236 Nortu Caroitina Troops, 1861-’65.

thousand tons of iron were gathered by the United States
from the works.

Had there been no fleet to assist the army at Fort Fisher
the Federal infantry could not have dared assault it until its
land defenses had been destroyed by gradual approaches.
For the first time in the history of sieges the land defenses
of the works were destroyed, not by any act of the besieging
army, but by the concentrated fire, direct and enfilading, of
an immense fleet poured upon them without intermission,
until torpedo wires were cut, palisades breached so that they
actually afforded cover for assailants, and the slopes of the
work were rendered practicable for assault.

ADDENDA.

In a note to the editor Colonel Lamb in writing of the
repulse of Butler and Porter in December, says:

“The guns of Fort Fisher were not silenced. On account
of a limited supply of ammunition, I gave orders to fire each
gun not more than once in thirty minutes, except by special
order, unless an attempt should be made to run by the fort,
when discretion was given each gun commander to use his
piece effectively. There were forty-four guns. On 24 De-
cember 672 shots were expended; a detailed report was re-
ceived from each battery. Only three guns were rendered
unserviceable, and these by the fire of the fleet disabling the
carriages. On 25 December six hundred shots were ex-
pended, exclusive of grape and canister. Detailed reports
were made. Five guns were disabled by the fire of the fleet,
making eight in all. Besides, two 7-inch Brooke rifled guns
exploded, leaving thirty-four heavy guns on Christmas night.
The last guns on the 24th and 25th were fired by Fort Fisher
on the retiring fleet. In the first fight the total casnalties
were 61, as follows: December 24th, mortally wounded, 1;
seriously wounded, 3; slightly, 19—-23. December 25th,
killed, 3; mortally wounded, 2; severely, 7; slightly, 26.
These included those wounded by the explosion of the Brooke
rifled guns—38.”

* Colonel Lamb, writing, December, 1888, says:
“There were never in Fort Fisher, including sick, killed,

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and wounded, over 1,900 men. The sailors and marines,
etc., captured from Battery Buchanan, and those captured in
front of the work, while swelling the list of prisoners, cannot
rightly be counted among the defenders of the work. No
new defense was added to the face of the fort between the bat-
tles. The redoubt in front of the sally-port was there in
December and had been used against Butler’s skirmish line.”

Colonel Lamb, writing to the editor on the subject of the
numbers defending the northeast salient, says:

“Five hundred effective men will cover all engaged in re-
pulsing the naval column, and the destructive fire was from
the three hundred, who, from the top of the ramparts and
traverses, fired upon the assailants. The gallant navy need
not exaggerate the number opposing them, assisted by the
artillery. No apology or defense is necessary to excuse the
repulse. The unorganized and improperly armed force
failed to enter the fort, but their gallant attempt enabled the
army to enter and obtain a foothold, which they otherwise

could not have done.”

THE OPPOSING FORCES AT FORT FISHER, N. C., JANUARY
13-15, 1865.

THE UNION ARMY.

Masor-Generat Atrrep H. Terry—Commanding.
Srconp Drviston, Twenty-rourtn Army Corps—Brig-

adier-General Adelbert Ames.

First Brigade—Colonel N. Martin Curtis: Third New
York, Captain James H. Reeve, Lieutenant Edwin A. Be-
han; One Hundred and Twelfth New York, Colonel John F.
Smith; One Hundred and Seventeenth New York, Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Franxis X. Meyer; One Hundred and Forty-sec-
ond New York, Lieutenant-Colonel Albert M. Barney.

Second Brigade—Colonel Galusha Pennypacker, Major
Oliver P. Harding: Forty-seventh New York, Captain
Joseph M. McDonald; Forty-eighth New York, Lieutenant-