Storming of Fort Fisher
date: label: Date made
content: n.d.
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: Because the South had developed an economy was based around agriculture, it did not have access to the manufactured goods being produced in the more-industrialized North. Instead, the Confederacy traded its cotton and tobacco to the British for the weapons and supplies needed to continue waging war. These were smuggled into the South by blockade-runners, but by 1864, the only major port Confederate traders could access was Wilmington, North Carolina, which was protected by the unconquered Fort Fisher. Although an earlier attempt to seize the fort had failed, Union General Alfred Terry initiated a new assault on the night of January 12, 1865. A Federal armada continuously bombarded Fort Fisher until the 15th, when a force of Union troops landed and stormed the decimated fortification. Although this assault was chaotic and organized, the Union soldiers quickly captured the fort from the demoralized Confederates who had survived the shelling. After the fall of Fort Fisher, Wilmington was taken the next month.
label: Description
content: This print depicts Union soldiers climbing over the walls of Fort Fisher to battle the Confederate forces inside. In the center, stands an officer who waves a tattered American flag, urging his men up over the wall as he points towards the enemy with his sword. Below him, another officer climbs over the wall, and shoots a Confederate leader in the chest with his revolver. Behind the Union officer, other Federal soldiers are obscured by smoke. One man fires down upon the Confederate fighter while another raises his rifle over his head, preparing to engage in hand-to-hand combat. In the lower right, a mass of Union soldiers makes its way up the side of the fortification to join in the clash. A mix of ironclads and warships exchange fire in the background. The maker of this print is unknown.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: World
label: depicted
content: United States: North Carolina, Fort Fisher
topic: label: Subject
content: Patriotism and Patriotic Symbols
label: Subject
content: Uniforms, Military
label: referenced
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: American Civil War Prints
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3318
label: catalog number
content: 60.3318
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: image: 8 in x 12 in; 20.32 cm x 30.48 cm