While two armies inflict mutual carnage in a series of virtual draws, the Union Navy slowly encircles the South, closing its harbors one by one. Wilmington, NC remains the last port through which flow the imported military supplies necessary to keep the Army of Northern Virginia in the field. And Wilmington is protected by Fort Fisher, the impregnable "Gibraltar of the South." The mission of the Union Navy is clear: Capture the fort and the war will be over in weeks. As an armada of sixty gunboats and transports loaded with 9,000 Union soldiers bears down on the hunkered rebels, Confederate Sergeant Caleb Cuthbait, Union sailor Patrick Sheedy, and local widow Elizabeth Tuckerman must each decide how much they are willing to risk in the battle that will determine the fate of two nations.
Ahlgren's dramatic Civil War novel details the four-day pivotal battle for Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in that conflict's waning days. Told from the point of view of enlisted personnel on both sides, as well as a local civilian, Fort Fisher is the first American novel to focus on the role of the Union Navy and the life of a Union sailor.