Battle of Wilmington

Battle of Wilmington
Part of the American Civil War
Region down Cape Fear River
Date February 11–22, 1865 Location Wilmington, North Carolina Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
John M. Schofield David D. Porter	Braxton Bragg
Units involved
Department of North Carolina Army of the Ohio North Atlantic Blockading Squadron	Confederate Department of North Carolina
Strength
12,000	6,000
Casualties and losses
305	845

The Battle of Wilmington was fought February 11–22, 1865, during the American Civil War, mostly outside the city of Wilmington, North Carolina. The Union victory in January in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher meant that Wilmington, 30 miles upriver, could no longer be used by the Confederacy as a port. It fell to Union troops after they overcame Confederate defenses along the Cape Fear River south of the city. The Confederate General Braxton Bragg burned stores of tobacco and cotton, among other supplies and equipment, before leaving the city, to prevent the Union from seizing them.

After the fall of Fort Fisher, the port city of Wilmington was sealed to any further blockade runners; the Confederates had no remaining major ports along the Atlantic seaboard. Confederate forces evacuated the other defensive works near the mouth of the Cape Fear River; they were forced to disable and abandon the heavy artillery since they lacked the means to move them upriver. While the Confederate defeat at Fort Fisher the previous month affected morale somewhat and led to an increase in desertion, the remaining soldiers also reported that morale remained high. General Braxton Bragg commanded the defenses of Wilmington; his field forces consisted of General Robert F. Hoke's division from the Army of Northern Virginia and some heavy artillery men and home guard. Hoke commanded three of his brigades on the east side of the Cape Fear River, along Sugar Loaf north of Fort Fisher; Hoke's fourth brigade occupied Fort Anderson on the west side of the river. Bragg remained in Wilmington in order to remove a stockpile of government stores and also to prevent the Union forces on the coast from reinforcing Major General William T. Sherman's army.

Union general in chief, U.S. Grant, wanted to use Wilmington as a base for an advance to Goldsboro, North Carolina; rail lines from the coast to Goldsboro could be used to resupply William T. Sherman's armies, which were then moving north through the Carolinas. In February 1865, the Union XXIII Corps arrived to reinforce the Fort Fisher Expeditionary Corps, commanded by Major General Alfred H. Terry. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield took command of the combined force and started moving against the city in mid-February.

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