January 13, 1865---The Second Battle of Fort Fisher (Day One)

JANUARY 13, 1865:          

The Assault on Fort Fisher (Day One):     

The largest amphibious assault in history (to that time) is launched against Fort Fisher, outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. The fort, which was unsuccessfully assaulted by troops and ships under General Benjamin “Beast” Butler U.S.A. in December, is today hit by a flotilla of 60 warships and 10,000 soldiers, sailors, and marines. On this day, under cover of a brutal bombardment of 100 shells per minute and against heavy resistance, 2,000 U.S. Marines establish a beachhead under the seawall of the fort. 

 

January 12, 1865---Activist Generals

JANUARY 12, 1865:          

A group of African-American community leaders meet with Union Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and General William Tecumseh Sherman U.S.A. to discuss the fate of the Freedmen. It is from this meeting that Sherman and Stanton devise the plan to grant each freed family forty acres of expropriated plantation lands. Sherman subsequently, and upon reflection, includes the gift of farming implements and draught animals in the plan, leading to the famed “Forty Acres and a Mule” plan. It is the first attempt at American social engineering.