North Carolina played an important part in the Civil War. While there were other forts along the eastern coast of the United States, by the final stages of the Civil War, Fort Fisher was the only one remaining. Fort Fisher sits near the mouth of the Cape Fear River and by the winter of 1865, was the last fort standing for the Confederacy and the one life line for the south to the outside world. Through Fort Fisher the south was able to get supplies from Europe since this was the only free water way controlled by the Confederacy. On January 12, 1965, Union Soldiers launched an attack on Fort Fisher. By January 15th, the battle was over and the fort had fallen to the Union and the confederate states had suffered a major blow. Unlike modern times, events and stories were related in written letters and by word of mouth. One person remembers it one way and someone else another. The official story is told in history books, but The Fall of Fort Fisher: Contested Memories of the Civil War presents alternate opinions of what happened at Fort Fisher. …show more content…
Ellum delves into the strategic aspects of the battle. Ellum focuses most of his attention on General Adelbert Ames. Ames was in charge of some of the troops that landed the final blows to Fort Fisher. In communications from the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, Colonel Curtis and General Terry were given credit for the victory at Fort Fisher and both received promotions. Although General Terry later admitted that he may have misstated some of what happened, the omission was never fully corrected. In Ames’ attempt to validate his account of the battle, it became evident that there were others, who felt that they too, had been overlooked in their contributions to the