William Dunn

Under Fort Fisher’s Guns, He Refused Shelter

William Dunn was born on April 28, 1834, in Lisbon, Maine. During the American Civil War, he entered the United States Navy and eventually served as a Quartermaster aboard USS Monadnock, one of the Union Navy’s distinctive ironclad monitors. His place in military history was secured during the repeated attacks on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, where his steadfast performance under heavy fire earned him the Medal of Honor.

By late 1864, Fort Fisher had become one of the most strategically important Confederate strongholds remaining on the Atlantic coast. The massive earthwork guarded the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, a vital port through which blockade runners continued bringing supplies into the Confederacy. As other Southern ports fell or were closed, Wilmington’s importance increased, making Fort Fisher a major Union objective.

USS Monadnock was a newly commissioned twin-turret monitor built for heavily contested coastal operations. She entered service in October 1864 and soon joined Rear Admiral David D. Porter’s North Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the campaign against Fort Fisher. Her low profile, armor, and four 15-inch guns made her particularly suited to the dangerous task of closing with powerful shore defenses.

Dunn served aboard the monitor as a Quartermaster. In the nineteenth-century Navy, the rating carried important responsibilities connected with the safe handling and operation of a ship. During combat, those duties demanded constant concentration because steering, positioning, and maintaining the vessel’s station could directly affect the effectiveness of its guns and the survival of the crew.

Monadnock reached the Fort Fisher area in December 1864. On December 24, Porter’s fleet began a massive bombardment of the Confederate defenses. Monadnock took a position close to shore and opened fire at the fort. The following day she resumed the attack while Union Army troops landed north of the stronghold.

The first attempt failed to capture Fort Fisher. Although the Navy subjected the defenses to an enormous volume of fire, the Army force was withdrawn and reembarked. Porter remained convinced that the fort could be taken, and preparations soon began for another combined operation.

For Dunn, however, the December bombardment had already provided the first part of the service for which he would later be decorated. His official Medal of Honor citation covered both December 24 and 25, 1864, and the renewed fighting of January 13, 14, and 15, 1865.

The Union fleet returned in January with a new Army expedition under Major General Alfred H. Terry. Porter again positioned his warships against Fort Fisher, and Monadnock joined the ironclads operating nearest the Confederate defenses.

The monitor anchored well inshore so that her heavy guns could maintain an effective range against the fort. The position placed the ship under severe enemy fire. Keeping Monadnock properly oriented was particularly important because her turrets needed to bear on the Confederate works while she remained anchored.

Dunn continued performing his duties throughout these attacks. The ship’s propellers were kept moving to assist in bringing the turrets to bear, while damage to the anchor chain could have created the danger of the monitor grounding. In these conditions, Dunn remained attentive to his station despite the enemy fire and harsh weather.

His conduct became conspicuous to the men around him. Rather than seek shelter, he stayed at his duties. The official recognition of his service emphasized not only his own steadiness but also the effect his example had on his shipmates. His persistence contributed to Monadnock’s effectiveness as the monitor continued firing against the Confederate batteries.

From January 13 through January 15, the Union bombardment intensified. Monadnock repeatedly engaged Fort Fisher and helped disable its artillery. The monitor continued firing until the guns along the sea face were silenced, supporting the larger combined assault taking place against the fort.

On January 15, Union soldiers attacked the landward defenses while sailors and Marines assaulted from the seaward side. Fighting inside the fort became intense, but the Confederate position was eventually overwhelmed. Fort Fisher fell to Union forces, breaking the defenses that had protected the entrance to the Cape Fear River.

The victory had major strategic consequences. With Fort Fisher captured, Wilmington could no longer function effectively as the Confederacy’s last important Atlantic gateway for overseas supplies. Union forces soon completed the closure of the port, tightening the pressure on the Confederate war effort during the final months of the Civil War.

Monadnock had played a demanding role in both attacks. During the successful January operation, the ironclad was struck several times while continuing to engage the fort. Dunn’s contribution was not based on commanding the vessel or leading an assault ashore. His recognized achievement was the disciplined performance of his own responsibilities aboard ship while exposed to sustained danger.

For his conduct during the Fort Fisher operations, William Dunn received the Medal of Honor. His award was formally recorded under General Order No. 59 on June 22, 1865. The decoration recognized his service during all five cited days of combat—December 24 and 25, 1864, and January 13, 14, and 15, 1865.

The Medal of Honor was still a young decoration when Dunn received it. Congress had authorized the Navy Medal of Honor during the Civil War, and it became the principal national recognition for exceptional conduct by enlisted naval personnel. Dunn therefore belonged to the earliest generation of American sailors whose courage and devotion to duty were recognized with the nation’s highest military decoration.

His award carried no additional clasp, star, or other device. It stood on the strength of his conduct aboard USS Monadnock during the Fort Fisher campaign.

After Fort Fisher, Monadnock continued operating against the Confederacy, including service connected with Charleston and the James River during the final stages of the war. The surviving account of Dunn’s life, however, remains centered primarily on the days when he served under fire off the North Carolina coast.

Dunn lived for nearly four decades after the Civil War. He died on March 18, 1902, at the age of sixty-seven and was buried in West Bowdoin Cemetery in Maine.

His legacy rests on disciplined courage rather than a single dramatic charge. While Fort Fisher’s guns fired against the Union fleet and winter weather added to the danger, Dunn remained at his station aboard an ironclad positioned close to the Confederate defenses. He continued his duties when seeking shelter would have been understandable, and his example strengthened the men serving beside him.

That steadfastness helped USS Monadnock maintain her role in the bombardment that ultimately silenced enemy guns and supported the capture of Fort Fisher. For William Dunn, devotion to duty under fire became the defining act of his naval career—and the reason his name endures among the Medal of Honor recipients of the American Civil War.