The Petersburg Project
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  • Petersburg Panorama 1865
  • Steeples of Petersburg
  • The Mine Explosion and its Crater
  • Petersburg in Pencil and Ink
    • Alfred R. Waud, Special Artist at Petersburg >
      • Waud Drawing of 5th Corps Fortifications
    • William Waud, Special Artist
    • Charles H. Chapin, Special Artist
    • Joseph Becker, Special Artist at Petersburg
    • Edwin Forbes, Special Artist at Petersburg
    • Winslow Homer, Special Artist
    • Edward Mullen, Special Artist at Petersburg
    • Andrew W. Warren, Special Artist
    • Enlisted Artists >
      • Charles Wellington Reed
      • Andrew McCallum
      • Francis Knowles
      • James William Pattison
      • Herbert Valentine
      • Howard A. Camp
  • Petersburg Photographs --So Many!
    • Working with Photographs
    • City Point
    • City Point Wharf Explosion, Aug. 9, 1864
    • Fort Rice?? We don't think so!
    • Federal Picket Line, Jerusalem Plank Road
    • Egbert Guy Fowx, Photographer at Petersburg
    • Timothy O'Sullivan, Photographer at Petersburg >
      • Fort Morton and Baxter Road Group
      • Fort Haskell Panorama
      • Fort Stedman Group
      • Gracie's Salient Group
      • Bombproofs behind Fort Haskell
      • Camp of the 50th N. Y. Engineers
    • David Knox, Photographer at Petersburg
    • William Redish Powell, Photographer at Petersburg
    • John Reekie, Photographer at Petersburg
    • Thomas C. Roche, Photographer at Petersburg
    • Andrew J. Russell, Photographer at Petersburg >
      • "Fort Mahone" CS Batteries 25 & 27
  • U. S. Military Railroad
    • Terminus of Military R. R. at City Point
    • City Point to Clark's Station
    • Pitkin's Station to Shooting Hill
    • Hancock's Junction/Jerusalem Plank Road
    • Parke's Station
    • Warren's Station
    • Patrick's Station
  • Maps and Topogs
    • Grand Medicine Pow-wow
    • Michler's Reports from Topographical Department
    • John E. Weyss, Cartographer
    • William H. Paine, Cartographer
    • Gilbert Thompson
  • Confederate Maps
    • Confederate Defenses 1862
    • Gilmer-Campbell Maps, 1864
    • Stevens Map July 1864
    • Fields of Fire
    • Coit's map of the Crater Battlefield
  • Federal Maps
    • Army of the Potomac, Routes of the Corps to Petersburg
    • June 18, 1864-Federal Engineers Map
    • June 18, 1864, 18th Corps
    • June 21, 1864, Federal Engineers Map
    • June 22, 1864. Second Corps at Jerusalem Plank Road
    • June 29, 1864. Bermuda Hundred
    • June 30, 1864 -- XVIII Corps Map
    • June-July, Undated Federal Engineers Map-
    • July 1864 Map of XVIII Corps Lines
    • Crater, Native American Perspective of the Crater
    • August 28, 1864, Michler Map
    • September 13, 1864, Recon Map
    • September 30, 1864, Warren Map
    • October 1864, Two IX Corps Maps
    • Nov. 2, 1864, Army of the Potomac
    • 1864, Coast Survey Map of Petersburg
    • NEW 1865-1867, Manuscript Survey Maps
    • 1864-1867, Michler-Weyss, Siege of Petersburg
    • 1865-1867, Michler Map Series
    • 1871, Map of Recapture of Ft. Stedman
    • 1881, Boydton Plank Road
  • Confederate Forts and Batteries
    • Dimmock Line >
      • Priest Cap
      • French Rifle Pits
    • Fort Clifton
    • "Fort Mahone" CS Batteries 25 & 27
    • Confederate 8-inch Columbiad
    • Leadworks
  • Federal Forts and Batteries
    • Battery X
    • Fort Alexander Hayes
    • Fort Avery
    • Fort Conahey
    • Fort Davis & Battery XXII
    • Fort Fisher
    • Fort Meikel --Photographic Views
    • Fort Morton
    • Fort Patrick Kelly
    • Fort Sedgwick, better known as Fort Hell,
    • Fort Wadsworth -- the Evolution
    • Fort Willcox or Battery XVI
  • Battlefield Features
    • Aiken House
    • Armstrong's Mill
    • Avery House
    • Bailey/Johnston Farm
    • Blandford Church
    • Broadway Landing, Appomattox River
    • The Crater
    • Cummings House
    • Dams and Inundations
    • WW Davis Farm
    • Dunn House
    • Friend House >
      • View from Friend House toward Gibben complex and Petersburg
    • Gibbons Properties
    • Globe Tavern / Weldon Railroad
    • Gregory House
    • Griffith Farm
    • Gurley House
    • Hare House
    • Hare House Hill
    • The "Horseshoe"
    • Jerusalem Plank Road
    • Jones House
    • Jordan House
    • Newmarket Racecourse
    • Pegram's Farm
    • Peebles Farm, Pegrams Farm, Poplar Springs Church
    • Shands House
    • Taylor Farm >
      • The Ice House
      • Surviving Taylor Barn
    • Williams House
  • Signal Towers and Trees
    • Some Operations of the Signal Corps at Petersburg
  • Archeology
    • Geology of the Crater
    • Fieldwork -- Petersburg
    • Civil War Sinks
    • Deserted Confederate Camp
    • Gracie's Countermine
    • LIDAR Forts and Batteries
  • Articles, Papers, Presentations
    • Shiman: A Note on Maps
    • The Siege Landscape: Through Fire and Ice at Petersburg
    • "The Rebel in the Road"
    • "A Strange Sort of Warfare Underground"
    • Lost Trenches of Petersburg: June 17
    • Between the Lines
    • Combat Trenching: An Introduction
    • Lowe -- Post-War Topographical Survey
    • Civil War Maps and Landscapes -- Observations
  • Kittens, Puppies & Ponies
  • Executions!
  • Notes on Leveled Earthworks
  • Civil War Combat Trenching
  • Depot Hospital at City Point
  • Dimmock Battery 5 Photographs
  • Pontoon Bridges
  • The Great Pontoon Bridge Across James River
  • Appomattox Mill Photographs
  • Campbell Dinwiddie County 1864

FORT FISHER     1864 until today...

The fort begins its existence as works are thrown up in the vicinity during the Battle of Peebles Farm (September 30-October 2, 1864).

PictureNARA, College Park, RG 77.

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NARA, College Park, RG 77.
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NARA, College Park. RG 77.
The fort was originally a simple "squarish" redoubt with a low profile, seven gun platforms in a tight configuration and four embrasures. Two barbette guns were mounted in the forward angles. Fort Fisher was connected to Fort Welch by a straight segment of parapet as shown in the map (above left). At a later date the parapet was pushed to the front and an angle added, likely to bring fire into the low ground. A siege battery was built into the angle. The map (above right) shows the original configuration as a dashed line. In winter, Federal engineers began a major overhaul of the fort, eventually expanding it into a large bastioned fort, capable of mounting fourteen guns.
Mid-winter 1864-65
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Harper's Weekly, March 11, 1865, sketch by Horace Heath.
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Harper's Weekly, March 11, 1865, sketch by Horace Heath.
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Late winter 1865
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Fort Fisher in its final configuration, left and above. Michler, Sheet 11, NARA College Park, RG 79.
Major General J. G. BARNARD,
Chief Engineer, Armies in the Field.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER,
February 20, 1865.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the engineering operations in this army for the week ending February 18, 1865:
...The following extracts are made from the report of Brevet Colonel Spaulding, commanding Fiftieth New York Volunteer Engineers:
The signal tower is so nearly completed that it will be probably finished to-morrow. In the next weekly report drawings of the tower will be furnished, with a detailed description of the work. The work upon Fort Fisher has progressed as rapidly as the state of the weather would permit. Brevet Captain Van Rensselaer reports three-fourths of the parapets completed, and the remainder one-half complete. Platforms are laid for three barbette and three embrasures guns, and two additional embrasure guns will be added to-morrow. This fort can be finished, except the inner works, in four or five days. No bomb-proofs, magazines, or traverses have yet been commenced in this fort....

Captain Dexter has been engaged with his company in getting our platform timber. During the week he has hewn and delivered at Fort Fisher and the battery on its left 3,523 superficial feet of timber, equal to fourteen platforms.
During the week 204 fascines have been made and delivered at Fort Fisher and the eleven-gun battery; 639 gabions have also been made and brought into camp; of these, 417 have been issued for Fort Fisher and for repairing the works on the Ninth Corps front.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. C. DUANE,
Major of Engineers and Brevet Colonel, U. S. Army.

Major General J. G. BARNARD,
Chief Engineer, Armies in the Field.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER,
February 27, 1865.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the engineering operations in this army for the week ending February 25, 1865:

...The following extracts from the weekly report of Brevet Colonel Spaulding, commanding Fiftieth New York Engineers, will show the nature and extent of the engineering duties upon which the officers and men of his command have been engaged:
Lieutenant Van Rensselaer reports the parapets of Fort Fisher nearly finished. The work is ready for fifteen guns and is inclosed with abatis. The whole fort will probably be completed to-morrow, except the interior works, and these have not yet been commenced.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. C. DUANE,
Major of Engineers and Brevet Colonel, U. S. Army.
Photographs of Fort Fisher 2006, shortly after site was denuded of trees by the National Park Service
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