Fort Johnston (North Carolina) army and naval forces with weapons, munitions, and supplies imported from Europe, Canada, Bermuda, Cuba, and eventually other Caribbean territories. Railroads carried goods from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Richmond, Virginia, providing critical supplies to Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederacy in late 1862 renamed Fort Johnston as Fort Branch in honor of Confederate Brigadier General Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, a local who died in Battle of Antietam. In 1863, the Confederate Army renamed Fort Branch as Fort Pender in honor of Confederate Major General William Dorsey Pender, who died of wounds sustained at
Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1862 was transported to Fort Monroe in April to begin an offensive against Richmond, Virginia. Convinced that he was outnumbered by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, McClellan advanced cautiously, taking nearly a month to capture the Confederate defensive works near Yorktown and an additional month to march westward and arrive just outside Richmond. Here on May 31, Johnston attacked an isolated portion of the Union army in the Battle of Seven Pines; Johnston's plan failed, due to uncoordinated attacks and to Confederate columns which failed to arrive at their assigned positions, and Johnston was