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The Union fleet returned in January 1865 and fired another 20,000 shells in three days. Supported by this massive gunfire and a naval landing party, the U.S. Army captured the fort on January 15. As 2,000 U.S. sailors and marines charged down the beach, three brigades of Federal infantry, 4,300 strong, attacked the western end of the landface. Following several hours of determined resistance and the committal of five more Federal regiments, including U.S. Colored Troops, the Confederate defenders were overwhelmed. The Union fleet pulverized the landface, knocking out all its heavy artillery except one cannon. Lawyer-soldier Gen. Alfred Terry, 37, led the Union army. Maj. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting, disobeying orders, returned as a volunteer to help defend the fort and was mortally wounded. The Confederate surrendered at Battery Buchanan at 10 p.m. Wilmington fell within weeks, sealing the fate of the South.
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