Chris Fonvielle's New Fort Fisher Book

I bought noted Fort Fisher expert Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr.'s new book, Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O'Sullivan, at the Fort Fisher Museum last Friday and sure enjoyed my first look through it.

Collecting this many of the photographs taken after the fort had fallen is an accomplishment in itself, but then Fonvielle writes about each photo and shows from which direction it was taken.

Then, from pages 3 to 26, he gives as good of a background of Wilmington, blockade-running, the construction of the fort and the two battles as you'll find anywhere.

It was amazing that serious work on the fort did not really start to occur until Col. William Lamb took command of it July 4, 1862.

Before that, a series of commanders had been in charge and the fort had grown piecemeal and in a disorganized manner. I was familiar with some of the former commanders and engineers such as Charles Pattison Bolles, William Lord DeRosset, W.H.C. Whiting (while a Confederate major) and John J. Hedrick.

However, I have only come to know two others just this past year and both by coincidence.

After attending the Daffodil Festival in Fremont, North Carolina, I wanted to find out a little about its history. It was named for the head of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, Seawell Fremont (it was a station on the railroad). Another source said he was in charge of all coastal defense from New River to the South Carolina line which would include what became Fort Fisher.

Then, this summer, I came across an auction of items owned by Richard Kidder Meade and short note that he had been at Fort Fisher at one point. There was one part of the fort called Battery Meade which he designed.

Mighty Good Book. --Old B-R'er