Outreach Program Planned for Fort Fisher-- Part 2: A Walk and a Presentation

Fort Fisher Interpreter and Education and Outreach Coordinator  Kaitlin O'Connor will lead tours of the fort Saturday, January 7, 2023, at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and  3 p.m..  She will talk about Blacks and Indians who built the fort as well as the contributions of Blacks at the battle itself.

The tour lasts for about half an hour and covers less than half a mile of paved trail.  Tickets are $5 at the door.

In the exhibit hall there will be a tabletop display from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with staff to talk about some of the aforementioned topics.

On January 8, she will present "Tis Grand to Know:  People of the Wilmington Campaign" at the  Main Branch of the New Hanover County Library at 3 p.m..  The free presentation will offer a fresh overview of the Wilmington Campaign through an examination of the diverse people caught up in it.

--Old B-Runner

Outreach Series Planned at Fort Fisher-- Part 1

From the December 29, 2022, WECT (Wilmington, N.C.) "Education and outreach series to include guided tours of Fort Fisher, presentation at New Hanover Co. library."

The series is called "Dwell with Gratitude and Pride:  New Perspectives on the Wilmington Campaign."  This will include a tour of Fort Fisher on Saturday, January 7.

The series will feature weekly educational events at various lcations throughout the county and will explore the diverse experiences of people swept into the Union's campaign to capture Wilmington after the fall of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865.  Wilmington fell on February 22, 1865.

Black, white,  Asian, Indigenous  and Hispanic people were involved.  Participants can learn about those experiences through guided tours, speakers and costumed interpretation programs according to the North Carolina Department of Natiral and Cultural Resources.

--Old B-Runner

Still RoadTrippin' Navy Medal of Honor Recipients: James Haines Horton

Still RoadTrippin' Through History.  I started with where Alban Stimers was buried, which is in the Cypress Hills Cemetery.  There are three U.S. Navy sailors from the war who won a Medal of Honor buried there.  This is one of them.

From Find-A-Grave.

JAMES HAINES HORTON

BIRTH:   1 July 1840,  England

DEATH:   15 April 1894  (aged 53)

BURIAL:   Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

His true name was Joseph Horton.

While serving in the Union Navy, he was awarded the Medal of Honor when his ship was off Port Royal, South Carolina.

His citation reads:  "Served as gunner's mate on board the USS Montauk, 21 September 1864.  During the night of 21 September 1864, when fire was discovered in the magazine lightroom of the vessel, causing a panic and demoralizing the crew, Horton rushed into the cabin, obtained magazine keys, sprang into the lightroom and began passing out combustables, including a box of signals in which the fire originated."

This ship did not particiate in the attacks on Fort Fisher, but did enter the Cape Fear River after the fort's fall and participated in the Wilmington Campaign.

--Old B-Runner

Will the Real Arnold Harris, USN, Please Stand Up?-- Part 1

This month and last, I have been writing about this man, Arnold Harris, is this blog.  He sounds like he had an interesting life, but I am unable to find out any information other than what I have written which isn't a lot.

Here is what I have:

I first found his name on January 7, 1864, when Gen. Benjamin Butler had a plan to send the Army steamer Brewster, under the command of Arnold Harris, into Wilmington harbor disguised as a blockade runner.  This plan was abandoned when it was determined that Wilmington's defenses were too strong to attempt it.

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He was appointed acting ensign 24 March 1863 and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron where he must have been on extended duty, operating  as the commander of the Army transport Brewster.  He resigned 21 February 1865.  (Wilmington fell the following day.)

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On November 16, 1863, Gideon Welles wrote Read Admiral S. P. Lee, commander of the North Atlantic Blocking Squadron regarding special duty for Mr. Harris, saying that Harris "has been abroad and has been in Wilmington lately and is willing to go again."

Welles suggested that Harris could maybe go to New York, then to Nassau and Wilmington.

Sounds considerably like an undercover kind of a thing.

--Old B-Runner

The 9th Maine in the Wilmington Campaign

As I wrote in an earlier post on February 22, 2022, I found that the 9th Maine was not at the the first two battles of Fort Fisher, but was transferred from the Army of the James and joined the other regiments of its brigade at Fort Fisher February 11, 1865, and then participated in the remainder of what is called the Wilmington Campaign or Battle of Wilmington.

This is where the 9th served in the Union Order of Battle for that campaign.

It was in TERRY'S PROVISIONAL  CORPS, commanded by  Major General Alfred H. Terry, Brig. Gen. Joseph R. Hawley.

SECOND DIVISION (XXIV CORPS)  Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames

3RD BRIGADE   Lt. Col. Nathan J. Johnson (until  14 Feb.), Col. George F. Granger

13th Indiana

9th Maine

4th New Hampshire

115th New York

169th New York

--Old B-Runner

Quite the Discoveries Today: 9th Maine at Fort Fisher

I made two discoveries today in another of my blogs that had implications toward this blog and especially Fort Fisher.  That sure made my day in the middle of a bit of an ice storm like we're having right now.

Anyway, in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog I have been listing War of 1812 veterans who are buried at Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine.  I am using a list that also includes American Revolution and Civil War veterans in that cemetery.

Today, I came across a Colonel Sabine Emery who was listed as a War of 1812 veteran.  The information given by his name was:

"Col. / 9th Me.  Vols / Feb 8, 1884 / Mar 24 1868"

Well, Maine wasn't a state in the War of 1812 so there would not be a 9th Maine Volunteer Infantry.  That would be a Civil War unit.  Then, there was a problem with the two dates given.  Since it was given first, Feb. 8, 1884 would likely be his birth date.  But, then the second date is earlier than the first date.

So, what gives?

I found out that Colonel Sabine Emery was commander one time of the 9th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment and that he had died on March 24, 1868.  So, there was a mistake in the birth date.  Whoever wrote this probably meant February 8, 1834.

And, the 9th Maine was at Fort Fisher, but not until after it was captured.  They were in Terry's Provisional Corps in the Wilmington Campaign.

The other regiments in their brigade had already been moved from the Army of the James and had participated in the two battles of Fort Fisher.

Really Made My Day.  --Old B-Runner

New Book on the Role of USCT at the Battle of Forks Road, Wilmington, N.C.-- Part 2: The Victory here Was One for the USCT

Author Chris Fonvielle says that the Battle of Forks Road was the victory of the USCT since those two brigades bore the brunt of the fighting and had made the assault on the Confederate trenches and as a result, had suffered the most casualties.

Fonvielle told the story at length in his 1997 book, "The Wilmington Campaign:  Last Rays of Departing Hope.  His "Glory at Wilmington" is a smaller book aimed at general readers, not hardcore Civil War readers.  This new book is issued by Starburst Press, an imprint of Daniel  Ray Norris' SlapDash Publishing and has plenty of maps and lively period illustrations.

One interesting point Mr. Fonvielle made in this book was the case of  two brothers who fought on opposite sides in the war and were at the Wilmington Campaign.  They were Jacob and Lewis Horne who grew up in the Wilmington area, not too far from today's Monkey Junction.  (If you're from Wilmington, you'd know where this area was and why it hot this name.)

Lewis was with the local Confederate Wilmington Horse Artillery  and as they were rushing north to avoid capture, he was able to stop by his mother's and tell her goodbye.  The next day, Jacob, who was a scout for General Terry's Union forces, detoured to also visit Mom.

A Family Reunion of Sorts.   --Old B-Runner

The XXV Corps, Union Army

From Wikipedia.

The two brigades of USCT who accompanied the Fort Fisher expeditions were part of the XXV Corps.  Chaplain Henry M. Turner was a member of this corps.

The XXV (25th) Corps was made up almost entirely of black troops previously belonging to the X and XVIII Corps in the Union Army.

On December 3, 1864, the two corps of the Army of the James reorganized.  The white units went to the XXIV Corps.  Black troops became the XXV Corps under Major Genral Godfrey Weitzel.

The newly created corps did not have much of a role in the waning days of the Petersburg Campaign, but some of its units were at the two battles of Fort Fisher.  After that they were more heavily engaged in the subsequent Wilmington Campaign, resulting in the capture of that city in late February.

One of their most noteworthy accomplishments was being the first Union troops to enter Richmond, Virginia, after its evacuation.

In May of 1865, they were sent to Texas to stand as the "Army of Occupation" against Napoleon III in Mexico.  They disbanded in 1866.

--Old B-Runner

Role of Blacks At Fort Fisher-- Part 1: Civil War

From the February 28, 2018, WECT (Wilmington, N.C.)  "Black History Month:  Role of African-Americans at Fort Fisher" Ashlea Kosikowski.

John Mosely, Asst. Fort Fisher Site Manager, says Blacks played an important role from the Civil War to World War II.

At the second Battle of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865, Bruce Anderson, a black man who enlisted in an all-white regiment, was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions.

Soldiers of several United States Colored Troops were involved heavily in the surrender of Fort Fisher and the Wilmington Campaign January-February 1865, which came afterwards. They were buried at various places, but later had their bodies dug up and were reburied in the Wilmington National Cemetery.

--Old B-Runner