Wilmington, North Carolina, is effectively lost after…

Wilmington, North Carolina, is effectively lost after the fall of Fort Fisher.

The city is twenty-eight miles up the Cape Fear River from Fort Fisher and along the way is a series of Confederate defenses.

In February 1865, the Union XXIII Corps arrives to reinforce the Fort Fisher Expeditionary Corps.

Major General John M. Schofield takes command of the combined force and moved against the city.

Wilmington is not captured by Union forces until February 22, 1865, approximately one month after the fall of Fort Fisher.

The Battle of Wilmington consists of a series of three small engagements near the Cape Fear River that lead to the abandonment of the city by the Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg.

The Battle of Wilmington closes the last major port of the Confederate States on the Atlantic coast.

Wilmington had served as a major port for blockade-runners, carrying tobacco, cotton, and other goods to places such as Britain, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.

Now with the port closed, the Union blockade is complete.

Bragg orders bales of cotton and tobacco burned so that they will not fall into Union hands.

Major General Jacob D. Cox leads the first Federal troops into Wilmington, and his forces will occupy the city for the rest of the war.