More Curious Tales
From Old Wilmington
And the Lower Cape Fear
by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

108 pp., 7" x 10", paperback.
ISBN: 978-1-7378230-2-5

$24.95



In More Curious Tales From Old Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear: The Truth Behind the Legends, Chris E. Fonvielle Jr., Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at UNC Wilmington, explores four more famous urban legends with the skills of a professional historian, and reveals his own supernatural encounter. The stories have been told for many years, but what is the truth behind them? Find out in More Curious Tales.

Dr. Fonvielle's personal website

Dr. Fonvielle's personal website

Dr. Fonvielle's personal website

To Forge A Thunderbolt
Fort Anderson and the Battle for Wilmington
by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

208 pp., 9" x 11", hardcover with dust jacket.
ISBN: 978-0-9834175-0-7

$46.98



Fort Anderson played an important role in the history of North Carolina during the Civil War. It was the Confederacy’s largest interior fortification in the Lower Cape Fear, and guarded the Cape Fear River and western land approaches to Wilmington. Beginning in late March 1862, Confederate engineers built massive earthen defenses at Brunswick Point, the site of the colonial port town of Brunswick, located halfway between Wilmington and the mouth of the river. The works comprised elevated artillery emplacements mounting heavy seacoast cannons and an adjoining line of imposing fieldworks that extended westward for more than a mile, from the Cape Fear River to Orton Pond.

The army initially named the work Fort St. Philip for St. Philip’s Anglican Church, the only standing colonial structure at the site of Old Brunswick. In July 1863, the army renamed it Fort Anderson, in honor of North Carolina Brigadier General George Burgwin Anderson, who had been mortally wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) the previous September. In early November 1863, Confederate President Jefferson Davis visited Fort Anderson.

By early 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant was so determined to capture Wilmington, the Confederacy’s principal seaport and most important city, that he traveled from Virginia to the Cape Fear to finalize plans for an attack by way of Fort Anderson. His forces had recently captured Fort Fisher and sealed the harbor to blockade running. Grant now wanted to take Wilmington as a means of assisting General William T. Sherman’s legion on its march through the Carolinas toward Virginia to help defeat General Robert E. Lee’s beleaguered, but strongly entrenched, army at Petersburg.

A Union combined operation against Fort Anderson lasted for more than two days, February 17-19, 1865. Wilmington fell three days later. Historians have also drawn intriguing connections between Fort Anderson and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Faces of Fort Fisher
1861 – 1864
by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

160 pp., 9" x 11", hardcover with dust jacket.
ISBN: 978-0-9792431-9-6

Available Now!
Orders are fulfilled directly by author.

$39.99
plus $5.95 shipping/handling.

Fort Fisher was was the Confederacy's strongest seacoast fortification. It guarded New Inlet, the northern entryway into the Cape Fear River and the port of Wilmington, North Carolina. By the summer of 1863, Wilmington was the Confederacy's main seaport along the Atlantic seaboard.

Commerce vessels brought in essential weapons, equipment, and provisions for its armed forces on the battlefront and civilians on the home front. To do so, they had to evade U.S. Navy ships deployed to blockade the South's coastline and seaports. Strong defenses like Fort Fisher were needed to protect Wilmington for blockade-runners, the inlets they used to access its harbor, the port facilities, and the railroads along which supplies were transported.

By late 1864, Wilmington was the lifeline for General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederacy's most important city. Faces of Fort Fisher, 1861-1864, examines the early history of the fort, nicknamed the Gibraltar of the South, from its construction beginning in 1861 until the eve of it being attacked by Union forces at Christmas 1864. It looks at the officers who planned, designed and commanded the works, and the soldiers who built, garrisoned and defended them.

The book also explores events associated with the fort's fascinating history.

Louis Froelich
Arms-Maker to the Confederacy
by John W. McAden Jr. & Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

96 pp., 9" x 11", hardcover with dust jacket.
ISBN: 978-0-9792431-4-1

"An interesting, well researched, and accurate account of the life and times of Louis Froelich and his genius as an entrepreneurial Confederate industrialist."

$49.95
plus $5.95 shipping/handling.

Limited Edition leather bound edition
Signed and numbered by authors.
Limited to 100 copies.

$100.00
plus $8.95 shipping/handling.

$29.95 paperback
$5.95 shipping/handling 

Limited Edition leather bound edition
Signed and numbered by author.
Limited to 100 copies.

$100.00
plus $8.95 shipping/handling.

Fort Fisher 1865
The Photographs of T.H. O'Sullivan
by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

128 pp., 9" x 11"
paperback or leatherbound limited edition
ISBN: 978-0-9792431-8-9

Available Now!

Fort Fisher was the largest and strongest seacoast fortification in the Confederacy, and the main guardian of Wilmington, North Carolina. Located near New Inlet, the northern-most entranceway into the Cape Fear River, Fort Fisher's earthen batteries stretched for about one mile and mounted forty-seven heavy seacoast cannon that protected blockade-running ships smuggling vital supplies into the Confederacy by way of Wilmington.

From 1863-1865, Wilmington was the South's principal seaport and considered the lifeline of the Confederacy. Fort Fisher withstood the most intense U.S. naval bombardment of the Civil War at Christmas 1864, before falling to the largest Union combined operation up to that time in mid-January 1865. Federal authorities were so impressed with the size and strength of Fort Fisher that they determined to make a photographic record of the imposing stronghold for posterity.

Alexander Gardner, who did considerable photographic work for the U.S. Army, dispatched one of his best employees, T.H. O'Sullivan, to photograph Fort Fisher. In early February 1865, O'Sullivan made a series of about forty views of Fort Fisher, making it one of the most photographed Confederate fortifications.

In Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O'Sullivan, Dr. Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. has reassembled the most complete photographic record of T.H. O'Sullivan's wartime images of the mighty fortress known to exist.

Dr. Fonvielle's personal website

Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. is a native of Wilmington, North Carolina, with a lifelong interest in American Civil War, North Carolina, Lower Cape Fear and Southern history. His in-depth research focuses on Civil War coastal operations and defenses, blockade running, and the navies. He has published numerous books about the Civil War.

After receiving his B.A. in Anthropology at UNC-Wilmington, Fonvielle served as the last curator of the Blockade Runners of the Confederacy Museum. He subsequently received his M.A. in American history at East Carolina University, under the direction of Dr. William N. Still, Jr., and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, where he studied with noted Civil War historian Dr. Thomas L. Connelly.

Dr. Fonvielle returned to his undergraduate alma mater at UNC-Wilmington in 1996, where he now teaches courses on the Civil War, Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear, the Old South and Antebellum America. He also teaches extended education courses on the history of the Lower Cape Fear through the university.
(adapted from UNCW's Department of History website)

Questions or Comments?
email Chris

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Updates and News


April 26, 2011
Received the shipment on April 11. Fort Fisher 1865 is now being distributed to resellers and stores in the area. We are both very pleased with the book and the leather limited edition is just stunning. Book signing at the NC Room of the downtown public library on April 30th at 2pm.

December 30, 2010
Chris' newest title - Fort Fisher 1865, The Photographs of T.H. O'Sullivan is on track to go to press in January 2011. We have basically finished the layout and are ironing out the small details. Expect it to be available in March.

January 18, 2009
North South Trader's Civil War, "the magazine for collectors and historians". reviewed LF and gave it a positively glowing review. See Media Buzz below.

December 2, 2008
Got 'em. Both the cloth bound and leather bound editions were delivered today! Orders are being filled now. John and Chris have been signing the books furiously and will ship out all standing orders right away.

November 19, 2008
The ship arrived last night. The pirates did not get them! We expect them to be delivered locally around November 25. Right before Thanksgiving. We have our finger crossed that customs doesn't pull them out for an inspection.

October 24, 2008
We received samples of both the limited edition and standard editions today. They look wonderful. We expect to take delivery of the bulk shipment by November 20th, if all goes as planned.