LOCAL

Fort Fisher's cannons to roar Jan. 12

Historic site to commemorate the 154 anniversary of the second battle

Contributed article
Reenactors fire a cannon Saturday on Jan. 14, 2017, at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site during the 152nd Anniversary Commemoration of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher. The next commemoration will be Jan. 12, 2019. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

KURE BEACH -- It was known as the Gibraltar of the South, but who was tasked with building the colossal military fortress known as Fort Fisher and what was daily life like for them? Find out from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, when Fort Fisher State Historic Site hosts "…And Oh How We Suffered": the 154th Commemoration of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher. Free and open to the public, the living history program will offer something for visitors of all ages.

Outside the museum, reenactors will conduct infantry and artillery demonstrations and oversee periodic firings of the site’s rifled and banded 32-pound cannon, bronze 12-pound Napoleon cannon, and a 10-pound Parrott rifle. Beginning at 10 a.m., the program will also include a pair of Junior Reserves activities for kids.

  • At 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium, Fort Fisher Interpreter III Becky Sawyer will discuss a new temporary exhibit that unearths details about the three lighthouses at Federal Point.
  • At 12:30 p.m., Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery will present “A War Within a War: Lumbee Indians at Fort Fisher.” A noted historian and documentary film producer, Lowry is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. An author and associate professor of history at UNC-Chapel Hill, she is also the director of the Center for the Study of the American South.
  • At 2:30 p.m., Dr. Jamie Martinez, associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, will examine a crucial issue faced by the Confederacy — insufficient laborers. Martinez will discuss conscription and how state and local officials cooperated with the Confederate War Department and Engineer Bureau to provide slave labor.

Please note: All three presentations are free, but visitors are asked to call the site in advance at 910-251-7340 to reserve a seat.

Fort Fisher State Historic Site is located at 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd. South, Kure Beach. The site is part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, led by Secretary Susi H. Hamilton of Wilmington.

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