The Battle of Sugar Loaf Line (Wilmington Campaign)-- Part 2: Gen. Hoke at Sugar Loaf and Bragg at Wilmington

After the fall of Fort Fisher, Wilmington was closed as a haven for blockade runners.  There would be no further runs in or out of that port city.  This closed the Confederacy to the world as they had no more Atlantic ports.

The Confederates evacuated the other defensive positions along the Cape Fear River.

While the Confederate defeat at Fort Fisher the previous month had affected morale somewhat and led to an increase in desertion, the remaining soldiers reported morale to be quite high.

General Bragg commanded the defenses of Wilmington.  His field forces were Robert Hoke's division from the Army of Northern Virginia and some artillerymen from the abandoned Confederate defense in the lower river and some home guard.

Hoke commanded three of his brigades on the east side of the Cape Fear River along the Sugar Loaf Line north of Fort Fisher.  His fourth brigade occupied Fort Anderson on the west side of the river.

Bragg remained in Wilmington in order to oversee the removal of the government stockpile supplies and stores and also to prevent Union forces on the coast from reinforcing Union General Sherman as he marched through the Carolinas with his army.

--Old B-Runner