The Story of Brunswick & Fort Anderson

In 1725, Maurice Moore convinced his friends and family from the Goose Creek section of South Carolina to relocate to North Carolina’s Cape Fear River and build their own settlement. The Moores quickly laid out a new town called Brunswick that would become the colony’s only port with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. Over the course of its existence, Brunswick was raided by Spanish privateers, sacked by British redcoats, and was home to some of the leading figures in colonial and Revolutionary War North Carolina. Two Royal Governors made their home there, and one of the earliest rebellions against English rule were acted out at Brunswick. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was built on the ruins of the colonial town. After the fall of Fort Fisher in 1865, Fort Anderson became the last obstacle to the Union occupation of the port of Wilmington, further up the Cape Fear River. In this book, Franda D. Predlow and Jack E. Fryar, Jr. have put together a beginner’s primer that initiates history lovers into the rich past of one of North Carolina’s most significant historic sites.