Taking Fort Fisher with the 5th U.S. Colored Troops

    Laying in line a few hundred yards from Fort Fisher in January 1865, Lieutenant Joseph S. McClelland of the 5th U.S. Colored Troops remembered the final hours before the fort surrendered. "I lay awake watching the flashes from the guns of the monitors and their terrific explosions in the doomed fort. About half past 10 we were called up to go and take part in the final charge. We had not got much more than started from our works, however, till the gunboats ceased firing and we could hear the sharp rattle of musketry. Directly afterwards, we saw a rocket ascend and then from every vessel in the fleet a rocket ascended and we knew that Fort Fisher, the Rebel stronghold, had fallen. They had made the charge before we had time to get there. We, however, marched up to the fort only to march back again. On our way to the fort we saw a great many wounded being carried to the rear and a number of dead were lying along the road," he wrote.

    The 5th U.S. Colored Troops had seen months of hard service in eastern Virginia, including taking part in the siege of Petersburg and suffering heavy casualties during the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. As the first regiment of black troops raised in the state of Ohio, its officers were drawn primarily from soldiers who had served in Ohio regiments and the author of today's account of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher. Joseph S. McClelland of Tiffin had served for three months as a sergeant in Co. D of the 86th Ohio during the summer of 1862 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Co. G of the 5th U.S. Colored Troops in September 1863. 

    After the war, McClelland worked as a newspaper editor in Colorado and founded the Larimer County Express in Fort Collins in April 1873 and ran it for years afterwards. "He was an active, energetic and very enterprising man and did much during this 36 years' residence in Larimer County in advancing its material and moral development," the county history noted. McClelland's account of the second battle of Fort Fisher was originally published in the February 9, 1865 edition of his hometown newspaper, the Tiffin Tribune. 


The sea face of Fort Fisher which guarded the Cape Fear River leading to Wilmington, North Carolina, one of the Confederacy's last open ports in the final days of the Civil War. 

Fort Fisher, North Carolina

January 22, 1865

          A week ago today Fort Fisher was in the hands of the enemy. They were sure the vile Yankee could never capture it. “The works are strong enough to hold themselves,” they confidently assured themselves. They boasted of having chased away the Yankees once and could do it again as often as they would come to the attack. Deluded mortals! But I anticipate.

Leaving Deep Bottom on the 3rd, Bermuda Hundred on the 5th, and Fortress Monroe on the 6th, we stood out to sea and often experiencing some heavy weather, we found ourselves off Beauford, North Carolina on the morning of the 8th where we collected a large naval fleet. Our transport fleet of vessels of all kinds came in during the day. On account of the inclemency of the weather, we lay there till Friday morning when the weather became calm again and we all steamed off in three lines. A line of naval vessels of all classes from the large 64-gun frigates to the smallest gunboats and dispatch boats on either side and the transports in the center. Saturday morning found us off the fort and early in the morning the gunboats commenced shelling the woods. Not getting any reply from the woods, the small boats were soon put in motion and the troops thrown ashore from the transports as soon as possible.

The troops of the 5th U.S.C.T. muster on the streets of Delaware, Ohio in the fall of 1863. 

At 10 o’clock I had my company on the beach and was trying to dry my clothes having only got wet up to the arm pits in getting ashore! This was very pleasant January weather! As I propose not to give an account of the taking of Fort Fisher but only what came under my own observation, the seeming egotism cannot well be avoided. Toward evening, we (General Charles J. Paine’s division) were put in motion down the beach toward the fort. After reaching a point two and a half miles from the fort, we turned to the right, marching across the peninsula so as to strike the Cape Fear River at right angles. My company with two others of the 5th U.S.C.T., all under command of Captain Eugene F. Bates of Painesville (formerly of the Hoffman Battalion), were thrown forward as skirmishers and we advanced to the river without encountering any enemy. Here the line of battle was faced towards Wilmington while we picketed next to the fort, being in fact in the rear of the line of battle to prevent a movement from the fort.

Brigadier General Charles J. Paine, commanding the Third Division of Terry's Provisional Corps

We had not been long on our posts till a Rebel courier came dashing along at full speed. But the command halt and the inevitable click, click from the “smoked Yankees” brought him to, and they brought him to me trembling in every limb lest the sins of Fort Pillow would be visited upon him. We were not savages, however, and I at once sent him to General Alfred Terry. His horse and equipment I sent to General Paine for his own use as not a horse was brought down with the expedition. The next morning (Saturday) we received ordered to push our skirmish line forward toward the fort. Not knowing the country, we pushed along cautiously and soon passed the Rebel hospital and discovered a sternwheel steamer discharging a cargo at a landing near the fort. A little double quicking brought us up to the wharf and without firing a shot we soon had possession of the steamer which was loaded with corn, and also a barge loaded with ammunition for the magazine of Fort Fisher.

We were then half a mile from the fort proper and about 200 yards from the outer works. We had just been examining some houses in that vicinity and amongst the rest the residence of Colonel Lamb when the Rebel pirate Chickamauga started from the fort where she had been laying in company with the Tallahassee and went slowly past us toward Wilmington. The channel here is over two miles from the Fort Fisher side. She soon opened on us and the steamer, sending one ball directly through our prize.

Major General Alfred H. Terry

General Terry came up about this time with the brigade of General N. Martin Curtis and as the pirate still kept up her fire, she wounded several of his men but our skirmish line escaped unharmed, though some of the shells came very close to us. General Curtis’ brigade commenced throwing up a line of works where our skirmish line was posted and we fell back to our division, who were erecting a line of works across the peninsula. While we were so near the fort, the monitors kept up a steady fire and they had so actually obtained the range that every shot struck the works and threw sand a hundred feet and more in the air. It was a most splendid sight. The only guns that at all bear on this position (where we left Curtis’ brigade) is two guns from Fort Buchanan. From here the final assault was made.

On Sunday, the fleet kept up a most terrific fire till about two o’clock in the afternoon when the signal was given by the whistle of one of the boats. Each steamer in the immense fleet whistled and at once ceased firing. Then for the first time we heard the rattle of musketry and we knew the assault had begun. Shortly after the monitors resumed firing and we knew that the fort had not been fully captured. We very soon received the glad tidings that our brave boys had captured nine of the traverses and were getting ready to finish up the job.

I lay awake over an hour Sunday night watching the flashes from the guns of the monitors and their terrific explosions in the doomed fort. About half past 10 we were called up to go and take part in the final charge. We had not got much more than started from our works, however, till the gunboats ceased firing and we could hear the sharp rattle of musketry. Directly afterwards, we saw a rocket ascend and then from every vessel in the fleet a rocket ascended and we knew that Fort Fisher, the Rebel stronghold, had fallen. They had made the charge before we had time to get there. We, however, marched up to the fort only to march back again. On our way to the fort we saw a great many wounded being carried to the rear and a number of dead were lying along the road.

Major General William H.C. Whiting surrendered the garrison at Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865 after sustaining wounds to the right thigh and hip. General Whiting died of dysentery in March 1865 while a prisoner of war at Governor's Island, New York.


The 27th U.S.C.T. was ordered to the fort earlier in the day and was lying just outside when the fort was taken. After the capture they were marched into the works and thrown between Mound Battery and Fort Buchanan, the latter of which was still held by the Rebels. Brevet Brigadier General Albert Blackman of Fostoria (formerly lieutenant colonel of the 49th Ohio) was in command of the regiment and was ordered to advance in conjunction with a brigade of white troops and capture Fort Buchanan. The brave Blackman grew impatient at the delay in forming the brigade and marched boldly up with his regiment only. He at once ordered a charge but when they neared the fort, Major General William H.C. Whiting came forth and surrendered to the Seneca boy. It seems Fort Buchanan had been held by the Rebel navy and its garrison had spiked the guns and escaped before General Whiting reached it. This was of course unknown until its surrender to the gallant Blackman. With the exception of the guns being spiked the fort was in excellent condition and crammed full of ammunition. It is the most splendid earthwork I have ever seen.

"There is not a square foot of earth in the rear of the fort but that has pieces of shell scattered over it," McClelland noted after the battle. Here, three Federal soldiers pose with a Confederate battery at Fort Fisher with a burst barrel; note the shells lying in the sand in the left foreground. 

Monday morning, the explosion of the magazine took place in Fort Fisher which has cast a gloom over the entire expedition. I got to the fort about 1 o’clock on Monday and there saw the most terrible sights I have ever witnessed. In addition to the killed and wounded in the assault, there lay in all the ghastliness of death over a hundred of our men who had just been dug out, where they had been mangled and covered by the fatal explosion. Most of the guns of Fort Fisher had been disabled, but one Armstrong gun of 150-lbs caliber with a varnished carriage and everything in order was uninjured save being hit with a couple of small pieces of shell. As your readers have a full account of everything connected with the fall of the last Rebel seaport long before they see this, I will simply say that there is not a square foot of earth in the rear of the fort but that has pieces of shell scattered over it. From this you can judge the warmth of fire.

 

Source:

Letter from First Lieutenant Joseph S. McClelland, Co. G, 5th U.S. Colored Troops, Tiffin Weekly Tribune (Ohio), February 9, 1865, pg. 2

Entry for Joseph S. McClelland in Ansel Watrous' History of Larimer County, Colorado. Fort Collins: The Courier Printing & Publishing Co., 1914, pg. 441

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more