15 January 1865 - The Surrender of Fort Fisher.

The capture of this Confederate fort by Unionist troops deprived the Confederacy of its last outlet to the sea. It lay at the mouth of Cape Fear River and protected the port of Wilmington NC. 

The campaign began at Christmas 1864 with a naval bombardment and the landing of Unionist troops. This however failed when Confederate reinforcements arrived. With a new commander the Unionists tried again in mid January and within three days the fort surrendered with around 1300 taken prisoner and 583 killed. The Unionists lost just over 200 killed. 

Six weeks later Wilmington itself was captured.

The only Wilmington I'm aware of is Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, Prime Minister 1742-43. Apparently your Wilmington is named after him. 

The only Wilmington I'm aware of is Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, Prime Minister 1742-43. Apparently your Wilmington is named after him. 

Was PM. for only one year??? Another suspicious death?

He did die in office, but aged 70. One of our more anonymous Prime Ministers. He succeeded Robert Walpole who served for 21 years, so Wilmington is largely forgotten even though he'd held Ministerial posts for 20 years and served as Speaker of the House of Commons before that.  

16 January 1809 - The Battle of Corunna.

In 1808 Napoleon lured the King of Spain across the border, imprisoned him and placed his own brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish Throne. It was little more than an empty title at first as the capital Madrid remained in Spanish hands, so Napoleon mounted a full scale invasion of Spain. The Spanish called on GB to come to their aid. Two armies landed in the peninsula under the command of Sir John Moore who arrived in Portugal with a second army coming ashore at Corunna on the north west coast of Spain led by Gen. David Baird. The aim was to march inland joining up at Vallodolid for a dash to Madrid.

However the Spanish armies defending the capital were rapidly defeated and Madrid fell at the beginning of December. Upon hearing this plus the news that a huge French army was marching west compelled Moore to order a retreat to Corunna where the Royal Navy would evacuate the entire army.

Baird reached there first, but Moore who had further to go and was harassed all the way by the French, arrived on 11 January. Unfortunately the evacuation fleet had been held up by bad weather and only appeared on the 14th. Embarkation began immediately and was still underway when the French arrived on the 16th. Moore led the defence of the port successfully holding off the French under Marshal Soult but was himself mortally wounded, Baird too was badly injured but survived. Moore was hastily buried under cannon fire before the remaining men were evacuated overnight.  

It was a French victory but in saving most of his army at the cost of his life earned Moore a special place in British military history.

In many ways the events of January 1809 were a foretaste of the Evacuation of Dunkirk 130 years later.

When Art gets back he might add more to this as I know he's spoken of Moore before with a better knowledge than me.  

He was a reformer, a rare thing in those days, who brought the British infantry to peak performance. He saved a large portion of the army sent to Spain to fight another day. There are two barracks named after him in England, the largest at Folkestone where he perfected the art of military discipline and efficiency. 

It meant more back then.

17 January 1885 - The Battle of Abu Klea.

In 1883 Sudan rose up in revolt against its Egyptian rulers and by default the British who were the de facto masters of Egypt. Under the spiritual leadership of The Mahdi the revolt threatened to sweep across north Africa. A British force under Gen. Charles Gordon was sent down the Nile to evacuate Khartoum, but Gordon chose to stay and defend the city and the thousands of inhabitants who sought refuge within its walls. 

When it became clear that he was trapped a reluctant government in London sent a second relief force down the Nile to his aid. By December 1884 it reached Korti where the Nile turns back north east and flows in a loop for over 420 miles before flowing south again. With a speedy descent on Khartoum vital it was decided that a Desert Column of 1400 would head out across the desert cutting out the loop to rejoin the Nile, a much shorter distance of 176 miles. It set out on 30 December under the command of Maj-Gen Herbert Stewart. 

On 16 January it had reached the wells at Abu Klea only to find a body of 3000 Mahdists in occupation. The following morning Stewart formed his men into a square and advanced under sniper fire. At one point a Royal Navy contingent ran out with their Gatling gun to provide covering fire. After just 70 rounds it jammed whereupon an impromptu order was given by Col Burnaby for his men to wheel out to defend the gunners. This left a gap in the square which let in dozens of Dervishes. After hand to hand combat every Dervish in the square was killed as were most of the men on the outside with the jammed Gatling including Col Burnaby. 

The battle was over in less than 20 minutes with the Dervishes being driven off leaving over 1000 dead, the British lost 76 killed and 82 wounded. 

The battle has local connections for me. Among the dead was Capt John Jervis, 4th Viscount St Vincent, Adjutant of the Heavy Camel Corps. He was mortally wounded and died five days later at Metemmeh where the Desert Column regained the river Nile. His great-aunt Mary, Baroness Forester was born in my home town and had a marble tablet installed in the church detailing his military career.

A map showing the loop of the Nile and the "short cut" across the desert.

18 January 1913 - The Battle of Lemnos.

A naval encounter between the Greeks and the Turks in the 1st Balkan War.

The 1st Balkan War between an alliance of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire began in October 1912. The Greeks quickly captured most of the Turkish islands in the Aegean Sea including Lemnos which they used as a forward base for a blockade of the Dardanelles Strait. The Turks response was a planned attack on Lemnos with a fleet of nine warships. Aware of the threat the Greeks had patrols at sea which sighted the Turks on the morning of 18 January. Thus alerted the Greeks sailed out of Lemnos with eleven ships. 

The two forces met south east of the island and opened an a gunnery duel in which the Turks proved hopelessly inadequate. Of the 800 shells fired only two found their target whereas the Greeks hit the Turkish ships over 40 times. With three ships damaged the Turks turned and fled making the safety of the Dardanelles from which they never sailed again for the duration of the war. 

Ottoman casualties were 41 killed and 104 wounded.   

Interesting that this took place in European waters. Most people think there were no major naval battles in the Mediterranean after the defeat of Napoleon. Yet there was an important battle of the ironclads in 1866 between the Austrians and the Italians. Followed by the admittedly smaller clashes in the Balkan Wars just before World War I, nevertheless involving pre-Dreadnought battleships.  

The German system was far better than ours but the Hood should not have been there, it was not a battleship, it was a WW1 battle cruiser. It’s deck armour was inadequate and before the bismark broke out, it was going in for modifications and a refit, including the deck armour plating. Even the Prince Of Wales was not finished, it had a whole gang of shipbuilders aboard, who were civilians. That’s how desperate we were

 I shall attempt a go at a return but I’m still not operating with a full deck.

So what's new then. Sorry left yourself open for that one.