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Fort Fisher State Historic Site

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Fort Fisher State Historic Site

Civil War Battlefield and Museum By 1864, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E.

Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina's port of Wilmington open to blockade runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. When Fort Fisher was finally subdued after a massive Federal amphibious assault on January 15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.

06/19/2026

-The Juneteenth Holiday in 2026-

When the port of Wilmington, NC was closed by the capture of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865, the Confederate Army's last supply route was cut off, but this was not the last former Confederate port to be secured. The subsequent capture of the port city itself on February 22, 1865 meant the liberation of the Cape Fear Region's enslaved population, but this was not where the story of emancipation ended.

Today, June 19, 1865 marks the conclusion of multiple stories central to our understanding of the Civil War as U.S. troops issued General Order No. 3 and brought news of emancipation to the port city of Galveston, Texas. Two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, freedom from slavery was finally found by all African Americans in the United States.

The events in Galveston were felt by African Americans across the continent, triggering celebrations in "Freedom Day," what is now one of our nation's longest-running holidays. History is an ongoing story, and celebrations like Juneteenth are reminders of how our national community can come together in our shared humanity.

Learn more about this fascinating history through the work of the NC African American Heritage Commission! You can find history, media, and news about community events on their website here: https://aahc.nc.gov/juneteenth

06/17/2026

Various species of turtles live in the Cape Fear Region. Among them are the diamondback terrapin, which is considered a vulnerable species and is protected under North Carolina natural conservation laws. Fort Fisher SHS does not see these gorgeous reptiles very often, but a few have appeared to grace our grounds this year!

Please be cautious when walking off-trail, and if you do see any turtles please do keep a respectful distance. Together, we can ensure that the precious lifecycle of these animals remains undisturbed!

06/13/2026

-Fort Fisher’s 2026 Summer Intern-

It’s time for a special edition of our “Meet the Staff” series! Summer is off to a great start here at Fort Fisher, thanks in no small part to this year’s Mary Holloway Summer Intern: Arianna Hilbert. Now that she’s been with us for a few weeks, we’d like to introduce her so you can give her a warm welcome!

Arianna grew up in Pulaski, Wisconsin and majored in Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. She is now entering her second year at the University of North Carolina Wilmington to complete her master’s degree in public history, and is spending the summer with us here at Fort Fisher SHS to gain valuable experience in museum work. Arianna’s primary goals are to help preserve an important site to both Wilmington’s local history and America’s national history, and to help our visitors explore exciting new facets of the past!

These first weeks have been a great opportunity for Arianna to flesh out her knowledge of the Civil War. While she finds excitement in many historical subjects, topics of human culture, the natural environment, and animals have been some of her favorites. Arianna hopes to focus her personal research project on soldiers’ pets during the Civil War and beyond, animals adopted by the troops on campaign, and how they helped soothe the lingering traumas of battle in a time before psychology and mental health was broadly understood.

In her free time, Arianna loves to crochet, go swimming, photograph nature's beauty, and explore new places (especially if they have good food)! Arianna’s frequent hang-out has been Discovery Hall at UNCW’s Randall Library, where she also works in the Digitization Lab doing document digitization and metadata entry. At home, Arianna and her family keep three lovely dogs named Finn, Maya, and Otis, who had a reportedly rare moment of ‘sitting still’ for the picture here!

We hope you enjoyed learning about Arianna, here for the 40th year of Fort Fisher’s Mary Holloway Summer Internship program. If you see her at the information desk or giving a guided tour of the battlefield, be sure to say hi!

06/03/2026

Our summer artillery event this past Saturday was a BLAST!

Even if the rain did wash out a portion of the day, we all had such a great time sharing Fort Fisher's history with you, our visitors, and enjoying the kinds of fun activities that bring our community together. "The 'Art' in Artillery" is a new idea we wanted to test out, and we are excited to continue building the connections between history and human creativity in the future!

A huge "Thank You" to the community partners who could join us this weekend, such as the Cameron Art Museum and the Friends of Fort Fisher, and to Dr. James Farley of UNCW who collaborated with Education and Outreach Coordinator Cameron Kinard to produce a series of wet-plate photographs in the style of Timothy O'Sullivan's original work in 1865. Immense gratitude also to our site's wonderful volunteers and our cannon crew who joined us for such a fun day. We could not do these meaningful events without your support!

Lastly, a special "Thank You" to Collections Manager Becky Sawyer and our fantastic summer intern, Arianna, for snapping these great photos of the event. We'll be posting a special edition of our "Meet the Staff" series for Arianna soon, so keep your eyes out!

05/29/2026

-SPECIAL EVENT: 7 Things to Know for May 30-

Join us at Fort Fisher State Historic Site tomorrow for our annual summertime event! This year titled "The 'Art' in Artillery," our special event will include cannon demonstrations, guided fort tours, fun activities, and displays from our community about both history and art of many varieties. Here are seven pieces of information that will help you plan and get excited for your visit:

1. Be sure to dress for the weather and bring water bottles. Other drinks must remain outside the Visitor Center. Water fountains and refilling stations are inside.

2. The Visitor Center and Main Parking Lot will be open from 9am - 5pm.

3. Cannon Demonstrations will be held at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm in the Fort Grove.

4. Water Balloon Launcher and Painting Toy Soldiers activities will be held on the grounds between 11am - 3pm. Free-flow format, so come when you’d like! All programming subject to change without notice.

5. Above the Scenes Guided Tours (1hr 15min duration, $10/person) are available at 10am, 12pm, and 2pm. Tickets may be purchased at the first floor info desk.

6. Check out our community groups and Friends of Fort Fisher tent on the green. Find a special display of historic photography in the visitor center!

7. Be curious and explore! The history of Fort Fisher and North Carolina is yours to discover!

We hope to see you tomorrow!

05/23/2026

-A Stop in Melbourne, #8-

Welcome to the LAST post of Haedyn Brewer’s project, “The Pacific World and the Civil War.” The week's subject is the Confederate commerce raider CSS Shenandoah, featured in our visitor center's new temporary exhibit.

CSS Shenandoah set sail for the Pacific from Liverpool, England in October, 1864, raiding its way south across the Atlantic and east over the Indian Ocean. Shenandoah stopped for repairs in Melbourne, Australia from January to mid-February 1865. The Confederate crew enjoyed great popularity for their exploits in the Atlantic, visited almost every day by fascinated Australian, British, and American civilians. Meanwhile, Captain James Waddell and his officers partied with local elites.

While docked at Melbourne, CSS Shenandoah continued recruiting sailors, done in secret because such recruitment violated British neutrality laws. The crew was reportedly joined by two Malayans, Duke Simmons and William Bruce, and an unknown number of Western sailors. When local officials heard rumors of this recruitment, Melbourne’s police force attempted to search Shenandoah for newly enlisted men on February 14th, 1865.

Captain Waddell forbade the police entry, claiming Shenandoah’s status as a foreign vessel of war and assuring them that he recruited no men in Melbourne. Waddell also threatened to abandon Shenandoah in port, leaving the Australians to pay for its detention and ongoing repairs. Officials in Melbourne were uncertain of the search’s legality, and postponed. The next day, the local government rescinded the search, allowing Shenandoah to set sail unmolested. Evidence uncovered later indicated that Waddell had indeed recruited men to Shenandoah’s crew.

This episode underlines the social and political complexities created abroad by the Civil War. We hope this story, and the others we have shared, have given you a new perspective on how broad the American Civil War truly was, and how interconnected our nation has always been with the world at large. Thank you to our visitors for your continued support, and another thank you to Haedyn Brewer for his work this season!

05/20/2026

-Battle Acre Improvements-

A big thanks to our maintenance team, David and Jesse, who were assisted today by Assistant Site Manager Chad Jefferds in improving the coastal walking trail at Battle Acre! This fresh coat of paint on the posts and 400 yards of galvanized chain make for a nice clean look that really brighten the way.

The original posts and chains date to 1996 when the stone revetment wall was installed to halt beachline erosion along Fort Fisher. They served our site well for many years, but salty, humid air can take its toll!

More site improvements are on the way, to help make this summer at Fort Fisher a blast for our visitors.

05/15/2026

-George Cartoah and Rotuma Island, #7-

Throughout the Civil War, men traveled to America from abroad to fight for many reasons. For some, they sought a new beginning in the United States. One of those men was George Cartoah, born in 1841 on Rotuma Island near Fiji in the Western Pacific. We know little about his early life, but he eventually appears in U.S. census records in Middleboro, Massachusetts by 1864 and seems to have been a naturalized sailor. In August, 1864 at New Bedford, MA, Cartoah re-enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the service’s boom in enlistments that year, which you can learn more about in our previous post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18SBHXa1am/

On enlistment records, recruiters noted that Cartoah’s right leg was tattooed with “kanach” figures, stretching from hip to thigh. “Kanach” is a misspelling of the Hawaiian word “kanaka,” meaning “human,” and at the time it was used by Americans as a catch-all term for Pacific Islanders. While we do not know the exact shape of George's tattoos, they clearly reflect the significance of his heritage. Known in the Rotuman language today as “Fa’i,” these tattoo figures are an important element of Rotuman culture, with designs made unique to each individual. To display values of modesty, male Rotumans like Cartoah often tattooed these intricately latticed designs on their thighs, which Westerners sometimes mistook for clothing from afar.

Cartoah was assigned to the receiving vessel USS Ohio, but was sick-listed on September 6, 1864 and hospitalized in Chelsea, MA with pneumonia. He returned to duty aboard USS Wabash in time to fight as an Ordinary Seaman in both battles at Fort Fisher. Unfortunately, not much else is known of Cartoah’s story, but what is clear is that he was an individual who dedicated himself to fighting for his new life in an adopted American home off Fort Fisher’s shores.

Next week, we'll discuss a fascinating episode that occurred during the voyage of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Shenandoah's, which couldn't make it into Haedyn's temporary exhibit!

05/09/2026

Some sights and natural beauty from this morning, including a large pod of dolphins only 100 yards offshore. It's a sure sign of good luck for a great weekend that we want to share with our community!

05/08/2026

-The Kingdom of Hawai'i, #6-

Welcome back to the Pacific World and the Civil War! Our temporary exhibit for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month launched last week, so come by to check it out. Today, we’ll take a closer look at one of America’s closest partners in the Pacific: the Kingdom of Hawai’i.

Founded in 1795 by King Kamehameha the Great, the Kingdom of Hawai’i eventually became a major waystation for whaling vessels, missionaries, and foreign dignitaries. Hawaiians found their way to America and served in the U.S. military as early as the War of 1812. By the 1850s, Hawai’i experienced significant cultural and economic exchange, with Hawaiians gaining employment aboard Pacific-bound vessels and newspapers bringing world events to the islanders. An estimated 119 Hawaiians served on both sides of the American Civil War; many were the sons of American missionaries, students in American universities, and captured sailors whom the Confederacy pressed into service aboard their commerce raiders. For example, Peter Davis served in the U.S. Navy from 1861-1872, fighting at Fort Fisher and becoming one of the longest-serving Hawaiian-American sailors of his time.

The Civil War took an economic and political toll on Hawai’i. King Kamehameha IV declared neutrality in the conflict and maintained steady relations with the United States. He refused to recognize Confederate ships as anything but privateers, and the Hawaiian whaling industry suffered from the exploits of commerce raiders like CSS Shenandoah and Alabama. The danger, and overfishing of Pacific whale populations, led some whalers to sell their vessels to foreign interests. In turn, the Hawaiian sugar industry grew in importance, especially when the war interrupted sugar production in the American South, ultimately destabilizing the Hawaiian economy. This opened the door for wealthy American financiers to gradually seize control of the kingdom’s industries and political power from native Hawaiians, until the Kingdom of Hawai’i was stripped of its sovereignty and annexed by the United States in 1898.

Culturally and economically, the Civil War marked a turning point for many Hawaiians. Join us next week for more stories from the Pacific World!

Address

1610 Fort Fisher Boulevard S
Kure Beach, NC
28449

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19102517340

Website

https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/fort-fisher, https://events.dncr.nc.gov/

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