The strength of Fort Fisher led to its being called the Southern Gibraltar and the "Malakoff Tower of the South".

The city of Wilmington is located 21 miles (34 km) upstream from the mouth of the Cape Fear River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Trade was based on the coming and going of British blockade runners who mostly employed steamer ships in order to evade the Union's maritime barricade Confederate ports.

Often, they were forced to fly the Confederate insignia since the Union had imposed the death penalty on British "pirates" captured in the region[citation needed].

South of Wilmington, along the Cape Fear River's last 20 miles (32 km), a handful of Confederate forts and batteries protected the daily flow of ships.

The existence of two inlets resulted in a crucial advantage: guided by the Confederates, the blockade runners were capable of avoiding the Union ships.

The regional command was conformed by Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes and Maj. William H. C. Whiting (Bolles' brother-in-law), as chief inspector of North Carolina's defenses.

deRosset brought Wilmington's Light Infantry to the primitive artillery position, and he named the place "Bolles Battery."

Typically, Confederate pilots would climb the tall pine trees with large ladders, spot the nearest blockade runner and then depart, meeting the incoming ship to guide it past the several passive defenses to Wilmington.

As a rule, the Union's warships could not sidestep Fort Fisher's massive presence, and they were forced to remain far from shoreline because of the coastal artillery.

Battery Buchanan was a small but impressive fortification which was constructed in 1864 at the furthest tip of the peninsula (Confederate Point), overlooking Cape Fear's New Inlet.

An 8 inch Blakeley Rifle was mounted in the Northeast Bastion and an innovative 150-pound Armstrong Gun was placed along the sea face.

For example, the Cape Fear River was further filled with "torpedoes", and a breastwork was built at the northern end of the fortification in order to contain any landing forces.

On December 15, 1864, Jefferson Davis supposed that Wilmington had not yet been attacked because it would have demanded "the withdrawal of too large a [Union] force from operations against points which they deem more important to us."

In December 1864, Union Major General Benjamin Butler, together with the Expeditionary Corps of the Army of the James, was detached from the Virginia theater for an amphibious mission to capture Fort Fisher.

He was joined by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, who commanded Union naval forces already in the region.

The Union attack was effectively thwarted and, on December 27, Benjamin Butler ordered the withdrawal of his 1,000 soldiers who were still on the beach.

At nighttime, General William Whiting, who had been wounded during the battle, surrendered as Commander of the District of Cape Fear.

Those Confederates that were wounded were admitted to Hammond General Hospital and upon recovery were discharged and transferred to the main prison complex.

[3] With the fall of Fort Fisher, the trading route to Wilmington was cut, as was the supply line for General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Following the fall of Fort Anderson on the Cape Fear River the Union occupied Wilmington definitively on February 22, 1865.

Shortly after sunrise on January 16, 1865, Fort Fisher's main magazine exploded — a tremendous blast that killed at least 200 men of both sides.

The tragedy sparked a heated debate, as the Union victors were eager to blame the Confederates for dastardly behavior.

But the previous night's giddy celebration among the Federals had spawned many a drunken reveler; and the accident occurred despite the posting of guards at the fort's magazines.

After mature deliberation upon the foregoing evidence the court finds that the following are the main facts, viz: Immediately after the capture of the fort General Ames gave orders to Lieut.

George W. Huckins, Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, acting assistant adjutant-general, Third Brigade, Second Division, to place guards on all the magazines and bombproofs.

That personas were seen with lights searching for plunder in the main magazine some ten of fifteen minutes previous to the explosion.

The court then adjourned sine dieThe site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961, the first in North Carolina.

[5] Because of natural sea attrition, the construction of US 421 and a landing strip during World War II few of the original sand mounds have survived.

Included are impressive dioramas of the fort and the Civil War waterfront of Wilmington originally created for the former acclaimed Blockade Runner Museum at Carolina Beach.