Hurricane of Fire: The Union Assault on Fort Fisher
- ISBN-10
- 1557507201
- ISBN-13
- 9781557507204
- Category
- History (General)
- Pages
- 249
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1998
- Publisher
- Naval Institute Press
- Author
- Charles M. Robinson
Description
Rarely does a new study of such well-plowed ground as the American Civil War create so much interest and have such a stunning effect on the literature as this fascinating account of the Union's long-delayed naval assault on Fort Fisher. Based on exhaustive primary source research, this is the first full history--from a naval perspective--of the fort on North Carolina's Cape Fear River and its little-known significance as both the Achilles' heel of the Union blockade and the lifeline of the Confederacy. It challenges many hoary, hidebound perceptions.
While other accounts have concentrated on the Union army's land assault, Robinson weaves together firsthand reports from previously untapped sources to definitively establish how the maze of earthworks, bomb shelters, and gun emplacements protecting Wilmington developed without opposition and enabled Confederate blockade runners to defy the Union navy for more than two years, allowing matériel to flow to Robert E. Lee's forces on the Virginia front. Traditional explanations for the Union's inaction and the sacking of Adm. Samuel Lee are vigorously disputed with often embarrassing new findings. In a breathtaking, minute-by-minute description of the heaviest naval bombardment and greatest amphibious assault the world had ever seen, Robinson offers new evidence that vindicates the two thousand ill-equipped and poorly trained sailors and marines who for more than 130 years have been unjustly blamed for the failure of their terrible, grisly assault across a mile of open beach.
Unrivaled in its scope, research, and readability, this important new contribution to Civil War history demands attention not only for its heretical new information about this nearly forgotten battle, but also for its disconcerting revelations of political mistakes and shenanigans that lengthened the war and a divided nation's suffering.
Get the book
Similar books
-
The Hurricane of Fire
By MaiquipaThe Hurricane of Fire is the world according to Seth, a young schizophrenic man just trying to get by in this world.
-
Dark Wind: A True Account Of Hurricane Gloria's Assault On Fire Island
By John JilerThe East Coast is evacuated for hundreds of miles north and south, but on Fire Island itself, ten people refuse to leave. In Dark Wind, a remarkable work of nonfiction, John Jiler tells the story of those people.
-
The St. Bernard Fire Department in Hurricane Katrina
During Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing aftermath of floods caused by failed levees, St. Bernard Parish suffered some of the worst damage. The rescue of over 6,000 stranded, injured, and...
-
Americas Most Notorious Natural Disasters: The Great Chicago Fire, the Johnstown Flood, the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the San Francisco Earthquake...
By Charles River Editors*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts of the disasters *Includes a bibliography for further reading It had taken about 40 years for Chicago to grow from a small settlement of about 300 people into a thriving metropolis with a ...
-
Seaside Heights Before and After Hurricane Sandy and the Fire Through Time
By Marcia DenteThis beloved shore town of Seaside Heights was battered by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, and one year later, in 2013, it suffered a major fire that destroyed the south end of the boardwalk.
-
Hurricane Hurry
By W. H. G. KingstonReprint of the original, first published in 1875.
-
America's Most Notorious Natural Disasters: the Great Chicago Fire, the Johnstown Flood, the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the San Francisco Earthquake...
By Charles River Charles River Editors*Includes pictures*Includes contemporary accounts of the disasters*Includes a bibliography for further readingIt had taken about 40 years for Chicago to grow from a small settlement of about 300 people into a thriving metropolis with a ...
-
The Fire
By R.J. PrescottThe pint sized warrior who never raised her voice, was literally the only one capable of making the old man do anything. ... No matter how much they screamed, he'd lay 'em across his shoulder, whisper some Irish in their ear, and bam!
-
Hurricanes of Fire
By Kenneth SpencerHurricanes of Fire
-
Hurricane Hurry
By William Henry Giles KingstonOn the north-east side of the street, about midway between the fish and flesh markets in the seaport town of Falmouth, and at about the silent and solemn hour of thirty-six minutes past one by my fatherÕs watch, on the morning of the 28th ...