The three battalions composing the Third Regiment of Junior
Reserves participated brilliantly in the defence of Fort Fisher,
when attacked by General B. F. Butler and Admiral Porter on 23, 24
and 25 December, 1864.
Fort Fisher was located on the point of a narrow peninsula which
extends southwardly from New Inlet between the ocean and Cape Fear
river, near its mouth. It defended Wilmington, the last remaining
port through which army supplies, ammunition, clothing and food
for Lee’s Army were brought in by blockade runners. Under its
guns, the “Ad-Vance” brought in supplies of inestimable value to
the North Carolina troops. Its defence was of supreme importance
to the Confederacy. It was an earthen fort of an irregular form,
with bastions at the angles. The land face, 250 yards long, was
continuous from ocean to river. The sea face was 1,300 yards
long. Both faces were mounted with heavy guns, mortars and light
artillery, presenting a formidable front to the enemy. It was
the strongest earthwork built by the Confederacy, and really, as
Admiral Porter said, “stronger than the Malakoff tower which defied
so long the combined power of France and England.” Two miles above
the fort were the Half Moon and the Flag Pond Batteries, and a
mile and a quarter below, and at the extreme end of the peninsula,
Battery Buchanan with four heavy guns.
When Butler’s expedition of 8,000 men set forth against it, the
fort was garrisoned by only 667 men--a totally inadequate force
for its defence. General Butler, with General Weitzel and his
troops, appeared in transports off New Inlet, near Fort Fisher, on
15 December. The navy under Admiral Porter, did not appear until
the 18th. He had collected the largest and most formidable naval
expedition of modern times. The weather being stormy, prevented any
hostile operations until the 23d. On the night of the 23d, Admiral
Porter anchored a powder ship, containing 215 tons of powder,
about 800 yards from the northeast salient of the fort. It was
anticipated that the explosion of this mass of powder would greatly
impair, if not destroy, the works, and the least effect expected
was that the garrison would be so paralyzed and stunned as to offer
but small resistance to subsequent attacks. The explosion did no
more harm than a Chinese fire-cracker. Colonel William Lamb, then
in command of the fort, wired General Whiting at Wilmington that
one of the enemy’s fleet had blown up, so little impression did it
make on him.
General Benjamin F. Butler, of New Orleans fame, in his
autobiography, gives an amusing account of an interview with Major
Reece, who commanded the Fourth Battalion of Junior Reserves and
was captured at Fort Fisher. Butler says: “I inquired of him where
he was the night before last (the night of the explosion of the
powder boat). He said he was lying two miles and a half up the
beach. I asked him if he had heard the powder vessel explode. He
said he did not know what it was, but supposed a boat had blown
up, _that it jumped him and his men_ who were lying upon the
ground, like pop-corn in a popper, to use his expression.” It is
hard to tell which most to admire, Butler’s gullibility or Reece’s
“jollying” extravagance.
The next day, 24 December, was employed by Porter in bombarding the
fort, dropping into it as many as 130 shells a minute. At this time
the three battalions of Junior Reserves, about 800 strong, were
encamped near Sugar Loaf, six miles up the Cape Fear river from the
fort. On the night of the 24th, the Fourth, Seventh and Eighth
battalions were assembled at Sugar Loaf under Brigadier-General
William W. Kirkland. Major French had been temporarily assigned to
the command of a regiment of Senior Reserves, but at his request
was permitted to return to his own command and follow its fortunes.
General Whiting directed General Kirkland to send these battalions
to Battery Buchanan, there to take boat for Bald Head and relieve
Colonel J. J. Hedrick and his seasoned veterans, in order that
they might reinforce Fort Fisher. They marched soon after midnight
through Fort Fisher to Battery Buchanan, on the extreme end of
the peninsula. In the darkness, many of the boys while passing
through the fort, stumbled into the holes which were made in
every direction by the shells. All the battalions arrived at Fort
Buchanan before day. The boat which was to carry them to Bald Head
could not make a landing on account of the tide, whereupon Captain
Bristol early in the morning reported in person the situation to
Colonel Lamb, who ordered the Juniors into the Fort. This was early
Christmas morning.
Between Fort Buchanan and Fort Fisher is a clear, open beach, upon
which a partridge could not hide himself, over which they must
pass in full view of the fleet. As soon as the march began the
fleet poured upon the command a terrific discharge of shot and
shell. The first one killed at Fort Fisher was private Davis, of
French’s Battalion of Juniors, who on this march was cut in two by
a large shell. Another private was severely wounded by the same
shell. Nothing but the poor practice of the fleet saved the boys
from utter destruction on this perilous march. When they reached
Fort Fisher a scene of desolation met their gaze. The barracks
had been destroyed and the interior of the fort was honeycombed
by holes in the ground large enough to bury an ox team, made by
the huge shells from the fleet. French’s battalion and as many of
the others as could be accommodated, were placed in the already
over-crowded bomb-proofs. Those who could not obtain protection
here were carried by Major Reece to the breastworks at Camp Wyatt,
three miles above the fort. The gunboats soon discovered their
presence there and enfiladed the trenches with a terrific fire.
The boys sought shelter under the banks of the river, where they
spent the day listening to the music of the great guns of the fleet
and watching the great shells as they passed over them into the
river--a grand, but not a very engaging spectacle.
It was dark when Major Reece determined to take his command back
to the fort. Late in the afternoon he heard the report of small
arms in the direction of the fort. He knew that a land force was
attacking the fort, and he felt that it was his duty to take his
boys to the rescue. He marched them down the river towards the
fort but unfortunately he failed to put out a skirmish line and
fell upon a regiment of General Weitzel’s troops by whom he and a
majority of his command were captured and carried to Point Lookout.
The following is a list of the officers who were taken prisoners:
Major J. M. Reece, Captain J. R. Gaither, First Lieutenant J. M.
Lawrence, of Company B, Eighth Battalion; First Lieutenant M. G.
Tuttle, Company C, Eighth Battalion; Second Lieutenant George
W. Yancey, Company C, Fourth Battalion; Second Lieutenant C. P.
Pfohl, Company C, Fourth Battalion. Those officers who escaped
were Captain A. L. Lancaster, Company B, Fourth Battalion;
First Lieutenant G. R. White, Company A, Eighth Battalion;
Second Lieutenant Amos Guy, Company A, Eighth Battalion; Third
Lieutenant S. P. Steele, Company A, Eighth Battalion.
First Lieutenant F. M. Hamlin, Company D, Fourth Battalion, a brave
young subaltern, led part of his company up the river and escaped
capture. They found their way to Kirkland’s Brigade at Sugar Loaf
and rejoined their command at the fort next day.
The fleet bombarded the fort until 12 o’clock Christmas day, when
Butler landed 2,500 troops near the Half Moon Battery, about two
miles north of Fisher. He immediately pushed up Curtis’ Brigade
within a few hundred yards of the parapet of the fort. A skirmish
line was then advanced to within seventy-five yards of the fort.
Upon the approach of the enemy, the Junior Reserves sprang to the
parapet of the land face which was swept by the guns of the fleet,
and by a well-directed fire, delivered with a coolness which could
not be excelled, they repelled the attack. One little fellow from
Columbus County, whose name is not remembered, being too small to
shoot over the parapet, mounted a cannon and fired from there as
coolly as if he were shooting squirrels, until he fell wounded.
About dusk the Reserves were ordered to the palisades in front of
the parapet and immediately under the guns of the fort, where they
remained till morning. The guns of the fort were discharged over
their heads. The rain was descending in torrents. That night the
Federals re-embarked most of their men.
General Whiting in his report says: “Colonel Tansill was ordered
to the command of the land front. The gallant Major Reilly, with
his battalion and Junior Reserves, poured cheering, over the
parapet and through the sallyport to the palisades. The enemy had
occupied the redoubt (an unfinished fort) and advanced into the
port garden. A fire of grape and musketry checked any further
advance. The garrison continued to man the out-works and channel
batteries throughout the night, exposed to a pelting storm and
occasionally exchanging musket shots with the enemy. The fire
had been maintained for seven hours and a half with unremitting
rapidity.”
Colonel William Lamb, the hero of Fort Fisher, who, under General
Whiting, commanded the troops, in his report says: “At 4:30 p.
m., 25 December, a most terrific fire against the land face and
palisades in front commenced, unparalleled in severity. Admiral
Porter estimated it at 130 shot and shell per minute. The parapet
and the guns were manned by regulars and the Junior Reserves.
“During the night the rain fell in torrents, wetting the troops and
their arms, but it did not dampen their spirits nor interfere with
their efficiency. * * *
“On Tuesday morning the foiled and frightened enemy left our
shores. I cannot speak too highly of the coolness and gallantry of
my command.”
Colonel Lamb at another time said: “Be it said to the eternal
credit of these gallant boys that they, from this first baptism of
fire, emerged with a reputation for bravery established for all
time, and that to no troops more than these is due the honor of our
splendid victory.”
[Illustration: SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
1. John W. Hinsdale, Colonel.
2. W. Foster French, Lieut-Colonel.
3. W. W. King, 1st Lieut., Co. A.
4. Jno. W. Harper, 2d Lieut., Co. C.
5. H. W. Connelly, 2d Lieut., Co. C.
6. J. M. Bandy, 2d Lieut., Co. E.
7. D. S. Reid, 2d Lieut., Co. K.
8. C. W. Taylor, Orderly Sergt., Co. C.
9. J. L. McGimpsey, Private, Co. B.]
The troops were complimented in general orders by General Bragg
for their heroism and gallantry. The heaviest loss suffered by any
one command in the fort was by the Junior Reserves. Thus ended the
first glorious defence of Fort Fisher.
When the news was flashed to Raleigh that Butler’s ships had
appeared off Fort Fisher, Lieutenant-General Holmes promptly
tendered his services to assist in repelling the threatened
attack and was assigned to duty by General Bragg in the city of
Wilmington, where he was put in charge of the movement of troops
at that point. The writer who accompanied General Holmes as his
Adjutant-General, unfortunately did not participate in the battle
of Fort Fisher. He is indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel French for
most of the foregoing details.
On 26 December, the reserves were moved to camp on Bald Head
Island, where they remained on guard and picket duty for several
days when they were ordered to Camp McLean, at Goldsboro, N. C.
On 6 December, there had been an attempted consolidation of these
three battalions near Sugar Loaf, when Captain William R. Johns was
elected Colonel; Captain C. N. Allen, Lieutenant-Colonel; and A. B.
Johns, Major. Captain W. R. Johns, a disabled officer, was then in
the enrollment service under Colonel Peter Mallett, the Commandant
of Conscripts of North Carolina, and being unable to undergo the
hardships and exposure of camp life, declined the election. Captain
Allen, the Lieutenant-Colonel, declined for the same reason. Major
Johns was never assigned and never entered upon the discharge of
the duties of Major and so the battalions continued to serve under
separate organizations. Major Johns afterwards formally tendered
his resignation, which was accepted.