompetence of Union Army commander, General Butler, as nearly the same plan succeeded

just weeks later with a different Union Army commander, General Terry and the same Naval

Commander, Admiral Porter. The success of the Union’s joint Army-Navy forces during the

second assault on Fort Fisher in January of 1865 was primarily due to the sound execution and

decisions of the joint commanders. Significantly contributing to the failure of the Confederacy

in repelling the Union at Fort Fisher was the shortcomings of General Bragg, the Confederate’s

Wilmington Commander. Bragg failed by not acknowledging or heeding the request