Browse Items (12 total)

“Fort Fisher was the strongest fort in the South,” proclaimed the New York Tribune. “Now for the first time is a really formidable earthwork carried by a direct assault, and in a military view, therefore, the storming of Fort Fisher…

Recognizing the importance of Wilmington, Union blockaders sought to prevent ships from reaching the port since the summer of 1861, though to no avail. The first Federal ship, the Daylight, arrived in July 1861. This tiny vessel was soon disabled,…

Camp French, near Petersburg, Va, Oct 8th 1862 My Dear wife: I take the pleasure of dropping you a few lines, informing you that I am well at present. We landed at Petersburg last Saturday, but I was detailed to stay with the baggage and did…

June, 1863 — No. 10
My Dear wife:

I will now proceed to continue my regular series of letters, and as you see I will have to go back to the time we crossed the Potomac, as that is the time I left off.

Thursday, 25 — We waded the Potomac…

The following letter was found in the Peter Mull Collection, North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Bunker’s Hill, Va.
July 17th, 1863.

Mrs. Wise:
It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the…

Mcdowell Co teusday August 30th 1864 Dear husband I seat my self this evning to let you know we are onley tolerable well the children is complaining I expect they are taking Measels but I do hope this will reach your kind hands and find you will I…

For four years, Fort Fisher was the Achilles' heel of the Union blockade. As long as it stood, Wilmington would remain open. The odds were overwhelmingly in favor of the blockade-runners that came and went virtually on schedule, openly defying the…

During the early winter of 1863-64, Grant completed the formulation of a new strategy, one in which the Union would give up its reliance on the persisting strategy of territorial conquest but still pursue its logistic strategy of crippling the…

WASHINGTON, Thursday, Dec. 29. The Secretary of the Navy received this afternoon the following by special messenger: NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, U.S. FLAG SHIP MALVERN, AT SEA, OFF NEW INLET, Monday, Dec. 26, 1864. SIR: I was in hopes that I should…

WASHINGTON, Tuesday, Jan. 17 -- 10:40 A.M. Maj.-Gen. J.A. Dix: The following official dispatches have just been received at this department: HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES FORCES ON FEDERAL POINT, N.C., Jan. 15, via FORTRESS MONROE, Jan.…