Fort Fisher Deep Dive PART 1: North Carolina Video Tour!

If you have ever wanted an all-encompassing tour of Fort Fisher in North Carolina, then you have found the right video! Kris White is joined by Chris Fonvielle Jr. for a walk around the historic fort.
View Part 2 of the Fort Fisher Tour here: • Fort Fisher Deep Dive ...
Check out more of Chris's work at his website: www.chrisfonvielle.com/
This video is part of our Petersburg and North Carolina Battlefield Tour series. Be sure to check out all of the other videos here: • Petersburg and North C...

[@johnnybottles2344]

Mr. Fonvielle jr. Is a great public speaker & highly recommend the opportunity to hear his seminars they are insightful & informative to our coastal history.

[@codyvenrick4611]

As a North Carolina boy and a history lover, I made my dad take me here at least once a year growing up. lots of good memories

[@markyoung2981]

Thank you for the time and effort put into this presentation. I really enjoyed the video and learned a tremendous amount.

[@oriole21bird]

Be careful where you walk down there! I was at Fort Fisher for the first time about 4 years ago. It was a very cool experience to check out the fort and the museum. I walked through a patch of what I though was just grass but when I got to a parking lot, my shoes were covered with very long and very sharp thorns. Take care if you have kids or a dog with you.

[@noelp4916]

Its good of you to warn people, for their sakes, & dogs too. Watching from Perth, Australia. 🇦🇺 Civil war enthusiast.

[@ericballard6789]

Yes these are called sand spurs and they are very sharp! Don’t have to worry about them on the beach itself, but anywhere else...

[@TopCat2021]

Great video , I'm from Wilmington and I loved the Fort Fisher area countless times we have been fishing and camping there I also remember when we would walk the Dam over to the island. Many a good time I remember about the entire area.

[@stephenhodges5162]

Another great video

[@BASHERJR88]

One of my favorite places. Great fort. Thanks for the video.

[@susiepittman601]

Love this fort. I've been several times. Thanks for sharing this.

[@__hjg__2123]

Chris is a true fount of knowledge for all things Wilmington! We are fortunate to have him in the Port City

[@thetruth3768]

I lived my first 30 years of life in NC and never heard of this. Thank you.

[@Dante502]

Great vid. Dr. Fonvielle was my favorite professor in college. Go UNCW!

[@peterschief9778]

This is a fantastic presentation thanx

[@DrewSohl]

Very nice,thanks.

[@bryanwiedeman3154]

Great vid and great people..

[@codyvenrick4611]

Fun fact Carolina Beach state park which is farther up the cape fear river, was used as camp for Confederate Reserve forces.

[@michaelbarnett2527]

My Ggpa fought here with the 36th NC. He was wounded , captured and sent to pt lookout maryland, where he survived, was released , made it home to Bladen county, got married and had kids. When I was a kid , we would find shell casings on the beach. I didnt know what they were then…It still is very interesting to me that those very shells were fired at my anscestor…and one of them wounded him.

[@bryanwiedeman3154]

Shell cases from rifles or artillery….

[@michaelbarnett2527]

@@bryanwiedeman3154 Sorry for the late reply. The battle had 3 days of shelling, from the union ships, so the ones I found had to have been from the shells…

[@americancivilwarukhistory9769]

garry kris very good video thanks 😊

[@hookindemlipz8183]

We also have fort Macon near Atlantic beach NC which was used as a fort all the way up to WW2 which they never had to see any action but there actually were Japanese submarines that patrolled around our coast they were watching

[@davegoodridge8352]

Thank you, very informative video. Was all that soil from the area or was it brought in for the fort?

[@corbinmoose5475]

If you're reffering to the mounds than the soil was brought in from the interior of the fort. Just behind the land face is a considerable crater still visible where the sand for the mounds was acquired.

[@markrichardsocioprojectgo1800]

I wish I didn't miss that area. Good history insight

[@MrFullThrottle]

I caught a giant stingray at new inlet last Saturday 💪🏼

[@travisbayles870]

My only resentment toward this program is that absolutely no mention of Mobile Alabama as a blockade running port was made After the fall of New Orleans in April 1862 Mobile Alabama became the last major port on the Gulf Coast and remained a vital refuge for Confederate ships until the Union victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864 effectively closed Mobile Alabama as a port

[@markrichardsocioprojectgo1800]

I make KZbin videos too. I'll make some of that area eventually as well. Thanks for sharing yours

[@garycousino4016]

Have you guys been to Fort Branch?

[@candyhr4152]

My gggg grandpa was Frederick fisher. Father of charles.

[@AngryDogPerformance]

Question: if denying the Confederates the use of Wilmington as a smuggling port was the primary reason for the attack at fort fisher, surely there must be a reason they didn’t just scuttle ships to block the mouth(s) of the waterway(s). What would that(those) reason(s) be?

[@ericballard6789]

I’m not a historian but Ill try to answer this question for you. Just don’t hold it against me if it’s incorrect. I live in Wilmington and run and surf fort fisher every day, the river inlet is wide, deep, and turbulent. The ocean is also noticeably “heavier” in terms of surf and tide so it would be difficult if not impossible to scuttle enough ships to entirely block the access. Also, most importantly blockade runners took to just traveling up and down the very long coast like and could unload their cargo right on the beach which was then run a short distance (less than 2 miles) across the peninsula and load their transport ships waiting on the river side. There are still sunken blockade runners sitting in 12ft of water just off the beach you can see at low tide. Long story short, there was simply too much water to cover in order to use scuttled ships. Edit: I accidentally sent the reply before finishing.

[@AngryDogPerformance]

@@ericballard6789 Thanks Eric, that was very helpful. I would really like to get a better understanding of just what these blockades were. I am an avid consumer of information in regards to the land war but am very ignorant about what happened at sea. When I think of the blockade I imagine an unbroken line of ships patrolling the inlet and shorelines; obviously that's not reality either.

[@ericballard6789]

@@AngryDogPerformance not a problem. Again I’m no historian but essentially blockades are most successful when they are able to control the water well enough to provide the blockade you are imagining. The port of Charleston is a good example of a successful blockade. The difference at fort fisher is the sheer inability to cover all the available water while also dodging the artillery fire from the fort fisher battery. So until the union was able to overthrow the fortification they could not get their ships close enough to close off the waterway effectively

[@toddjackson8184]

I personally have substantial family roots in New Burn NC and know my family was held in slavery there until the Union took New Burn thankfully. These forays into the daughters of the confederacy “Lost Cause” history make over project seem to be happening more often and don’t receive the immediate but appropriate historical pushback. I understand human nature is geared towards prettying up ugly history, especially if someone’s family members may have been involved in said events but historians “should” deal with history as it was, not with how one would like it to have been.

[@timothyparrish3849]

my question is why did it take the YANKEES to take FORT FISHER 2 TWICE to fail but on the 3rd time the YANKEES took Fort Fisher on the 3rd time ?????

[@johngaither9263]

FYI, this episode is background only. Black and white hand drawn maps from the era that are nearly impossible to determine any information from. No detailed looks at the fortifications or about the battle. In my opinion a waste of 26.5 minutes.

[@Captainkebbles1392]

Disagree about the drawn maps, can underarand the entire forts systems from it. But I also understand they maybe should have used a modern map after to make it more clear to those without lap reading knowledge in fort construction.

[@king0cans]

I hauled the Armstrong gun back to West Point.