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494 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

expedition had reached Beaufort, and, all the details having
been arranged by General Terry and Admiral Porter, on the
12th the vessels sailed for New Inlet. Early on the morning
of the 13th, the fleet opened fire on the fort, and by 2 o’clock
8,000 troops, with 12 days rations and intrenching tools, had
been landed at Battery Anderson, and General Terry at once
began to intrench himself from the beach to the river. Hoke’s
division was hurried from Wilmington, but arrived too late to

be of use in the defense. Hagood’s brigade was ordered to
reinforce the garrison, and two of his regiments succeeded in

reaching the fort in time. The arrangement was for an assault
on the afternoon of the 15th, and on the evening of the 14th
Admiral Porter threw 2,000 sailors and marines ashore, who
quickly intrenched themselves in the sand near the fort, ready
to codperate with the infantry. At 3 o’clock, on the 15th, all
the whistles of the fleet united in the signal, and the assault was
made under cover of a fierce bombardment. The sailors being
close to the front of the fort, and in such numbers, were mis-
taken for the principal attacking force, and the garrison was
concentrated to meet them. They were swept off the approach
to the fort as leaves by a whirlwind. But the troops under
Terry were more successful. Although suffering heavy losses,
and meeting stern resistance, they were able to gain possession
of a traverse at the river end of the fort, and then by the aid of
the fleet, which threw its shells into the traverses held by the
garrison, the Federal infantry gradually progressed until by 9
o’clock it had carried the fort. Whiting and Lamb and scores
of officers and many men lay either terribly wounded or dead,
and at length, after hours of fierce fighting in the black night,
all the blacker from the smoke of battle, the survivors withdrew
to Battery Buchanan, in the hope of finding boats as a means of

escape. But the boats were no longer there, and nothing re-
mained but to surrender.

Note: In the accompanying drawing of the second attack upon Fort
Fisher is seen the Lilian, the blockade runner on which the author,
when but eighteen years of age, was purser.

The Lilian was a beautiful little ship, a model of a yacht, and very
fast. She made many successful trips, eluding the vigilance of the
blockading fleet or showing them her heels; but, finally, on August 23,
1864, during a chase for five hours under fire, she was struck by several
shells, one of which, fired by the Gettysburg, penetrated her starboard
bow below the water-line, making steering impossible. Three of the
Federal cruisers now overhauled her, and when they came along side,