This book analyzes one of the most exciting but least known chapters of the Civil War. Fort Fisher was the Confederate's largest coastal fortification and protector at the mouth of the Cape Fear waterway leading to Wilmington, North Carolina. The Union's mission was to secure Fort Fisher from its Confederate defenders to allow for the follow-on attack on Wilmington, the last remaining Confederate seaport. The Battle for Fort Fisher, a bloody battle fought during the period December 1864 through January 1865, was notably a joint operation conducted with Union Naval, Marine and Army forces. The loss of Fort Fisher cut off the final resupply line to the Army of Northern Virginia and sealed the final fate for the Confederacy.