The busy port of Wilmington, North Carolina, was a key city linking 
the Confederacy to the goods and the weapons merchants of 
Europe and the world. By late 1864, the port city had become an 
important target for Federal military leaders. To keep the city from 
falling, the Confederacy relied on a strong system of fortifications, 
the most formidable of which was Fort Fisher.

    The Federal Army in late 1864 and early 1865 made the fort the 
target of the largest amphibious operation prior to World War II. The 
successful reduction of the post sounded the knell for the brief life 
of the Confederacy and brought to a close one of the most 
interesting eras in Wilmington history.

_________________________________________________________

RICHARD B. MCCASLIN is an associate professor of history at the 
University of North Texas. He is the author or editor of nine books, 
including Tainted Breeze (winner of the Tullis Award) and Lee in the 
Shadow of Washington (winner of the Slatten Award and the Laney 
Prize, and a nominee for the Pulitzer in Biography), and several 
volumes in the award-winning Portraits of Conflict series. A Fellow of 
the Texas State Historical Association, he is also a contributor to 
many other publications such as the New Handbook of Texas and a 
two-volume history of the Texas Senate. He can be reached for 
interview at mccaslin@unt.edu.


Number Twenty-five: Civil War Campaigns and Commanders Series


What people are saying about this book

". . . what is so inviting about the entire series is the depth and 
length to which Civil War Campaign and Commanders writers go to 
tell more than just battlefield statistics."—Eclectic Homeschool 
Online

". . . skillfully crafted study . . . engagingly written . . . recommended for 
general and academic readers and would be excellent supplementary 
reading for American Civil War, regional, or general military history 
courses."—Military History of the West

". . . a useful introduction to the battle."—North & South Magazine

"This is fast-paced, action-filled narrative history at its best. . . . well 
written . . . an excellent job."—International Journal of Maritime History

"McCaslin's book is solid operational military history that will interest 
buffs well beyond the Tarheel State."—The Civil War Courier


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THE SALTVILLE MASSACRE

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EMERGENCE OF TOTAL WAR

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