Just In Time for Halloween: Cape Fear Unearthed, the Ghost of Gen. Whiting

From the Oct. 24, 2019, Wilmington(N.C.) Star-News  "Cape Fear Unearthed:  The Ghost of the general" by Hunter Ingram.

Major William H.C. Whiting is the latest subject , who was wounded at Fort Fisher and later died in a Union prison, of the latest episode of the Cape Fear Unearthed podcast.

His legacy is forever tied up with the rise and fall of North Carolina's Fort Fisher, famed protector of the port of Wilmington and a haven for blockade runners during the war.  Whiting was a headstrong soldier who seemed to have as many enemies as friends during the war.  One notable enemy was Jefferson Davis.

He graduated first in his West Point class and became an engineer of note, both in the Charleston defenses and later those of Wilmington, including Fort Fisher.

Wounded and captured at Fort Fisher when it fell, he recovered from the wound but died of another disease while a prisoner in New York.  This was hundreds of miles from Fort Fisher but even death did not stop him from returning to Fort Fisher to be its eternal watcher.

It has been reported that the ghost of Gen. Whiting still walks the grounds of Fort Fisher.  This week's Cape Fear Uncovered's podcast is about the apparition.

Like, Boo!!!  --OldB-ScaredOrGoHome

April 10, 1863: It's a David Vs. Goliath Navy Battle

APRIL 10, 1863:   President Jefferson Davis said: "We began this struggle without a single gun afloat, while the resources of our enemy enabled them to gather fleets which, according to their official list published in August last, consisted of 427 vessels, measuring 340,036 tons, and carrying 3,268 guns.

"Yet we have captured, sunk, or destroyed a number of these vessels, including two large frigates and one sloop of war, while four of their captured steamboats are now in our possession, adding to the strength of our little Navy, which is rapidly gaining in numbers and efficiency."

--Old B-R'er

155 Years Ago: Buying Those Raiders

MAY 10TH, 1861:  Blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, initiated by USS Niagara.

**   Secret Act of Confederate Congress, signed by President Davis, authorized "the Navy Department to send an agent abroad to purchase six steam propellers, in addition to those heretofore authorized, together with rifled cannon, small arms, and other ordnance stores and munitions of war," and appropriated a million dollars for the purpose.

--Old Blockade Runner