It's bad enough when you can't see the forest for the trees. It's worse when you can't see the trees for the twigs.

This is an attempt to describe of the last major events of the American Civil War: The closing of the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, the last significant site for blockade runners bringing in cargo from the outside world. The problem is, it views everything under such a high-power microscope that it becomes hard to see the context.

At the very beginning of the war, one of the pillars of Winfield Scott's so-called "Anaconda Plan" was to close off southern harbors to prevent the Confederacy from exporting the cotton that was its only real product, and from importing the manufactured goods that it needed but had tried so hard not to build. At first, the blockade was ridiculously porous. But, gradually, major southern ports were captured (New Orleans) or rendered unusable because of warships waiting outside (the ports on Hampton Roads below Richmond). Capturing was, of course, the better course when possible, because it meant no possibility at all of a ship sneaking out.

By the end of 1864, with ports like New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, and Richmond completely useless, only Wilmington was left to the Confederacy. If it could be closed off, the South would be cut off and its doom a step closer. Naturally, the Confederacy did everything it could to prevent that. Wilmington was heavily fortified -- and the lynchpin of the defense was Fort Fisher. It was not, as it is sometimes made out, the whole of the defensive position -- by itself, it did very little to defend Wilmington; troops could have been landed above it and marched into the city and the fort left to wither on the vine. But it was what kept Federal ships from entering the river's mouth. Thus Fort Fisher did not guard Wilmington as such; it guarded the passage out of Wilmington.

You would hardly know it from this book. Indeed, you'd have a hard time knowing that the Civil War had started in 1861. The book really starts in 1864, with Fort Fisher built and the Federals preparing to attack it. There is only a brief overview of the reasons it is significant, or of its relationship with the other Confederate defenses in the area. Indeed, despite a long description of how big and fancy Fort Fisher was, I would not consider the description of its building adequate; was it really as tough as it was made out to be? After all, it fell amazingly easily....

What really bothered me, though, is that this isn't really the story of the Wilmington campaign; it is mostly the story of William Lamb, the commander of the fort. Oh, we learn something of the Federal planning, and we read about the assault on Fort Fisher. But the view is myopic. For instance, Robert Hoke's division of Confederate troops was sent to help defend the approaches of the Fort. But all we really learn about Hoke's division concerns the tug-of-war between Lamb and his superior General Whiting versus General Braxton Bragg about what Hoke is to do. (He didn't end up doing much. But what was Hoke thinking? We don't know.) To me, this was unsatisfactory -- for my particular purposes, I wanted details about Hoke's division, which should have been part of the story -- and they just weren't there.

As a Lamb's-eye view of the siege of Fort Fisher, this book is well-documented and readable, although it could have cut about 90% of the personal anecdotes about what soldiers experienced without the slightest loss. But, as a general overview of the story of the conquest of Wilmington, it really falls short. ( )

This is a thorough but lively account of the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher in December, 1864, and January, 1865. The first was mainly a naval bombardment and was unsuccessful. The second was a grueling battle and the book gives a detailed blow-by-blow retelling of it. I find this account particularly gripping because of the intelligence, integrity, and courage of some of the battles' leaders, Major General Alfred H. Terry on the Union side, and Major General W.H.C. Whiting and especially Colonel William Lamb on the Confederate side. ( )

At the end of 1864, the Confederacy was doomed. Wilmington was the only major port still open to blockade runners. The Union command decided to sever this last link to the outside world by an attack on Fort Fisher whose guns commanded the entrance to that city. The Wilmington campaign was also one of the last chances to blunder for Braxton Bragg and Benjamin Butler. In style, both gave a miserable performance. The first attack on Fort Fisher resembled a comedy of errors and Butler was promptly sacked. The second attack made it up in bloodiness. In a combined action of the army (three brigades) and the navy (one brigade-sized jumble of volunteers), supported by the whole might of the navy guns, the sailors and soldiers assailed the fort for more than three hours. The Union forces paid dearly for their conquest, the navy attack was even repulsed. If Bragg had either counterattacked or allocated his reserves better, the Confederates might even have prolonged their agony. In the end, superior Union numbers carried the day after vicious close action fighting.

Rod Gragg has written a comprehensive, well illustrated and thrilling history of this little known campaign that claimed so many lives at so late a time. Recommended. ( )