MAJOR-GENERAL QUINCY A. G1LLMORE,
U. S. A.
From a photograph.
The work was silenced for the time at least, hut whether this was due to the injury inflicted on its armament, or to the inability of the men to stand to their pieces, or to these two causes combined, we had no means of knowing.
An assault was ordered. The time of evening twilight was selected for the storming party to advance, in order that it might not be distinctly seen from the James Island batteries on our extreme left, and from Fort Sumter and Sullivan’s Island in our distant front. Brigadier-General Truman Seymour organized and commanded the assaulting column, composed of Brigadier-General G. C. Strong’s brigade supported by the brigade of Colonel Haldimand S. Putnam. As the column left the line of our batteries and began its advance along the narrow strip of beach, a rapid fire was opened upon it from Fort Sumter and from the works on James Island and on Sullivan’s Island. When it reached a point so near to Battery Wagner that the fire from our own guns and those of the navy had to be suspended from fear of destroying our own men, a compact and deadly sheet of musketry fire was instantly poured upon the advancing column by the garrison, which had suddenly issued forth from the security of the bomb-proof shelter. Although the troops went gallantly forward and gained the southeast bastion of the work and held it for more than two hours, the advantages which local knowledge and the deepening darkness gave the enemy forced a withdrawal. The repulse was complete, and our loss severe, especially in officers of rank. The gallant Strong, who had been the first man to land on Morris Island a few days before, actually leading his entire command in
narrow beach over which we would have to approach from the south; and a large bomb-proof shelter afforded the garrison absolute protection when the fire became so hot that they could not stand to their guns or man the parapet. To us the place presented the appearance of a succession of low,irregular sand-hills like the rest of the island. Battery Gregg, on the north end of the island at Cumming’s Point, was known to be armed with guns bearing on the channel. Of one important topographical change we were entirely ignorant. We did not know that the island at its narrowest point, between us and Battery Wagner, and quite near to the latter, had been worn away by the encroachments of the sea to about one-third the width shown on our lastest charts, and so much reduced in height that during spring-tides or heavy weather the waves swept entirely over it to the marsh in rear. Against us the fort presented an armed front about 800 feet in length, reaching entirely across the island, while our advance must be made over a strip of low shifting sand only about 80 feet wide, and two feet above the range of ordinary tides.
Between the 16th and 18th of July, as preliminary to a second attempt to get possession of Battery Wagner by assault, 41 pieces of artillery, comprising light rifles and siege-mortars, were put in position on an oblique line across the island at distances from the fort ranging from 1300 to 1900 yards. The rifles were intended principally to dismount the enemy’s guns. Early in the afternoon of the 18th all these batteries opened fire, and the navy closed in on the fort and took an active and efficient part in the engagement. In a short time the work became absolutely silent on the faces looking toward us, and practically so on the sea front, from which at the beginning of the action a severe fire had been delivered against the fleet.
THE “SWAMP ANGEL” IN POSITION.
From a sketch made at the time.
Note.—The 8-inch 200-pounder Parrott rifle gun, called the “ Swamp Angel” by the soldiers, was used in bombarding the city of Charleston. The English journal, “ Engineering,” speaks of the construction of the battery upon which this gun was mounted as one of the most important engineering works done by either army. The gun exploded in the thirty-sixth discharge. It is now mounted as a monument in Trenton, New Jersey.
״NEW IRONSIDES.”	“keokuk.”
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER AND ADJACENT FORTS BY THE UNION FLEET, APRIL 7, 1863.
orders to carry the south end of Morris Island by storm. By break of day the leading boats had reached Light-house inlet, where the column was halted under cover of marsh-grass to await orders. The point where the landing was to be made was still nearly a mile distant, and this stretch of river had to be passed in full view under fire. All our Folly Island batteries opened before sunrise, and soon after this four iron-clad monitors, led by Bear-Admiral Dahlgren, steamed up abreast of Morris Island and took part in the action. After the cannonade had lasted nearly two hours General Strong was signaled to push forward and make the attack. This was promptly and gallantly done under a hot fire. The men did not hesitate or waver for a moment. All the enemy’s batteries on the south end of the island, containing eleven pieces of artillery, were captured in succession, and by 9 o’clock we occupied three-fourths of the island, with our skirmishers within musket range of Battery Wagner. Thus was the first step in the plan of joint operation successfully taken. The intense heat, which prostrated many of the men, forced a suspension of operations for the day.
Two unsuccessful attempts were made to carry Battery Wagner by assault. In the first, which took place at daybreak on the morning of July 11th, the parapet of the work was reached, but the supports recoiled under the heavy fire of grape and canister that met them, and the advantage gained could not be held. This repulse demonstrated the remarkable strength of the work and the necessity of establishing counter-batteries against it, which, with the cooperation of the fleet, might dismount the principal guns and either drive the enemy from it or open the w'ay to a successful assault. After the first assault Battery Wagner was inclosed; it reached entirely across the island from water to water; it mounted some heavy guns for channel defense, and several siege-guns that swept the
BEFORE CHARLESTON IN 1863.
BY MAJOR-GENERAL QUINCY A. GILLMORE, U. S. V.
Commanding tile Department oi the South.
Note.—As the city of Charleston was one of the two chief points through which munitions of war and other supplies from Europe were sent into the Confederacy, the United States Government was anxious to capture it. The Confederates under Beauregard strengthened and equipped Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and other defensive works in the harbor, constructed batteries, laid torpedoes in navigable streams near the city of Charleston, and kept a large force of men in the various garrisons, with reinforcements not far away.
On the 7th of April, 1863, Admiral Du Pont, with a fleet of monitors, unsuccessfully attacked Fort Sumter. Later the Union land forces, under General Quincy A. Gill-more, undertook the capture of Morris Island, held by the Confederates with infantry and artillery. From the position thus secured, and in cooperation with the fleet, Fort Sumter could then be successfully assailed, leaving a passage for the ships to enter the harbor and reach the city. Morris Island, with its powerful “Battery Wagner,” was captured, but Sumter, though only a ruin, remained in the hands of the Confederates throughout the war. Charleston was not evacuated until February 17, 1865, and then only to furnish additional men to the army opposing Sherman’s march.
The following is General Gillmore’s account of the attack on Morris Island, and the storming of Battery Wagner.
. . . Between the middle of June and the 6th of July preparations for the descent upon Morris Island went quietly forward. It was deemed necessary that this attack should be a surprise in order to insure success. On the extreme northern end of Folly Island forty-seven field and siege guns and mortars were quietlyplaeedin position, screened by thick undergrowth from the view of the enemy on the opposite side of Light-house inlet. . . .
On the evening of July 9th a small brigade was silently embarked in row-boats in Folly River, behind Folly Island. It was commanded by Brigadier-General George C. Strong, who had received