Battle of Fort Fisher- 150th Anniversary Observance

 Battle of Fort Fisher

150th Anniversary Observance

Fort Fisher will be holding an observance of the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher on January 17th & 18th, 2015.
Thousands of people are expected to visit Pleasure Island for this unique two day event.

Click here to review the Sponsorship Brochure and the great opportunity to be a part of celebrating history on Pleasure Island.
www.friendsoffortfisher.com

Artillery Program at Fort Fisher Civil War Historic Site - June 28th

The awesome power of Civil War artillery will be highlighted on Saturday, June 28, 2014, when Fort Fisher State Historic Site presents "Hot Waves of Fire and Smoke and Deadly Showers of Cast Iron: Artillery at Fort Fisher." This free program will be held from 10 am-4 pm and will feature periodic firings of the site's 32-pound seacoast rifled and banded cannon.

Costumed interpreters will also be teaching the field artillery drill using the site's 12-pound bronze Napoleon full scale reproduction cannon. Author Richard Triebe will sign and discuss his new book "Point Lookout Prison and Hospital." Rounding out the day's activities will be costumed tours of the site's remaining earthworks, as well as the opportunity for up to 25 visitors to go "Above the Scenes," a special paid tour offered only at noon.


All Fort Fisher programming is made possible with the support of the Friends of Fort Fisher, the non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing this national treasure, and sustaining members: Troy and Lori Barbour, Mike McCarley, Tammy and Jack Moore, Brian and Deedra Nunnally, Jim and Catherine Taylor, Ernest Kniffen, Dr. Edward Halloran, and Patrick O. McCullough. Fort Fisher, the largest earthen fortification in the Confederacy, once protected the port of Wilmington and the vital blockade running trade on the Cape Fear River. After two massive bombardments, the fort fell to a combined Union amphibious assault on January 15, 1865. With the capture of Fort Fisher, the South's vital shipping port of Wilmington was closed and the days of the Confederacy were numbered.

148 th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher - January 19, 2012

From the Friends of Fort Fisher:

Multiple cannon blasts will mark the commemoration of the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher on January 19, 2012, when Fort Fisher State Historic Site hosts “Sheppard's Battery: Confederates Defending the Left Flank,” a living history program that focuses on the Confederate defenders at Sheppard’s Battery and at the fort’s “Bloody Gate.”

Civil War re-enactors will set up displays of camp life and talk with visitors about the life of the Confederate infantry and artillery troops during the January 1865 campaign. Throughout the day, infantry and artillery units will conduct drills and firing demonstrations, including the site’s rifled and banded 32 pound cannon atop Sheppard’s Battery. The program is free and will be held from 10 am to 4 pm.

Scheduled speakers include local historian Ernie Kniffen, who will discuss new findings on his extensive research of Confederate sailors and Marines. Later in the day, author Richard Triebe will sign books and discuss NC troops who were captured at Fort Fisher and sent to a prison camp in Elmira, NY. Also on site will be author, educator, and member of the Wilmington Railroad Museum board of trustees, James Burke, who will sign and promote his book, “The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in the Civil War.”

At 12:30, the NC Underwater Archaeology Unit will dedicate a new highway marker for the blockade runner Modern Greece.

All Fort Fisher programming is made possible by the Friends of Fort Fisher and its sustaining members, Mike McCarley, Brian Nunnally, Ernie Kniffen, Tammy and Jack Moore, and Jim and Catherine Taylor.

Fort Fisher, the largest earthen fortification in the Confederacy, once protected the port of Wilmington and the vital blockade running trade on the Cape Fear River. After two massive bombardments the fort fell to a Union infantry assault on January 15, 1865. With the capture of Fort Fisher, Wilmington’s port – “the Lifeline of the Confederacy” – was closed to foreign trade.

Fort Fisher State Historic Site is located at 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd S, Kure Beach, N.C. 28449.  For more information, call (910) 458-5538 or visit the web site www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/. Fort Fisher State Historic Site is part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.

The 147th Anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher January 21-22, 2012

As part of the state's observance of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources' Fort Fisher State Historic Site will host "The Lights of the Great Armada: The 147th An-niversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher" on Jan. 21-22, 2012.

This two-day event will highlight the war's largest amphibious as-sault with a Navy and Marine living history program that includes small arms and artillery demonstrations, a period torpedo exhibit, as well as special presentations focusing on the Union and Confederate sailors and marines who fought at Fort Fisher in January 1865.