Wilmington, South Carolina, defended by the extensive Fort Fisher, was the last Confederate open port on the Atlantic coast. Union naval and land forces finally stormed the fort in January 1865. At the height of the battle, Colonel Newton Curtis led his troops into Shepherd’s Battery in the fort’s northwest corner. As the last remaining gunner prepared to fire a loaded piece, it was the towering colonel himself who struck the man down. For his leadership and personal bravery, Curtis was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.