 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 Battle of Gettysburg.In late 1864, President Abraham Lincoln, determined to deal a "mortal blow" to the Confederacy, developed a strategy with his military advisors to cease the only significant sustained blockade running activity, that originating from the Cape Fear River outlet.On 24 December 1864, Union warships began an intense bombardment of nearby Fort Fisher, and after a persistent onslaught, Union forces captured the vastly undermanned Fort Fisher on the evening of 15 January 1865.