On January 13, around 0800 Terry‘s forces of 8000 Soldiers began to disembark and his immediate objective upon landing was to throw up a defensive line across the peninsula to guard against any threat from direction of Sugar Loaf and Wilmington. Around 1500, all of his forces were safely ashore. An hour later, the main part of Porte’s fleet stationed his ships substantially near to the fort, with one ironclad at a range of only about 700 yards. Each ship was assigned a specific target and the gun crews were instructed to fire deliberately and to concentrate against the conference guns, the traverses, and the palisade that stretched across the peninsula. The bombardment continued for two days destroying the fort’s artillery. A confederate
