Marines at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher

From American Civil War Marines 1861-1865 by Ron Field.

This was the engagement where Sgt. Richard Binder received his Medal of Honor although he remained on the USS Ticonderoga and was not in the Naval Column.

The Naval Brigade, which attacked Fort Fisher along the beach while Army regiments  moved along the river side in their simultaneous attack of the fort.  It was under command of  Cmdr. Kidder R. Breese and consisted of 1600 sailors and 400 Marines.

Deployed as sharpshooters during the advance of the Naval Brigade, the Marines, under Captain Lucian L. Dawson, the senior officer of the squadron, were caught up in a generally disorganized assault in which the Army attack was delayed.  Hopelessly pinned down at the base of the defenses of the fort, a few Marines managed to to pass through a breech blown in the 9-foot palisades but were forced to fall back with heavy casualties.

--Old B-Runner