In honor of the 160th anniversary of the fall of Fort Fisher which occurred on January 15th, 1865, the Southport Historical Society is inviting Dr. Chris E. Fonvielle Jr., historian of the Lower Cape Fear, author, and Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of History at UNC Wilmington to discuss his newly released book, Fort Fisher Illustrated: Art of the Battle.
On Thursday, January 23rd at 2:30 pm, Dr. Fonvielle will share images from the vast collection of nineteenth-century art: lithographs, paintings, woodcut and copper plate engravings, drawings, and sketches of Fort Fisher, the Confederacy’s largest and strongest fortification that guarded Wilmington, which in 1864, was the South’s most important seaport and city.
Americans came to understand Fort Fisher’s great significance, especially in the last year of the Civil War, through art as well as the written word. Autographed copies of Fort Fisher Illustrated: Art of the Battle, co-authored with Dr. Robert M. Browning Jr. and published by NC Starburst Press, will be available for sale.
