Wilmington campaigns | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Fort Fisher and Wilmington on the Cape Fear River were the two obstacles to the Union advance into North Carolina. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alfred Terry David D. Porter Benjamin Butler John Schofield |
Braxton Bragg William Lamb William H.C. Whiting † Alfred H. Colquitt | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
100,000 | 95,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1, 971 | 1,748 |
The Wilmington campaigns were part of a Union effort to take Wilmington, North Carolina, from the Confederates. Wilmington was the last major port on the Atlantic seacoast available to the Confederacy. Fort Fisher guarded the Cape Fear River and in order to capture Wilmington, Fort Fisher had to fall.[1][2][3]