Second Battle of Charleston Harbor
Second Battle of Charleston Harbor (Siege of Charleston Harbor) | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Photograph taken of eastern barracks and "hot Shot" cannon oven during the bombardment of Fort Sumter on September 8, 1863. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Confederate States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Quincy Gillmore John A. Dahlgren | |||||||
Units involved | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
358[3] | 655[4] |
The Second Battle of Charleston Harbor, also known as the Siege of Charleston Harbor, the Siege of Fort Wagner, or the Battle of Morris Island, took place during the American Civil War in the late summer of 1863 between a combined U.S. Army/Navy force and the Confederate defenses of Charleston, South Carolina.
Background
After being repulsed twice while trying to take Fort Wagner by storm, Maj. Gen. Quincy Adams Gillmore decided on a less costly approach and began laying siege to the fort.
Opposing forces
Union
Confederate
Siege
Innovations and difficulties
Opposing commanders at Charleston Harbor |
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In the days immediately following the
The Confederate defenders also had advantages. The ground the Union sappers were digging through was shallow sand with a muddy base. The trenching efforts also began to accidentally uncover Union dead from the previous assaults on Fort Wagner. Disease and bad water plagued soldiers on both sides.
Garrison
The Union army maintained a constant rotation of soldiers to man the forward trenches of the "grand guard". During the evening of August 16, a Confederate artillery shell burst through the bombproof building serving as the headquarters for Colonel
Batteries
Despite the marshy conditions on Morris Island, Union forces had constructed powerful batteries to combat Fort Wagner. These batteries were often named in honor of fallen leaders such as Batteries
Inside Fort Wagner only one 10-inch Columbiad faced seaward and the few landward guns were in poor condition. During Colonel
Swamp Angel
On August 2 under the direction of Colonel Edward W. Serrell, Union engineers began constructing a battery further inland with the intention of bombing the city of Charleston directly. By August 17 the massive battery was ready for its armament. Lieutenant Charles Sellmer with a detachment of the 11th Maine Infantry was called in to man the 200-pound Parrott rifle now being referred to as the "Swamp Angel". On August 21 Gilmore sent an ultimatum to Beauregard to abandon Forts Wagner and Sumter or Charleston would be fired upon. When Gilmore received no reply by the following day the first shot was fired from the Swamp Angel into Charleston using the steeple of St. Michael's Church for a bearing.[10] On August 22 Confederate batteries tried in vain to silence the Swamp Angel.[11] Beauregard scorned Gilmore for turning his guns on a civilian city and demanded an opportunity to evacuate citizens. Gilmore complied with a day of cease-fire but also took the opportunity to express the fact that Charleston was a legitimate military target as an ammunition supply. The firing resumed but on the 36th shot the Swamp Angel burst and was not replaced during the campaign. It was the first time a civilian population was deliberately targeted for military purposes during the Civil War.[12]
Fort Sumter
Despite trenching difficulties, by mid-August Gillmore had his siege guns within range of Fort Sumter. On August 17, he opened fire and during the first day of the bombardment nearly 1,000 shells were fired.[13] By August 23, the masonry had been turned to rubble and Beauregard removed as many of the fort's guns as possible. Gillmore wired the War Department that "Fort Sumter is a shapeless and harmless mass of ruin".[14] However, the bombardment of Fort Sumter would continue in general until December 31, 1863.[15]
Fall of Fort Wagner
Attacks on rifle pits
Gillmore's attention returned to Fort Wagner. By now his forces were close enough to the Confederate works for the infantry to take action. On August 21 Colonel George B. Dandy led the 100th New York Infantry in a rush toward Fort Wagner's
Evacuation
Conditions within the fort were becoming intolerable, and the garrison commander,
Aftermath
Fort Wagner had withstood 60 days of constant bombing and held off a much larger Union army. Yet the Union army and navy had captured an important position at the mouth of Charleston Harbor and reduced its most formidable fortress to rubble. Despite this, the city of Charleston and Fort Sumter itself would remain in Confederate control until
Additional operational maps
Gallery: the siege of Charleston Harbor from the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
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Map 1
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Map 2
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Map 3
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Map 4
See also
- Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1863
- List of costliest American Civil War land battles
- First Battle of Charleston Harbor
- Second Battle of Fort Wagner
- Second Battle of Fort Sumter
- Battle of Fort Pulaski
- Blockade runners of the American Civil War
- Siege artillery in the American Civil War against Charleston Harbor
Notes
- ^ Official Records
- ^ NPS
- ^ Official Records p.210
- ^ Official Records p.406-409
- ^ Chaitin, pp. 128–29.
- ^ Wise p.147
- ^ Wise p.137
- ^ Wise p. 138
- ^ Wise p.168
- ^ Civil War Trust: The Swamp Angel Archived 2013-08-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Phelps p.32
- ^ Civil War Trust: The Swamp Angel Archived 2013-08-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Blue and Grey Trail: Siege of Charleston
- ^ Chaitin, pp. 130–31.
- ^ ABPP: Fort Sumter
- ^ Wise p.168
- ^ Wise p.175
References
- Chaitin, Peter, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Coastal War: Chesapeake Bay to Rio Grande. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1984. ISBN 0-8094-4732-0.
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide[ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
- This article incorporates public domain material from Fort Sumter. National Park Service.
- CWSAC Report Update
Memoirs and primary sources
- U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Recordsof the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
Further reading
- Bostick, Douglas W. (2010). Charleston Under Siege: The Impregnable City. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBN 9781596297579.
- Brennan, Patrick (1996). Secessionville: Assault on Charleston. Campbell, California: Savas Publishing Company. ISBN 1-882810-08-2.
- Burton, E. Milby (1970). The Siege of Charleston 1861–1865. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-345-8.
- Reed, Rowena (1978). Combined Operations in the Civil War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-122-6.
- Wise, Stephen R. (1994). Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-985-5.