WILMINGTON: THE ATTACK ON FORT FISHER; Official Report from Admiral Porter (12/30/1864)

New York Times - Times Machine ^ | 12/30/1864

[Homer_J_Simpson]

WASHINGTON, Thursday, Dec. 29.

The Secretary of the Navy received this afternoon the following by special messenger:

NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, U.S. FLAG SHIP MALVERN, AT SEA, OFF NEW INLET, Monday, Dec. 26, 1864.

SIR: I was in hopes that I should have been able to present to the nation Fort Fisher and the surrounding works as a Christmas offering, but I am carry to say it has not been taken yet. I attacked it on the 24th inst. With the Ironsides Canonicus, Mahepac, Monadnock, Minnesota, Colorado, Mohioan, Tuscarora, Wabash, Susquehanna, Brooklyn. Powhattan, Juinata, Seneca, Shenandoah, Patuxent, Ticonderoga, Mackinaw, Maumee, Yantic, Kansas, Iasco, Quaker City, Monticello, Rhode Island, Sassacus, Chippewa, Osceola, Tacony, Pontoosuc, Santiago de Cuba, Fort Jackson and Vanderbilt, having a reserve of small vessels, consisting of the Aries, Howqus, Wilderness, Cherokee, A.D. Vance, Anemone, Aeolus, Gettysburg, Alabama, Keystone Stale, Banshee, Emma Lillian, Tristam Shandy. Brittania, Gov. Buckingham and Nansemond. Previous to making the attack, a torpedo on a large scale, with an amount of powder on board supposed to be sufficient to explode the powder magazine of the fort, was prepared with great care, and placed under the command of Commander A.C. RHIND, who had associated with him on this perilous service Lieut. S.W. PERSTON, Second Assistant Engineer A.T. MULLEN, of the United States steamship Agawam and Acting Master's Mate PAUL BAYARD and seven mer. So much had been said and written about the terrible effects of gunpowder in an explosion that happened lately in England, that great results were expected from this novel mode of making war. Everything that ingenuity could devise was adopted to make the experiment a success. The vessel was brought round from Norfolk with great care and without accident, in tow of the United States steamer Sassacus, Lieut. Commander J.L. DAVIS, who directed

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

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Link to previous New York Times thread

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Wilmington: The Attack of Fort Fisher – 2-6
Southwestern Virginia: The Great Burbridge-Stoneman Raid – 6
Appalling Disaster: The U.S. Transport North America Foundered at Sea – 6-7
Editorial: The Wilmington Expedition – 7