Parts of the Civil War “Battle of Fort Fisher” were fought across the Federal Point peninsula well north of the Fort itself. And if you know where to look you can still see remnants of the trenches and embankments today.
Again this year Dr. Chris Fonvielle will lead this popular narrated walk from the Federal Point History Center (1121 N. Lake Park Blvd.) through the Carolina Beach State Park to Sugarloaf, a landmark on the banks of the Cape Fear River.
The walk will last about 2 hours. A $5.00 donation is requested and can be paid the day of the walk. There is a limit of 25 participants so everyone can see and hear Dr. Fonvielle’s narration. Reservations may be made beginning March 1 at the Federal Point History Center. Call 910-458-0502.
Sugar Loaf Hill, Carolina Beach, NC
Excerpts from “The Wilmington Campaign” by Chris Fonvielle.
Pg. 34 “Like Old Inlet, New Inlet was also protected by artillery emplacements and earthworks. Shore batteries guarded the beach strand on Federal Point and Masonboro Sound north of New Inlet. The most notable of three were Battery Anderson (“Flag Pond Battery” in Union accounts) and Battery Gatlin (“Half Moon Battery” to the Federals because of its crescent shape). Confederate artillerymen used batteries along the beach to duel with Union gunboats and safeguard stranded blockade-runners that had been chased ashore – at least until their cargoes had been salvaged. Protecting the river on the east side was a gun battery on the summit of Sugar Loaf, a large fifty-foot-high sand dune on Federal Point peninsula directly opposite Fort Anderson. When Wilmington was seriously threatened by attack in 1864, Confederate engineers dug entrenchments from Sugar Loaf across the peninsula to Myrtle Sound, within sight of the ocean.” read more