Product Description

While prior books on the battle to capture Wilmington, North Carolina, have focused solely on the epic struggles for Fort Fisher, in many respects this was just the beginning of the campaign. In addition to complete coverage (with significant new information) of both battles for Fort Fisher, The Wilmington Campaign includes the first detailed examination of the attack and defense of Fort Anderson. It also features blow-by-blow accounts of the defense of the Sugar Loaf Line and of the operations of Federal warships on the Cape Fear River. This masterpiece of military history proves yet again that there is still much to be learned about the American Civil War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1023689 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 644 pages

From the Publisher
"The Wilmington Campaign is a splendid achievement. This gripping chronicle of the five-weeks' campaign up the Cape Fear River adds a crucial dimension to our understanding of the Confederacy's collapse." -James McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

About the Author
Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr., a native of Wilmington, served as the last curator of the Blockade Runners of the Confederacy Museum near Wilmington. The Wilmington Campaign is his first full-length study.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Summary of the Wilmington Campaign!
Why can't more Civil War titles be written like this: an interesting and smooth flowing narrative, sufficient number of high quality maps, ample photographs, and anecdotes of officer and enlisted participants?

In my humble opinion, Fonvielle has written what I believe to be one of the best Civil War campaign studies, period! His narrative is simple without being simplistic, maps of outstanding quality and plenty of them, and ample illustrations and photos of the fort, participants, and the area around Wilmington NC.

Except for a few years living in Virginia while serving in the Air Force, I have spent my life in North Carolina and have often visited the Wilmington and Fort Fisher area. Fonvielle's title will serve as an excellent resource on my next visit and is invaluable to those who want to know more about what happened in the Wilmington area after the fall of Fort Fisher.

While reading both Fonvielle's and Gragg's accounts of Fort Fisher, I often pondered: what would have happened if General Bragg was more aggressive in his defense of Fort Fisher by ordering a larger portion of Hoke's division to defend the fort instead of staying put at Sugar Loaf? Indeed, this is often the true mark of an outstanding Civil War book: pondering the "what ifs" of the war and how a change in a decision could have affected the war's length or outcome.

Fonvielle's book has hit the mark and is highly recommended. Read and enjoy!

Excellent history of an obscure Civil War Campaign
The Civil War had many campaigns, and numerous battles. Most of them have been chronicled at one time or another. The battle of Fort Fisher, in North Carolina near Wilmington, was wonderfully written about a decade ago in Confederate Goliath by noted historian Rod Gragg. Gragg's book however, finishes with the end of the battle, and has nothing or next to it to say about the ensuing campaign to capture the city of Wilmington itself. The campaign as a whole is the subject of Chris Fonvielle's book, which has a larger scope than Gragg's excellent work, and is equally skilled.

Fonvielle is a southerner, and was a resident of Wilmington at the time the book was written. Since I had just finished another book that was originally published by Savas publishing (Last Chance for Victory) and I had hacked it to pieces here as unreasonably pro-Confederate, I was somewhat apprehensive when I started this book. No worries, Fonvielle is balanced, forthright, and very careful with the issues and participants on both sides. The result is a wonderful depiction of the campaign and battle as they occurred, with a number of wonderful anecdotes. The author also does a masterful job of depicting the strategic context of the campaign and battle, and their impact on the war's last phase.

I've read a number of books on the Civil War. This one has excellent maps and illustrations, is well-thought-out and concise, without being either cursory or overly brief, and is well-documented. I would recommend this book to any Civil War buff.

The Definitive History of the Wilmington Campaign
Too many books about Wilmington end with the fall of Fort Fisher. Chris Fonvielle, while dealing fully with those actions, takes that as a beginning, and highlights the entire campaign up the Cape Fear to the fall of Wilmington. (Braxton Bragg fans, if any, take note! Your hero looks very bad here!) Well done, well illustrated, great reading!