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After the fall of Fort Fisher, Wilmington was doomed, for it was now sealed off from the ocean which it had depended on for blockade running. Union troops stormed the city and on February 22, 1865 the city fell into Union hands. On this day the Reverend Mr. Burkhead witnessed this event and later wrote about it in his journal.
"The loss of Wilmington early in 1865 deprived the South of the last of its great blockade-running centres, and intensified its sense of isolation, almost of incarceration." (Parish 559)
A Diary Entry from the Surrender of Wilmington
Surrender of Wilmington, February 1865
"When the telegraph announced the fall of Fort Fisher on 16 January 1865, the seal of doom was put on the Confederacy. The loss of the mouth of the Cape Fear destroyed the last major contact of the South with the outside world. Soon Wilmington, abandoned by Bragg, was in Union hands. On the morning 22 February Mayor John Dawson surrendered his city to General A. H. Terry. The Reverend Mr. Burkhead witnessed the meeting between the mayor and the Union general.
"'At the North Carolina Anuual Conference help in Mocksville, Davie County, December 1864, I was appointed the Pastor of the Front Street M. E. Church, South, Wilmington, North Carolina. I reached Wilmington December 24, 1864. On the 25th -- the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world -- which was the holy Sabbath, I preached to a small congregation. Early in the day an attack was made on Fort Fisher at the mouth of Cape Fear, by the United States fleet, and a furious shelling kept up throughout the whole day which was heard in the city. The report of the guns averaged, I suppose, some forty to the minute. This was the first time in my life I had attempted to preach the blessed gospel of PEACE with the sound of WAR ringing in my ears. After preaching, in company with Rev. R. S. Moran, I dined at Mr. Peterson's. The probable fall of Fisher and Wilmington and the effects these events would have upon the military situation, were of course the prominent topics of conversation...
"'The evil could not be deferred. Again on January 14, shot and shell commenced to rain upon the Fort, and after a most heroic resistance the little garrison, under the command of General [Whiting] and Colonel Lamb, was compelled to surrender to a vastly superior force, and the "Stars and Stripes" waved in triumph over the captured Fort. A few days and nights of anxious solicitude and the 22nd of February dawned upon us -- a day to be noted in the history of this City, for on this day the Confederates retired and the Army of the United States took possession. I had just seen the last squad of Confederate cavalry dash along our streets, repaired to the foot of Market Street and was watching the approaching U.S. Army on the west side of the river when my attention was attracted to a small company of horsemen who came galloping down the street, and halting near where I was standing inquired politely for the Mayor of the City. "His Honor" John Dawson being in the company stepped forward and said, "I am the man." The officer stated to him that "General Terry would meet the Mayor and Commissioners at the City Hall in five minutes." In company with the mayor and several other gentlemen I walked up to the City Hall to witness the meeting between General Terry and Mayor Dawson. Here we stood for perhaps half an hour, during which time the horsemen were dashing in hot haste through all the streets picking up the Confederate stragglers who had fallen behind General Hoke's retreating veterans. Then came General Terry at the head of a column up Front Street, with the strains of martial music, and colors flying. Leaving the main column at Market Street, heading a squadron of splendidly equipped men mounted on superb chargers -- every horse a beautiful bay -- he dashed up to the City Hall, instantly dismounted, and said, "Is this the Mayor?" The Mayor replied, "It is." Whereupon General Terry took off his hat; the Mayor did likewise, and they shook hands with formal and graceful cordiality and together ascended the steps of the City Hall. The troops came pouring through teh City, white and colored, and marched directly towards "Northeast" in pursuit of General Hoke's braves.'" (Yearns 91-92)
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