By February 1865, the only thing that stood between Wilmington and the Union navy advancing up the Cape Fear River was Fort Anderson.

Built upon the ruins of Brunswick Town, the region’s first permanent settlement, the fort was initially manned by a garrison of a few hundred men through the Civil War. But after Fort Fisher fell in January 1865, upwards of 2,000 Confederate soldiers funneled into the fort to prepare a last-ditch effort to stop the Federals from taking the South’s supply center in Wilmington.

This week, we discuss how the fort was constructed from the bones of the birthplace of the Cape Fear region as we know it and what role it played when it ultimately fell

Joining the episode are special guests Jim McKee, the site manager of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, and Chris E. Fonvielle Jr., a local historian and author of “To Forge a Thunderbolt: Fort Anderson and the Battle for Wilmington.”

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "To Forge a Thunderbolt: Fort Anderson and the Battle for Wilmington," by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

-- "A Nice Little Fight at Fort Anderson," by Stanley South

-- "Chronicles of the Cape Fear River: 1660-1916," by James Sprunt

-- "The Story of Brunswick Town & Fort Anderson," by Franda Pedlow