The USCT fought at Fort Fisher

United States Colored Troops were one of the reinforcements that contributed to the Union's triumph. The USCT fought at Fort Fisher. The USCT initially supported the Union by setting up defensive lines on land to stop Confederate forces from assisting the depleted Southern armies.

A second attempt to take control of Fort Fisher was launched in January 1865, and this time the Federals gave leadership to Maj. Gen. Alfred Terry and Rear Adm. David D. Porter. Porter positioned 58 ships offshore while Terry gathered about 10,000 Union army soldiers. In their agreed-upon strategy, Terry would land the army on the shore while Porter pounded the Confederate positions. A division of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) would land and move northward up the peninsula, taking up a blocking position with the main objective of halting any Confederate reinforcements. The landward wall of Fort Fisher would be attacked by the second army of Union infantry, who would deploy in a line facing south. Finally, a force of sailors and the United States marines, some 2,000 in all, would land and attack the seaward wall of the fort.