About Schofield's Move to Wilmington-- Part 4: Fort Fisher Resembled " A Farmer's Field Strewn With Pumpkins"

"Returning to Washington, Schofield, embarked with Cox's division on February 4th, leaving the rest of the corps to follow as fast as ships could be procured.  A gale off Cape Hatteras delayed the transports for a day or  two, but the division landed safely at Fort Fisher on the 9th.

"The fort still bore evidence of the extraordinary bombardment it had undergone, and its broad sandy interior was thickly strewn with great shells rusted red in the weather, and resembling nothing so much as a farmer's field strewn with pumpkins."

--Old Secesh