After the First Battle of Fort Fisher, a Joint Congressional Committee on the conduct of the War, composing of eight members who were to investigate the failure. All principle players gave extensive testimony and the official record presented. Butler represented himself very skillfully and presented a ****ing case against Porter; that centered on three major areas that caused the collapse of the operation. First, was the gross delay Porter caused which obliviously tipped off the Confederates that the assault was pending. Secondly, Porter’s limited bombardment which inflict little damage to the Fort and its garrison which would make any assault murderous. Thirdly, Porter’s refusal to run one or more Federal warships past the Fort as had been done successfully at Fort Jackson/Phillips at New Orleans and elsewhere despite the urging of Butler. After hearing all the evidence, it was a unanimous final report ruling that Butler was fully justified in calling off the assault upon Fort Fisher and withdrawing the Federal forces.