num_pages: 208
description: Fort Anderson was the largest interior fortification guarding Wilmington NC the Confederacy's most important city by late 1864. Beginning in March 1862 Confederate engineers built massive earthen batteries mounting large seacoast cannons at Brunswick Point the site of the colonial port town of Brunswick located halfway between Wilmington and the mouth of the river. In February 1865 Union forces advanced on Wilmington by way of Fort Anderson. General Grant had ordered them to capture the city in order to assist General Shermans Carolinas Campaign. A combined operation against Fort Anderson lasted from Feb. 17-19 1865. The fate of the Confederacy hung in the balance.
language: English
title: To Forge a Thunderbolt:  Fort Anderson and the Battle for Wilmington
publisher: NC Starburst Press