Kure
Beach, NC – January 2016 / Newsmaker Alert / Fort Fisher State
Historic Site commemorates the 151st anniversary of the 2nd battle of Fort
Fisher on Saturday, January 16 with a program that pays tribute to Medal
of Honor Recipients. The living history program, “Distinguished by their
gallantry in action: Fort Fisher’s Medal of Honor Recipients”, will feature
free Civil War lectures by compelling authors and speakers, dozens of Union
and Confederate reenactors, special tours, cannon firings and artillery
demonstrations.
The site will also debut
a new exhibit in the visitor’s center that highlights the 72 soldiers,
sailors, and Marines who received the Medal of Honor for their actions
at Fort Fisher near the end of the Civil War, from June 1864 to January
1865. Although never presented to their recipients, five Medals of Honor
on loan from the U.S. Navy will be among the articles featured in the exhibit.
Visitors can also expect
ground-shaking firings of the site’s 32-pounder rifled and banded cannon,
a 12-pounder Napoleon cannon and a 10-pound Parrott Rifle. The site’s Junior
Reserves program, “Attention Cannoneers!,” will educate visitors about
Civil War artillery (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.). Using math and science, visitors
can hone their artillery skills by launching water balloons with the site’s
artillery simulator.
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Other activities include
an intriguing Confederate currency presentation by Buena, Vista, Va., native
David Meisky, a reenactor and historian who will portray William “Extra
Billy” Smith, a Confederate general, businessman and politician. A former
history major at George Mason University, Meisky is retired from the Fairfax
County, Va., Public Library. He will speak at 11:00 a.m. in the site’s
auditorium. Then at 2:30 p.m., local historian and author Richard Triebe
will discuss Fort Fisher POWs and sign copies of his books.
Want To Go?
Fort
Fisher State Historic Site is located in Kure Beach, just 20 miles
south of Wilmington, at 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd. S., along US Highway 421.
The living history program begins at 10:00 a.m. with activities and lectures
throughout the day until 4:00 p.m. The anniversary program is free, with
the exception of special tours that charge a modest fee. Visitors, residents,
and motorists are advised of loud explosions during cannon firings and
artillery demonstrations.
Until the last few months
of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina’s port of Wilmington
open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies
inland. By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining
supply route open to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Many battles
were fought leading up to the war’s end. The Second Battle of Fort Fisher
on January 15, 1865 was the largest land-sea battle of the Civil War. When
Fort Fisher was captured after this massive Union amphibious assault, the
South’s vital shipping port of Wilmington was closed and the war ended
less than 90 days later.
Programming is made possible
with the support of the Friends of Fort Fisher and its sustaining members.
Fort Fisher is part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C.
Department of Cultural Resources. Due to factors beyond the staff’s
control, some program components are subject to change. For more information
on the site, call 910-458-5538 or visit the web site www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher.
Event information can also be found at www.friendsoffortfisher.com.
If your favorite pastime
is “past times,” then plan a weekend getaway to experience Fort Fisher’s
151st Anniversary commemoration. For a free Official Visitors Guide to
Wilmington,
North Carolina and the island beaches of Carolina
Beach,
Kure Beach and Wrightsville
Beach, call 1-866-266-9690 or email visit@wilmingtonandbeaches.com.
For online visitor information, visit the official destination website
at www.GoWilmingtonAndBeaches.com.
Media
Contact:
Wilmington
and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau
Connie
Nelson
Communications/PR
Director
910-332-8751
866-266-9690
ext. 120
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The
New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority d/b/a Wilmington and Beaches
Convention and Visitors Bureau is the official destination marketing organization
of New Hanover County, North Carolina that stimulates economic development
through the promotion of travel and tourism.
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