1.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
2.
Currier and Ives
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Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives based in New York City from 1834 to 1907. The prolific firm produced prints from paintings by artists as black. Nathaniel Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27,1813 and his parents Nathaniel and Hannah Currier were distant cousins who lived a humble and spartan life. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family and, at fifteen, he started became a lifelong career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William. In 1833 at age twenty, he moved to Philadelphia to do work for M. E. D. Brown, an engraver and printer. Curriers early lithographs were issued under the name of Stodart & Currier, the two men specialized in job printing and made a variety of print products, including music manuscripts. Currier became dissatisfied with the economic return of their business venture. He set up alone, working as N. Currier, Lithographer until 1856. In 1835, he created a lithograph that illustrated a fire sweeping through New York Citys business district, the print of the Merchants Exchange sold thousands of copies in four days. He quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished lithographer, in 1840, he produced Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington, which was so successful that he was given a weekly insert in the New York Sun. In this year, Curriers firm began to shift its focus from job printing to independent print publishing, the name Currier & Ives first appeared in 1857, when Currier invited the companys bookkeeper and accountant James Merritt Ives to become his partner. Ives was born on March 5,1824 in New York City and she was the sister-in-law of Nathaniels brother Charles Currier, and it was Charles who recommended Ives to his brother. Nathaniel Currier soon noticed Ivess dedication to his business, and his artistic knowledge, the younger man quickly became the general manager of the firm, handling the financial side of the business by modernizing the bookkeeping, reorganizing inventory, and streamlining the print process. Ives also helped Currier interview potential artists and craftsmen, in 1857, Currier made Ives a full partner. The firm Currier and Ives described itself as Publishers of Cheap, at least 7,500 lithographs were published in the firms 72 years of operation. Artists produced two to three new images every week for 64 years, producing more than a million prints by hand-colored lithography. For the original drawings, Currier & Ives employed or used the work of celebrated artists of the day including James E. Buttersworth, Charles R. Parsons, George Inness, Thomas Nast
3.
Charleston, South Carolina
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Charleston had an estimated population of 132,609 in 2015. Charleston was founded as Charles Town—honoring King Charles II of England—in 1670 and its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the 5th-largest city in North America within 10 years. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the period, its government was handled directly by the state legislature and by its Anglican parish wardens. It adopted its present spelling with its incorporation as a city in 1783 at the close of the Revolutionary War. The Confederates burned the town prior to its evacuation but continued demand for the cotton and rice, along with growing industry. In 2016, Charleston was ranked the Worlds Best City by Travel + Leisure, the city proper consists of six distinct areas, the Peninsula or Downtown, West Ashley, Johns Island, James Island, Daniel Island, and the Cainhoy Peninsula. The old town fit into 4–5 square miles as late as the First World War, the city limits also have expanded across the Cooper River, encompassing Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. The present city has an area of 127.5 square miles. North Charleston blocks any expansion up the peninsula, and Mount Pleasant occupies the land directly east of the Cooper River, Charleston Harbor runs about 7 miles southeast to the Atlantic with an average width of about 2 miles, surrounded on all sides except its entrance. Sullivans Island lies to the north of the entrance and Morris Island to itself south, the entrance itself is about 1 mile wide, it was originally only 18 feet deep, but began to be enlarged in the 1870s. The tidal rivers are evidence of a submergent or drowned coastline, there is a submerged river delta off the mouth of the harbor and the Cooper River is deep. Charleston has a subtropical climate, with mild winters, hot, humid summers. Summer is the wettest season, almost half of the rainfall occurs from June to September in the form of thundershowers. Fall remains relatively warm through November, winter is short and mild, and is characterized by occasional rain. Measurable snow only occurs several times per decade at the most, however,6.0 in fell at the airport on December 23,1989, the largest single-day fall on record, contributing to a single-storm and seasonal record of 8.0 in snowfall. The highest temperature recorded within city limits was 104 °F on June 2,1985, and June 24,1944, and the lowest was 7 °F on February 14,1899. At the airport, where records are kept, the historical range is 105 °F on August 1,1999. Hurricanes are a threat to the area during the summer and early fall
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
6.
Fort Sumter
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Fort Sumter is a sea fort in Charleston, South Carolina, notable for two battles of the American Civil War. It was one of a number of forts planned after the War of 1812, combining high walls and heavy masonry. Work started in 1829, but was incomplete by 1860, when South Carolina seceded from the Union, the First Battle of Fort Sumter opened on April 12,1861, when Confederate artillery fired on the Union garrison. These were the first shots of the war, and continued all day, the fort had been cut off from its supply line and surrendered the next day. The Second Battle of Fort Sumter was an attempt by the Union to retake the fort. Although the fort was reduced to rubble, it remained in Confederate hands until it was evacuated as General Sherman marched through South Carolina in February 1865, Fort Sumter is open for public tours as part of the Fort Sumter National Monument operated by the National Park Service. Named after General Thomas Sumter, Revolutionary War hero, Fort Sumter was built following the War of 1812, construction began in 1829, and the structure was still unfinished in 1861, when the Civil War began. Seventy thousand tons of granite were imported from New England to build up a bar in the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The fort was a brick structure,170 to 190 feet long, with walls five feet thick. It was designed to house 650 men and 135 guns in three tiers of gun emplacements, although it was never filled near its full capacity and he secretly relocated companies E and H of the 1st U. S. Artillery to Fort Sumter on his own initiative, without orders from his superiors and he thought that providing a stronger defense would delay an attack by South Carolina militia. The fort was not yet complete at the time and fewer than half of the cannons that should have been available were in place, due to military downsizing by President James Buchanan. Over the next few months repeated calls for evacuation of Fort Sumter from the government of South Carolina, artillery, and three hired tug boats with added protection against small arms fire to be used to tow troop and supply barges directly to Fort Sumter. By April 6,1861 the first ships began to set sail for their rendezvous off the Charleston Bar, the first to arrive was Harriet Lane, the evening of April 11,1861. On Thursday, April 11,1861, Beauregard sent three aides, Colonel James Chesnut, Jr, captain Stephen D. Lee, and Lieutenant A. R. Chisolm to demand the surrender of the fort. Anderson declined, and the returned to report to Beauregard. After Beauregard had consulted the Confederate Secretary of War, Leroy Walker, he sent the aides back to the fort, the aides waited for hours while Anderson considered his alternatives and played for time. The aides then left the fort and proceeded to the nearby Fort Johnson, There, Chesnut ordered the fort to open fire on Fort Sumter
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
9.
Robert Anderson (Civil War)
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Robert Anderson was a United States Army officer during the American Civil War. To many, he was a hero who defied the Confederacy, the Confederates bombarded the fort and forced its surrender to start the war. Anderson was born at Soldiers Retreat, the Anderson family estate near Louisville and his father, Richard Clough Anderson, Sr. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1825, a few months after graduation, he became private secretary to his older brother Richard Clough Anderson, Jr. who was serving as the US Minister to Gran Colombia. He served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 as a colonel of Illinois volunteers and he was severely wounded at Molino del Rey while assaulting enemy fortifications, for which he received a brevet promotion to major. Due to his wounds, Anderson was on leave of absence during 1847–48. He was then in garrison at Fort Preble, Maine from 1848 to 1849. He then served from 1849 to 1851 as a member of Board of Officers to devise A Complete System of Instruction for Siege, Garrison, Seacoast, and Mountain Artillery and he then returned to garrison duty at Fort Preble from 1850 to 1853. He eventually received a permanent promotion to major of the 1st Regiment of Artillery in the Regular Army on October 5,1857 and he was the author of Instruction for Field Artillery, Horse and Foot in 1839. When South Carolina seceded In December 1860, Major Anderson, a pro-slavery, former slave-owner from Kentucky and he was the commanding officer of United States Army forces in Charleston, South Carolina, the last remaining important Union post in the Confederacy. He moved his garrison from Fort Moultrie, which was indefensible, to the more modern, more defensible. South Carolina leaders cried betrayal, while the North celebrated with enormous excitement at this show of defiance against secessionism, in February 1861 the Confederate States of America was formed and took charge. Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President, ordered the fort be captured, the artillery attack was commanded by Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, who had been Andersons student at West Point. The attack began April 12,1861, and continued until Anderson, the battle began the American Civil War. No one was killed in the battle on either side, but one Union soldier was killed, Robert Andersons actions in defense of Fort Sumter made him an immediate national hero. He was promoted to general, effective May 15. Anderson took the forts 33-star flag with him to New York City, the modern meaning of the American flag, according to Adam Goodheart in 2011, was forged by Andersons stand at Fort Sumter. During the war the flag was used throughout the North to symbolize American nationalism, Goodheart explains the flag was transformed into a sacred symbol of patriotism, Before that day, the flag had served mostly as a military ensign or a convenient marking of American territory
10.
P. G. T. Beauregard
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Beauregard was a Southern military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard. He signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard, trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy, Beauregard served with distinction as an engineer in the Mexican–American War. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, at the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter on April 12,1861, three months later he won the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Beauregard commanded armies in the Western Theater, including at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, and he returned to Charleston and defended it in 1863 from repeated naval and land attacks by Union forces. His influence over Confederate strategy was lessened by his professional relationships with President Jefferson Davis. In April 1865, Beauregard and his commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, convinced Davis, Johnston surrendered most of the remaining armies of the Confederacy, including Beauregard and his men, to Major General William T. Sherman. Following his military career, Beauregard returned to Louisiana, where he served as a railroad executive, Beauregard was born at the Contreras sugar-cane plantation in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, about 20 miles outside New Orleans, to a French Creole family. He had three brothers and three sisters, Beauregard attended New Orleans private schools and then went to a French school in New York City. During his four years in New York, beginning at age 12, he learned to speak English and he then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. One of his instructors was Robert Anderson, who became the commander of Fort Sumter. Upon enrolling at West Point, Beauregard dropped the hyphen from his surname and treated Toutant as a middle name, from that point on, he rarely used his first name, preferring G. T. Beauregard. He graduated second in his class in 1838 and excelled both as an artilleryman and military engineer and his Army friends gave him many nicknames, Little Creole, Bory, Little Frenchman, Felix, and Little Napoleon. During the Mexican–American War, Beauregard served as an engineer under General Winfield Scott and he was appointed brevet captain for the battles of Contreras and Churubusco and major for Chapultepec, where he was wounded in the shoulder and thigh. He was noted for his eloquent performance in a meeting with Scott in which he convinced the general officers to change their plan for attacking the fortress of Chapultepec. He was one of the first officers to enter Mexico City, Beauregard returned from Mexico in 1848. For the next 12 years, he was in charge of what the Engineer Department called the Mississippi, much of his engineering work was done elsewhere, repairing old forts and building new ones on the Florida coast and in Mobile, Alabama. He also improved the defenses of Forts St. Philip and Jackson on the Mississippi River below New Orleans and he worked on a board of Army and Navy engineers to improve the navigation of the shipping channels at the mouth of the Mississippi
11.
Charleston Harbor
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The Charleston Harbor is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean at Charleston, South Carolina. The inlet is formed by the junction of Ashley and Cooper rivers at 32°49′7. 10″N 79°55′40. 41″W, morris and Sullivans Islands shelter the entrance. Charleston Harbor is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, like most river mouths in the Southeast, the inlet is evidence of a drowned coastline, created by a rise in sea level in recent geologic time. The harbor is home to Fort Sumter, site of the first shots of the American Civil War, the 12-foot natural depth of the harbor was a major reason for the establishment and growth of Charleston. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1852 authorized the government to dredge the channels of the harbor to a depth of 17 feet. This deepening work was interrupted by the Civil War, and was not completed until after the wars end, the jetties at the entrance to the harbor were constructed between 1878 and 1886. The harbor includes public terminals owned and operated by the South Carolina State Ports Authority, existing federal channels are dredged to an authorized depth of 45 feet below mean lower low water. This depth is too shallow for Post-Panamax ships, the largest ships must carry less cargo, wait for favorable tide conditions, or combine these two approaches to reach port in Charleston. As of 2015, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers began to design a deepening of the channels to 52 feet
12.
Lower Seaboard Theater of the American Civil War
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Inland operations are included in the Western Theater or Trans-Mississippi Theater, depending on whether they were east or west of the Mississippi River. Coastal operations in Georgia, as the culmination of Shermans March to the Sea, are included in the Western Theater, some minor NPS campaigns have been omitted and some have been combined into larger categories. Only a few of the 31 battles the NPS classifies for this theater are described, the Port Royal Expedition of 1861 has been added, although it has not been classified by the NPS. Boxed text in the right show the NPS campaigns associated with each section. The Confederate response was limited to blockade running and reacting defensively to Union incursions. Much of the war along the South Carolina coast concentrated on capturing Charleston, one of the earliest battles of the war was fought at Port Royal Sound, south of Charleston. The Union navy selected this location as a station for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In attempting to capture Charleston, the Union military tried two approaches, by land over James or Morris Islands or through the harbor, however, the Confederates were able to drive back each Union attack. One of the most famous of the attacks was the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. The Federals suffered a defeat in this battle, losing 1,500 men while the Confederates lost only 175. During the night of February 23,1864, the CSS Hunley made the first successful sinking of a warship by a submarine. The Confederates used other crafts such as the David but these were not as successful, Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast was an early target for the Union navy. Following the capture of Port Royal, an expedition was organized with engineer troops under the command of Captain Quincy A. Gillmore, after a month of positioning 36 mortars and rifled cannons on nearby Tybee Island, Gillmore opened a bombardment of the fort on April 10. The Confederates surrendered the following afternoon after their magazine was threatened by Union shells, the Union army occupied the fort for the rest of the war after making repairs. Following the secession of Florida in January 1861, Florida troops seized most Federal property in the state with the exceptions of Fort Zachary Taylor at Key West, several small skirmishes were fought in the state, but no major battles. The Union army attempted to capture the capital of Tallahassee but were defeated at the Battle of Natural Bridge on March 8,1865. Florida was one of only two Confederate states not to have its capital captured in the war, one of the early Union objectives in the war was the capture of the Mississippi River, in order to cut the Confederacy in half. The key to the river was New Orleans, the Souths largest port greatest industrial center
13.
Sinking of the Petrel
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The Sinking of the Petrel occurred in July 1861 during the American Civil War. While cruising off the coast of South Carolina the United States Navy warship USS St. Lawrence encountered the Confederate privateer named Petrel, the engagement ended in a Union victory and the surviving rebels were arrested for piracy. The USS St. Lawrence was a frigate built for the Mexican War. Purviance was placed in command with orders to proceed south along the coast for service with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and her opponent, the Petrel, was a much smaller schooner rigged vessel, mounting only two guns and under the command of Captain William Perry. She was formerly the United States Revenue Cutter Service ship William Aiken until being captured by the rebels, Petrel had a very short career before she was destroyed, having been commissioned at Charleston, South Carolina on July 10, with seven other vessels. The Petrel had a crew of fewer than fifty crewmen while the St. Lawrence carried nearly 500 into battle and it was night on July 28 when lookouts informed Captain Purviance that they had sighted a ship flying British colors off the South Carolina coast. Though the Union men did not know it at the time, a chase began and continued for around four hours before the Confederates were overhauled. Some accounts say the USS St, when it became apparent that an escape was impossible, the rebels raised their naval jack and opened fire on the St. Lawrence with the 32-pounder. After three shots the Union sailors responded with a salvo from their battery and hit the schooner twice in the hull. For about twenty minutes the two exchanged fire until Perry gave the order enter life boats and abandon ship. Thirty minutes later the Petrel was completely underwater with multiple shot-holes through her side, the USS St. Lawrence received some damage to her sails and rigging, though it was only slight and the ship was easily repaired, at least one man suffered from minor wounds. Thirty-six Confederates were taken prisoner and another four men went down with their vessel, Confederate privateer Action off Galveston Light Battle of Cherbourg Bahia Incident Single ship action James Henry Gillis Frederick Pearson Robinson, William M. Jr. Every Day of the Civil War, A Chronological Encyclopedia
14.
Battle of the Head of Passes
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The Battle of the Head of Passes was a bloodless naval battle of the American Civil War. It was a raid made by the Confederate river defense fleet, also known as the “mosquito fleet” in the local media. The mosquito fleet was supported by three fire rafts, which were ignited and followed the ironclad ram CSS Manassas into the action. The attack occurred after moonset in the hours of October 12,1861, and routed the Union fleet. After sunrise Commodore George N. Hollins ordered the fleet to withdraw upriver. Louisiana seceded from the Union on January 26,1861, a navy department was established by the newly created Confederate government by February 21,1861. Commodore Lawrence Rousseau was sent by Confederate Naval Secretary Stephen Mallory to manage the naval defense of New Orleans and his efforts were undercut by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who authorized the distribution of letters of marque and reprisal to the general population of the new Confederacy. Rousseau was left to wallow in the wake of citizens eager to make up for revenue lost by the Confederate embargo on cotton and he was only able to purchase six civilian riverboats for conversion into a makeshift navy. Mallory then replaced the hapless Rousseau with George N. Hollins, Hollins organized the haphazard collection of six armed riverboats and christened it the “mosquito fleet”. His efforts to achieve more were impeded by Mallory’s ironclad projects intended to produce two mighty warships, the CSS Louisiana and CSS Mississippi and these projects, and others authorized by Mallory tied up most of the resources useful to construction of more vessels for the mosquito fleet. Mallory was able to purchase two more vessels for duty on Lake Pontchartrain. He received little support from Mallory, and seemed to be in competition with anyone else in New Orleans commanding aspects of its defense, on the Union Navy side, command and operations were much more focused. With a longstanding naval staff and command structure there was time wasted once hostilities at Fort Sumter established the inevitability of naval action. The strategy of a Union blockade was formulated by General Winfield Scott, the blockade arrived off the Outer Pass of the Mississippi Delta when the USS Brooklyn arrived on May 27,1861. The USS Powhatan arrived off the Southwest pass on April 30, the arrival of the Niagara and Minnesota made the reality of the blockade more solid. Aboard the Niagara was Captain William W. McKean, the new commander of the Mississippi blockade, on October 10,1861, McKean ordered four Union ships to occupy the Head of the Passes, closing all exits from the lower delta at one point. For Commodore Hollins, time had run out, the prospect of the Union fleet occupying a base at the Head of Passes was intolerable. It was too convenient a point for an attack upon Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, Hollins responded by taking his flagship, CSS Calhoun, southward from New Orleans to concentrate the mosquito fleet at Fort Jackson
15.
Battle of Santa Rosa Island
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The Battle of Santa Rosa Island was an unsuccessful Confederate attempt to take Union-held Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, Florida. Santa Rosa Island is a 40-mile barrier island in the U. S. state of Florida, the 6th New York Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. William Wilson, was encamped outside the fort, a short distance east of it. After midnight on October 9, Brig. Gen. Richard Anderson crossed from the mainland to Santa Rosa Island with 1,200 men in two small steamers to surprise the Union camps and capture Fort Pickens. He landed on the beach about four miles east of Fort Pickens. After proceeding about three miles, the Confederates surprised the 6th Regiment, New York Volunteers, in its camp, Gen. Anderson then adopted a defensive stance to entice the Federals to leave the fort and attack. Receiving reinforcements, Col. Harvey Brown sallied against the Confederates, the Union loss was 14 killed,29 wounded and 24 captured or missing. General Braxton Bragg and Lieutenant Hamel, commanding the Confederate forces at Pensacola, reported their loss as 30 or 40 killed and wounded, seeley a few days after the occurrence, gave the total casualties as 175. Israel Vodges, of the 1st artillery, was captured, the camp of the 6th N. Y. was partially destroyed. Fort Pickens and the site are preserved within the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Department of Florida, Col. Harvey Brown 6th New York Zouave Infantry, Col. William Wilson Vodges Command – Major Israel Vogdes, hildt Company A, 1st Artillery – Lieutenant Frank E. Taylor Company E, 3rd Infantry – Captain John McL
16.
Battle of Port Royal
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The sound was guarded by two forts on opposite sides of the entrance, Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island to the south and Fort Beauregard on Phillips Island to the north. A small force of four gunboats supported the forts, but did not materially affect the battle, the attacking force assembled outside of the sound beginning on November 3 after being battered by a storm during their journey down the coast. Because of losses in the storm, the army was not able to land, the fleet moved to the attack on November 7, after more delays caused by the weather during which additional troops were brought into Fort Walker. His plan soon broke down, however, and most ships took enfilading positions that exploited a weakness in Fort Walker, the Confederate gunboats put in a token appearance, but fled up a nearby creek when challenged. Early in the afternoon, most of the guns in the fort were out of action, a landing party from the flagship took possession of the fort. When Fort Walker fell, the commander of Fort Beauregard across the sound feared that his soldiers would soon be cut off with no way to escape, another landing party took possession of the fort and raised the Union flag the next day. Despite the heavy volume of fire, loss of life on both sides was low, at least by standards set later in the Civil War, only eight were killed in the fleet and eleven on shore, with four other Southerners missing. Total casualties came to less than 100, the problems of the blockade were considered by a commission appointed by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Chairman of the commission was Capt. Samuel Francis Du Pont, the commission stated its views of the South Carolina coast in its second report, dated July 13. In order to improve the blockade of Charleston, they considered seizing a nearby port and they gave particular attention to three, Bulls Bay to the north of Charleston, and St. Helena Sound and Port Royal Sound to the south. The latter two would also be useful in the blockade of Savannah and they considered Port Royal to be the best harbor, but believed that it would be strongly defended and therefore were reluctant to recommend that it be taken. Shortly after the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor had started the war, Beauregard did not believe that Port Royal Sound could be adequately defended, as forts on opposite sides of the sound would be too far apart for mutual support. Overruled by South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens, he drew up plans for two forts at the entrance. Soon called away to serve the Confederate Army in Virginia, he turned the task of implementing his plans over to Maj. Francis D. Lee of the South Carolina Army Engineers, before the war, Lee had been an architect, and had designed several churches in Charleston. Work on the two began in July 1861, but progressed only slowly. Labor for the construction was obtained by requisitions of slave labor from local plantations, construction was not complete when the attack came. Beauregards plan was altered because the heavy guns he wanted were not available. Fitting the increased number into the space required that the traverses be eliminated
17.
Siege of Fort Pulaski
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The Siege of Fort Pulaski concluded with the Battle of Fort Pulaski fought April 10–11,1862, during the American Civil War. Union forces on Tybee Island and naval operations conducted a 112-day siege, the siege and battle are important for innovative use of rifled guns which made existing coastal defenses obsolete. The Union initiated large scale amphibious operations under fire, the forts surrender strategically closed Savannah as a port. The Union extended its blockade and aids to navigation down the Atlantic coast, the Confederate army-navy defense blocked Federal advance for over three months, secured the city, and prevented any subsequent Union advance from seaward during the war. Coastal rail connections were extended to blockaded Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Pulaski is located on Cockspur Island, Georgia, near the mouth of the Savannah River. The fort commanded seaward approaches to the City of Savannah and it was commercially and industrially important as a cotton exporting port, railroad center and the largest manufacturing center in the state, including a state arsenal and private shipyards. Two southerly estuaries led to the Savannah River behind the fort, immediately east of Pulaski, and in sight of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, lay Tybee Island with a lighthouse station. Fort Pulaski was built as a Third System fort in the United States system of defense on land ceded to the United States by the State of Georgia. Authorized by appropriations begun by Congress under the James Madison administration, construction of Third System forts was directed under U. S, Secretaries of War including James Monroe of Virginia, William H. Crawford of Georgia, and John Calhoun of South Carolina. The new construction replaced two earlier forts on Tybee Island, a British colonial fort was torn down in the American Revolution. The first U. S. fort, authorized in the Washington Administration, was away in an 1804 hurricane. Construction began on Fort Pulaski during 1830, and was completed in 1845 in the administration of John Tyler by a successor of U. S. Secretary of War John Bell of Tennessee. The new fort was named to honor Casimir Pulaski, the Polish hero of the American Revolution, a young Lieutenant Robert E. Lee served as an engineer during the construction of the fort, at which time he resided in Savannah, Georgia. The Third System fort expanded Savannahs defenses downriver from Old Fort Jackson, in the campaigns for national elections in 1860, Southern secessionists threatened civil war, were their opponent to be elected President. Following the policy of President James Buchanan and his Secretary of War John B, floyd of Virginia, the newly inaugurated Lincoln Administration at first did not garrison and defend forts, arsenals or U. S. Treasury Mints in the South. The policy was continued until April 12,1861, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in late 1861, the commander, Department of Georgia, General Alexander Robert Lawton would transfer to Richmond. On November 5, General Robert E. Lee assumed command of the newly created Department of South Carolina, Georgia, lawtons October report for his Department listed 2,753 men and officers in the environs of Savannah, almost half of the command. First Georgia Regulars had been assigned to Tybee Island and they built a battery on Tybee Island and manned it, along with lookouts along the beach
18.
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
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The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Navy fleet. As long as the forts could keep the Federal forces from moving on the city, it was safe, New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, was already under threat of attack from the north when David Farragut moved his fleet into the river from the south. The Confederate Navy had already driven off the Union blockade fleet in the Battle of the Head of Passes the previous October. Men and equipment had been withdrawn from the defenses, so that by mid-April almost nothing remained to the south except the two forts and an assortment of gunboats of questionable worth. Without reducing the pressure from the north, President Abraham Lincoln set in motion a combined Army-Navy operation to attack from the south, the Union Army offered 18,000 soldiers, led by the political general Benjamin F. Butler. The Navy contributed a large fraction of its West Gulf Blockading Squadron, the squadron was augmented by a semi-autonomous flotilla of mortar schooners and their support vessels under Commander David Dixon Porter. The expedition assembled at Ship Island in the Gulf, once they were ready, the naval contingent moved its ships into the river, an operation that was completed on April 14. They were then moved into position near the forts, and on April 18 the mortars opened the battle, during the passage, one Federal warship was lost and three others turned back, while the Confederate gunboats were virtually obliterated. The subsequent capture of the city, achieved no further significant opposition, was a serious, even fatal. The forts remained after the fleet had passed, but the enlisted men in Fort Jackson mutinied and forced their surrender. Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip were a pair of closely associated forts on the Mississippi River and they were sited some 40 kilometers above Head of Passes, where the river divides before it finally enters the Gulf of Mexico, or about 120 kilometers downstream from New Orleans. Fort Jackson was on the bank, while Fort St. Philip was on the left bank of the river. Because of the path of the river, Fort Jackson was actually somewhat east of Fort St. Philip. Although land-based forts had long considered to be invulnerable to attack by naval guns, some weaknesses had been exposed in the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina. Following that battle, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V, Fox began to press for expanded use of the United States Navy in attacking coastal Confederate positions. He particularly emphasized the desirability of assaulting New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, Fox proposed that the two forts could be weakened if not completely destroyed by a mortar barrage, and a relatively small Army force then could assault the weakened forts. Following the reduction of the forts, or even during the army assault, at first, the Army, in the person of General-in-Chief George B
19.
Capture of New Orleans
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The capture of New Orleans during the American Civil War was an important event for the Union. Having fought past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Union was unopposed in its capture of the city itself, however, the controversial and confrontational administration of the city by its U. S Army military governor caused lasting resentment. This capture of the largest Confederate city was a turning point. The history of New Orleans contrasts significantly with the histories of other cities became part of the Confederate States of America. Because it was founded by the French and owned by Spain for a time, New Orleans had a cosmopolitan culture. Only 13 percent of the 1810 population was Anglo-American, New Orleans also benefited more by the Industrial Revolution, international trade, and geographical position. Of particular significance were the inventions of the steamboat and the cotton gin, before the steamboat, keelboat men bringing cargo downriver would break up their boats for lumber in New Orleans and travel overland back to Ohio or Illinois to repeat the process. Steamboats had enough power to move upstream against the current of the Mississippi, a formative event in the early history of New Orleans was the Battle of New Orleans. This battle, though fought after the end of the War of 1812, enhanced the political career of Andrew Jackson, Jackson became the first of America’s “Imperial Presidents”, and began a new political movement now known as the Jacksonian Democracy. This new direction in American politics had a influence on the development of New Orleans. One of these developments was the construction of Fort Jackson, Louisiana and this fortress was intended to support Fort St. Philip and bar the Mississippi Delta from invasion. The victory of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican presidential candidate, in the election of 1860, resulted in the secession crisis, by the year 1860, the City of New Orleans was in a position of unprecedented economic, military, and political power. The Mexican–American War, along with the annexation of Texas, had made New Orleans even more of a springboard for expansion, the California Gold Rush contributed another share to local wealth. The combination of all these factors resulted in an increase in the price of prime field hands of 21 per cent in 1848, and further increases as the value of trade grew through the 1850s. By 1860 New Orleans was one of the greatest ports in the world, with 33 different steamship lines and trade worth 500 million dollars passing through the city. As far as population, the city not only outnumbered any other city in the South, it was larger than the four next-largest Southern cities combined, with an estimated population of 168,675. The election of Lincoln in 1860 inspired one of the most ardent secessionists in Louisiana, its governor, Thomas Overton Moore, governor Moore interdicted an effort to make New Orleans a “free city”, or neutral area in the conflict. A solid Democrat, Moore organized an effective and discreet movement that voted Louisiana out of the Union in a convention that represented only 5 per cent of the citizens of Louisiana
20.
First Battle of Pocotaligo
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The First Battle of Pocotaligo was a battle in the American Civil War fought on May 29,1862 near Yemassee, South Carolina. The Union objective was to sever the Charleston and Savannah Railroad and thus isolate Charleston, on May 28,1862 a Union detachment from the 50th Pennsylvania Infantry, 8th Michigan Infantry, 79th New York Infantry and 1st Massachusetts Cavalry under Colonel Benjamin C. Christ left Beaufort, South Carolina to demonstrate against the Charleston, the force marched toward Pocotaligo, driving back pickets along the way. Some severe fighting took place at Pocotaligo where much of the bridge had been removed, about 300 Union men were able to cross the creek and drive the Confederates into the woods. Since the damage to the bridge and action against the Confederate force was in line with the missions objective, the Union expedition lost 2 killed and 9 wounded. The Confederates lost 2 killed,6 wounded and 1 missing
21.
Battle of Secessionville
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The Battle of Secessionville was fought on June 16,1862, during the American Civil War. Confederate forces defeated the Unions only attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina, in early June 1862, Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter transported the Union divisions of Brig. Horatio G. Wright and Isaac I, stevens, under the immediate direction of Brig. Gen. Henry Benham, to James Island, where they entrenched at Grimballs Landing near the southern flank of the Confederate defenses. Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan Shanks Evans, who had given command of the 3,000 Confederate defenders of James Island on June 14. After an intense battle, the defenders, augmented during the fight by approximately 1,000 men from nearby Confederate units. The Union suffered 683 casualties, compared to 204 by the Confederates, although the battle was minor, it served as a powerful propaganda victory, increasing morale, particularly in Charleston, and offsetting recent Confederate losses in the Western Theater. Although the numbers involved were small, the stakes were high, Benham had acted against orders in attempting to take James Island, and he was subject to a court martial after the loss. The Union continued its attempt to starve and attack Charleston for the rest of the war, had they succeeded in taking Fort Lamar at Secessionville, they could have controlled the harbor. Campbell, CA, Savas Publishing Company,1996, vol.1, Fort Sumter to Perryville. CWSAC Report Update This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service document Battle of Secessionville, Secessionville Battlefield Page, Battle maps, photos, history articles, and battlefield news Re-enactment of the Battle of Secessionville
22.
Battle of Simmon's Bluff
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The Battle of Simmons Bluff was a minor and bloodless Union victory, fought June 21,1862, in Meggett, South Carolina, during the American Civil War. Union forces had laid siege to Charleston, which was being resupplied from a nearby railroad, Union forces were eager to capture the city, so they sent the 55th Pennsylvania Infantry regiment to sever the rail line. The 55th Pennsylvania departed by sea shortly before the battle in search of a place to land closer to the railroad, on June 21, the 55th Pennsylvania came ashore at Wadmelaw Sound. Union forces discovered an encampment of the 16th South Carolina Infantry regiment, the Confederates scattered after the encampment was razed and were unable to launch an effective counterattack. There were no reports of injuries on either side, after the raid, the Union forces returned to their ships and abandoned their original objective, which was to interrupt the rail line to Charleston
23.
Battle of Tampa
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On April 13,1862, at 11 a. m. the alarm went up when a Union schooner anchored behind an island two miles from Tampa. Confederate pickets were posted on all the roads into town to sound the alarm because it was feared the ship was a decoy. ”After an hour the schooner launched a boat under a flag of truce and it was met by two Confederate boats. The Federals demanded the surrender of Tampa, according to Watson, “Major Thomas told them that he would not surrender it. The Yankee officer then gave him twenty-four hours to take the women and children out of the town as they would attack the place at the end of that time. Our men gave three cheers at the prospect of having a fight made the men in the Yankee boat look down in the mouth as they expected to see us all look frightened. Capt. Smith told us to all of our clothing and carry them up the river as the enemy might come too strong for us. A strong picket guard on all day and night. ”On April 14 Watson wrote, “No sign of the enemy, on June 30, USS Sagamore, a Union gunboat, came into Tampa Bay, opened her ports, and turned her broadside on the town. The gunboat then launched a boat with 20 men flying a flag of truce, in his post-action report, Captain John William Pearson, CSA, reported to Gen. Joseph Finegan, CSA, what transpired. My reply to him was that we did not understand the meaning of the surrender, there was no such letter in our book. He then said they would commence shelling the town at 6 o’clock and we then gave three hearty cheers for the Southern Confederacy and the Federal boat crew said nothing…. At 6 o’clock they promptly opened fire on us with heavy shell and shot, and after two from them we opened from our batteries, consisting of three 24-pounder cannon. Both parties then kept up a fire until 7 p. m. ”On July 1. After a two-hour break for lunch, USS Sagamore fired two rounds, weighed anchor, and sailed away. Capt. Pearson’s after-action report singled out Capt. James Gettis of Hillsborough County, the Battle of Fort Brooke was another small action fought in Tampa the following October. In this engagement, Union forces landed and destroyed Confederate blockade runners hidden up the Hillsborough River, two cannons from Ft. Brooke are displayed in Plant Park at the University of Tampa. CWSAC Report Update and Resurvey, Individual Battlefield Profiles
24.
Battle of Baton Rouge (1862)
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The Battle of Baton Rouge was a ground and naval battle in the American Civil War fought in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, on August 5,1862. The Union victory halted Confederate attempts to recapture the city of Louisiana. All cotton in the area was set afire to prevent it falling into Union hands, on May 9, Navy Commander James S. Palmer of the federal gunboat USS Iroquois landed at the town wharf and took possession, without resistance, of the Pentagon Barracks and the arsenal. Two weeks later, a party of guerrillas attacked a rowboat carrying a naval officer, in retaliation, Farraguts flagship, the Hartford, bombarded the town, causing civilian casualties and damaging St. Josephs Church and other buildings. Brigadier General Thomas Williams arrived with six regiments of infantry, two batteries, and a troop of cavalry, and began the occupation of Baton Rouge. During the summer, Major General Earl Van Dorn, commander of Confederate forces east of the Mississippi, the Confederate ironclad ram Arkansas had come down the Yazoo River, inflicting damage on the unprepared Union fleet as she passed through, and was anchored in Vicksburg. Van Dorn desired to regain Baton Rouge,5,000 men entrained from Vicksburg for Camp Moore, led by Maj. Gen. John C. They were joined by an infantry division led by Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles at the camp. Simultaneously, the Arkansas was sailing down the Mississippi River, on her way to engage the Union ships near Baton Rouge, the men had a significant amount of equipment or supplies, and were well fed. General Williams reportedly had word of the departure from Camp Moore on July 28. On August 4, after information was received of the imminent arrival of the enemy. However the Union men at Baton Rouge were not experienced and were in training camp for two weeks before being sent to Baton Rouge. The troops had few supplies because most were in New Orleans, breckinridge moved to the Comite River,10 miles east of Baton Rouge, by August 4, and then marched the men closer at night. The Confederates lost the element of surprise when they were discovered by Union sentries, despite this, the attack was launched at daybreak on August 5. The Union troops were in the center of Baton Rouge, while the Confederates were lined up in two divisions, north of the city, the action occurred around Florida Street, and began with the Confederates pushing their opponents all the way across town. Bitter fighting took place, especially around Magnolia Cemetery, the Union commander, Brigadier General Thomas Williams, was killed in action. Colonel Thomas W. Cahill took over, the colonel led a retreat back to prepared defensive lines near the Penitentiary, under the protection of the Union warships. The Confederate troops began coming under fire from the gunboats, the Confederate ram Arkansas arrived not long after but her engines failed just four miles above the city
25.
Battle of St. Johns Bluff
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The Battle of St. Johns Bluff was fought from October 1–3,1862, between Union and Confederate forces in Duval County, Florida, during the American Civil War. The battle resulted in a significant Union victory, helping secure their control of the Jacksonville area, the St. Johns River was important in the Union effort of taking Florida. If Federals controlled the St. Johns River then they could raid Confederate positions in the interior of Florida, the Union wanted to control North Florida and use it as a haven for escaped slaves and use its position to initiate Reconstruction for Florida. Federals first occupied Jacksonville in March 1862, Federal gunboats stationed at Mayport Mills operated up and down the river. The Union victories at Fort Donelson and Fort Henry forced Florida Confederates to go to Tennessee to reinforce the Confederate Army, with few resources Finnegan managed to fortify St. Johns Bluff where Confederate troops used slave labor to construct defenses. This was part of a series of Confederate defensive works that had constructed near Fort Caroline. On September 11 Confederates opened fire on Union gunboat USS Uncas approaching the bluff, the USS Patroon joined the USS Uncas and opened fire on the bluff but failed to destroy the Confederate position. The Union dispatched over 800 soldiers to Florida from South Carolina to take the bluff expecting it to be a challenging obstacle, Union reinforcements arrived on October 1 at Mayport Mills. The next day, Union soldiers under Brigadier General J. M, brannon approached the bluff from the rear. Confederate Colonel Charles F. Hopkins was in a due to the Union reinforcements approaching from the rear. Captain Winston Stephens believed the Confederate position could hold off the Federal assault, however, Hopkins decided to order a retreat from the Confederate position on October 2–3. Federals occupied the Confederate position and seized the cannons, two days later on October 5 the Federals moved on to nearby Yellow Bluff Fort which had also retreated. Jacksonville was reoccupied on October 3 after the Union victory at St. Johns Bluff, Finnegan believed that Hopkins retreat from St. Johns Bluff was a gross military blunder but Hopkins still defended his position for retreating. The Confederate threat in North Florida no longer prevented Federals from seizing the St. Johns River, Florida in the American Civil War National Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update Fort Caroline National Memorial - official National Park Service website
26.
Second Battle of Pocotaligo
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The Union objective was to sever the Charleston and Savannah Railroad and thus isolate Charleston, South Carolina. Commanding, Colonel William Stephen Walker Initial force, 1st South Carolina Sharpshooter Rutledge Mounted Rifles Kirks Partisan Rangers Beaufort Volunteer Artillery - Capt. Stephen Elliott, company E, 11th South Carolina Infantry - Capt. Brannans orders were to destroy the railroad and railroad bridges on the Charleston, under protection of a Naval Squadron, they sailed up the Broad River, disembarking the next morning at Mackey Point, less than ten miles distant from the railroad. The 47th and 55th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiments, under the command of Colonel Tilghman H. Good, Colonel William S. Brannans Division encountered the Rebels near the abandoned Castons Plantation when the Confederate artillery opened fire with their two howitzers. The Confederates retreated when the Union artillery responded, with Brannan in pursuit, Walker slowly withdrew, making a rolling defense and eventually falling back to the defensive works at Pocotaligo. The Union advance stalled when they encountered the Confederates on the side of a muddy marsh. The opposing forces blazed away with musket and cannon fire at intervals for more than two hours, until the arrival of Confederate reinforcements, by then it was late in the day, and the Union troops were running low on ammunition. Brannans troops reembarked at Mackays Point the next morning and returned to Hilton Head
27.
Battle of Fort McAllister (1863)
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The First Battle of Fort McAllister was a series of naval attacks that took place from January 27 to March 3,1863, in Bryan County, Georgia, during the American Civil War. The commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron Rear Adm. Samuel F, Du Pont decided to test operation of new monitors against Fort McAllister before conducting a major naval operation against Charleston, South Carolina. Fort McAllister was an earthen fort located along Genesis Point and armed with several heavy cannon to defend the Great Ogeechee River approach south of Savannah. It was expanded repeatedly by adding more guns, traverses and bombproofs, obstructions and eventually torpedoes completed the riverine defenses. In July 1862 the blockade runner Nashville ran up the river to escape blockaders, learning that the Nashville was lying near the fort, Adm. Du Pont ordered Commander Charles Steedman to make a reconnaissance in force and to destroy the fort if possible. At this time the garrison was commanded by Capt. Alfred L. Hartridge of Co. A, 1st Georgia Volunteer Infantry, the DeKalb Riflemen. The main battery consisted of five 32-pounder and one 42-pounder smoothbore, on July 29, Steedman led the wooden gunboats USS Paul Jones, Unadilla, Huron and Madgie against the work in a 90-minute long-range exchange. Steedman found that approaching the fort would cause unacceptable losses and withdrew, an 8 Columbiad was added to the fort in August and the garrison was replaced with the Emmett Rifles and the Republican Blues. John L. Davis the Federal gunboats USS Wissahickon and Dawn, the fort did not reply to the initial long-range bombardment and waited until the warships ascended the river to the guns effective range. When the lead vessels reached 3,000 yards the garrison opened fire and immediately scored a hit, damage to the fort was minor and readily repaired and only three men were slightly wounded in the fortifications. Adm. Du Pont dispatched an ironclad in an attempt to capture the fort, sink the Nashville and burn the Atlantic and Gulf railway bridge farther up the river. This would provide the first test of the new Passaic class of ironclad monitor armed with the massive new 15 Dahlgren cannon, the single turret of the new class contained one 11 Dahlgren in addition to the 15. On January 27,1863 the monitor USS Montauk, three gunboats, and a mortar schooner engaged the fort. Commander John L. Worden of the Montauk shelled the fort for five hours at a range of 1, 500-1,800 yards, penetrating and tearing up the parapets, but causing no lasting damage or casualties. Likewise, thirteen hits scored by the artillery did little beside denting the monitors plate. The defenders simply repaired the damaged earthworks during the night, on February 1, Worden tried again to silence the fort. The prior night Federal scouts had removed several mines from the channel so that the vessels could more closely approach, the Montauk spent another five hours bombarding at only 600 yards distance. The garrison commander, Maj. John B, Gallie, was killed and seven were wounded
28.
Battle of Irish Bend
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The battle occurred two days after the Battle of Fort Bisland. On the morning of April 13,1863, Grovers division landed in the vicinity of Franklin and that night Grover ordered the division to cross Bayou Teche and prepare for an attack towards Franklin, Louisiana, at dawn. Meanwhile, however, Major General Richard Taylor reacted, feeling the threat to his rear. He started withdrawing his forces from Fort Bisland, and his guard arrived quickly. On the morning of April 14, Taylor and his men were at Nersons Woods, around a mile, as Grovers lead brigade marched out a few miles, it found Taylors men on its right and skirmishing began. The fighting became intense, the Confederates attacked, forcing the Federal soldiers to fall back, the gunboat Diana arrived and anchored the Confederate right flank on the Teche. Still, Grovers men outnumbered the Confederates and when he paused to deploy his full force, Grovers men had taken the strategic position they sought. This victory, along with the one at Fort Bisland, two earlier, assured the success of the expedition into west Louisiana. Army of the Gulf - Major General Nathaniel P
29.
First Battle of Charleston Harbor
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The First Battle of Charleston Harbor was an engagement near Charleston, South Carolina that took place April 7,1863, during the American Civil War. The striking force was a fleet of nine warships of the Union Navy. A Union Army contingent associated with the attack took no part in the battle. The ships, under command of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, Navy Department officials in Washington hoped for a stunning success that would validate a new form of warfare, with armored warships mounting heavy guns reducing traditional forts. Du Pont had been seven of the Passaic class monitors, the powerful New Ironsides. Other naval operations were sidetracked as their resources were diverted to the attack on Charleston, after a long period of preparation, conditions of tide and visibility allowed the attack to proceed. The slow monitors got into position rather late in the afternoon, firing had occupied less than two hours, and the ships had been unable to penetrate even the first line of harbor defense. The fleet retired with one in a condition and most of the others damaged. One sailor in the fleet was killed and twenty-one were wounded, while five Confederate soldiers were killed, after consulting with his captains, Du Pont concluded that his fleet had little chance to succeed. He therefore declined to renew the battle the next morning, the war was not going well for the Union in late 1862 and early 1863. In the West, the campaign for control of the Mississippi River seemed to be bogged down before Vicksburg, the Confederates had actually managed to retake Galveston, Texas. A mood of war-weariness was evident throughout the North, and the fall elections, the Lincoln Administration therefore began to apply great pressure on its field commanders to achieve some success that would lift the national spirit. It was in this atmosphere that the Navy Department began to urge an attack on Charleston, Charleston in 1863 was already of only limited military significance, as the active centers of combat were mostly in Virginia and the interior of the country. Its value as a port for blockade runners was not much greater than that of Mobile, Alabama or Savannah, Georgia, however, it was selected as a target more for its symbolic worth than for its strategic importance. Among the most vocal proponents of the attack was Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox, Fox had an ulterior motive, in that he wanted the Navy to be free from domination by the Army. He was therefore not disturbed when General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck would not agree to a part for the Army in the operation. Halleck was willing to commit only 10,000 to 15,000 untrained soldiers, the Navy Department supported the operation by assigning almost all of its armored vessels to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Du Pont. These included the massive USS New Ironsides, New Ironsides would serve as Du Ponts flagship, in addition, the experimental armored gunboat Keokuk was added to the fleet
30.
Battle of Wassaw Sound
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Atlanta ran aground while attempting to break the Union blockade, and after a short battle surrendered to the Union forces. Captain Rodgers became a hero, and he was promoted to Commodore. Captain John Rodgers in Weehawken had overall command of this Union force, Webb dropped anchor at 8,00 p. m. and spent the remainder of the night coaling. CSS Atlanta, accompanied by wooden steamers CSS Isondiga and CSS Resolute, a percussion torpedo was fitted to a long spar projecting forward from the rams bow which Webb intended to detonate against the Weehawken. During battle maneuvers the Atlanta suddenly ran aground and swayed at an angle which made it difficult to shoot, the USS Weehawken held fire until it was at 300 yards and then pounded the immobile ship. The USS Nahant had drawn the fire of the CSS Atlanta allowing the USS Weehawken to draw within firing distance, the battle lasted only a few minutes, and the Atlanta became the first Confederate ironclad to surrender to the Union. Meanwhile, the two boats escorting the Atlanta scurried upriver for safety, the CSS Atlanta suffered the sole fatality of the battle, as well as 16 wounded. At the time of capture,21 officers and 124 men, Atlanta was condemned by a prize court in September 1863, repaired and commissioned as USS Atlanta on 2 February 1864. Captain Rodgers became a hero, and received the Thanks of Congress along with a promotion to Commodore. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, a History of the Confederate Navy, Naval Institute Press,1996
31.
First Battle of Fort Wagner
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The First Battle of Fort Wagner was fought on July 10 and 11,1863, on Morris Island in Charleston harbor during the American Civil War. An attempt by the Union Army to capture Fort Wagner was repulsed, the more famous Second Battle of Fort Wagner, which involved an assault by the 54th Massachusetts, would be fought on July 18. In early June 1863, Union Brig. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore replaced Maj. Gen. David Hunter as commander of the Department of the South, Gillmore, an Army engineer, had successfully captured Fort Pulaski in April 1862. He began preparations for capturing Morris Island and parts of James Island, if Union artillery could be placed in those locations, they could assist in the bombardment of Fort Sumter, whose guns prevented the U. S. Navy from entering the harbor. This provided cover for the landing of Brig. Gen. George C, Strongs brigade, which crossed Lighthouse Inlet and landed at the southern tip of the island. Strongs troops advanced, capturing several batteries, moving three miles to within range of Fort Wagner. Also known as Battery Wagner, it was a heavily gunned redoubt that covered nearly the entire width of the end of Morris Island. On July 11, Strongs brigade attacked at dawn, advancing through a thick fog, although the men of the 7th Connecticut Infantry overran a line of rifle pits, they were repulsed by the 1, 770-man force under Confederate Col. Robert F. Graham. Heavy artillery fire from Fort Wagner prevented other units from joining the attack, Union casualties were 339, Confederate 12. National Park Service battle description Dyer, Frederick H. Dayton, OH, First published 1908 by Dyer Publishing. The Longest Night, A Military History of the Civil War, new York, Simon & Schuster,2001. 2nd ed. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co.1998, columbia, University of South Carolina Press,1970. Combined Operations in the Civil War, annapolis, MD, Naval Institute Press,1978. Wise, Stephen R. Gate of Hell, Campaign for Charleston Harbor,1863, columbia, University of South Carolina Press,1994
32.
Battle of Grimball's Landing
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The Battle of Grimballs Landing took place in James Island, South Carolina, on July 16,1863, during the American Civil War. It was a part of the known as Operations Against the Defenses of Charleston. To divert Confederate reinforcements from an attack on nearby Fort Wagner. An amphibious force ascended Stono River to threaten the Charleston & Savannah Railroad bridge, a second force, consisting of Alfred Terrys division, landed on James Island on July 8. Soon, Terry demonstrated against the Confederate defenses, but did not launch a major attack, on July 16, the Confederates attacked Terrys camp at Grimballs Landing. Because of incomplete reconnaissance of the difficult, marshy ground, the disorganized Confederate attack was soon aborted and their mission accomplished, Federal troops withdrew from the island on July 17. This battle was the first engagement of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, Battle of James Island Battle of Grimballs Causeway This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service document Grimballs Landing. CWSAC Report Update Burton, E. Milby, columbia, University of South Carolina Press,1970. 2nd ed. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co.1998, combined Operations in the Civil War. Annapolis, MD, Naval Institute Press,1978, wise, Stephen R. Gate of Hell, Campaign for Charleston Harbor,1863. Columbia, University of South Carolina Press,1994
33.
Second Battle of Fort Wagner
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The Second Battle of Fort Wagner, also known as the Second Assault on Morris Island or the Battle of Fort Wagner, Morris Island, was fought on July 18,1863, during the American Civil War. Union Army troops commanded by Brig. Gen. Quincy Gillmore, launched an assault on the Confederate fortress of Fort Wagner. The battle came one week after the First Battle of Fort Wagner, Fort Wagner, or Battery Wagner as it was known to the Confederates, controlled the southern approaches to Charleston Harbor. It was commanded by Brigadier General William B, an attempt was made on July 11 to assault the fort, the First Battle of Fort Wagner, but it was repulsed with heavy losses to the attackers because of artillery and musket fire. Brig. Gen. Quincy Gillmore intended to repeat his assault, but first executed feints to distract the Confederates attention, Gillmore also ordered an artillery bombardment of the fort. The fort was on a narrow island so the Union could only assault the fort with one regiment at a time. The approach to the fort was constricted to a strip of beach 60 yards wide with the ocean to the east, upon rounding this defile, the Union Army was presented with the 250-yard south face of Fort Wagner, which stretched from Vincents creek to the sea. Surrounding the fort was a shallow moat riveted with sharpened palmetto logs, as abatis, company A of the 1st South Carolina Artillery also had two guns positioned outside of Wagners southern face by Vincents creek to provide enfilading fire. The sea face of Wagner was armed with one 32 lb. carronade, one 10-inch Columbiad, the garrison of Battery Wagner consisted of the 1st South Carolina Artillery, the Charleston Battalion, the 31st North Carolina, and the 51st North Carolina. Gilmore ordered his guns and mortars to begin a bombardment of the fort on July 18. The 54th Massachusetts, a regiment composed of African-American soldiers led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. They were backed by two brigades composed of nine regiments, the second brigade was commanded by Col. Haldimand S. Putnam of the 7th New Hampshire as acting brigade commander. His brigade consisted of the 7th New Hampshire, 62nd Ohio, 67th Ohio, a third brigade under Gen. Stevenson was in reserve, with General Truman Seymour commanding on the field, but did not enter action. The assault began at 7,45 p. m. and was conducted in three movements. The 54th Massachusetts attacked to the west upon the curtain of Wagner, with the remainder of Gen. Strongs brigade, as the assault commenced and bombardment subsided, the men of the 1st South Carolina Artillery, Charleston Battalion, and 51st North Carolina Infantry took their positions. When the 54th Massachusetts reached about 150 yards from the fort, the 51st North Carolina delivered a direct fire into them, as the Charleston Battalion fired into their left. The 54th managed to reach the parapet, but after a struggle, including hand-to-hand combat. The 6th Connecticut continued the assault at the weakest point, the southeast, General Taliaferro quickly rounded up some soldiers to take the position, while the 51st North Carolina and Charleston Battalion fired obliquely into the assailants
34.
Second Battle of Charleston Harbor
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After being repulsed twice 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. In the days following the second battle of Fort Wagner. Union gunners made use of a new piece of artillery known as the Requa gun—25 rifle barrels mounted on a field carriage, while sappers dug zig-zag trenches toward Fort Wagner a second novelty was used—the calcium floodlight. 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, 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 serving as the headquarters for Colonel Joshua B. Howell, commanding officer of the guard that evening. A shell fragment struck Colonel Howell wounding him severely in the head, despite Howells quick recovery the incident prompted the Union commander to exclusively use veteran troops in the forward trenches. Confederates also kept a constant rotation of soldiers through Fort Wagner, during the night rowboats would bring fresh troops from the mainland to replace the garrison. Even though they had won a victory at Fort Wagner the Confederates fully expected the campaign to continue. Having a large garrison to draw from Gen. P. G. T, Beauregard was prepared to continue the campaign. Immediately in command of Confederate forces surrounding Charleston was former army officer. Ripleys forces were spread throughout fortifications surrounding Charleston Harbor and included a division of local South Carolina militia, Gilmore and Admiral John A. Dahlgren requested reinforcements from General-in-Chief Henry Halleck. Halleck was reluctant but nevertheless a division from the Army of the Potomac was transferred to the south under George H. Gordon, 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 leaders such as Batteries Strong, Reynolds, Kearny. Others were named for high ranking officers such as Batteries Rosecrans. Inside Fort Wagner only one 10-inch Columbiad faced seaward and the few guns were in poor condition. During Colonel Lawrence M. Keitts tenure in command of the Confederate garrison he established stations on Fort Wagners west wall to coordinate with Confederate batteries on James Island
35.
Second Battle of Fort Sumter
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The Second Battle of Fort Sumter was fought on September 8,1863, in Charleston Harbor. Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard, who had commanded the defenses of Charleston, in the battle, Union forces under Major General Quincy Gillmore attempted to retake the fort at the mouth of the harbor. Union gunners pummeled the fort from their batteries on Morris Island, after a severe bombing of the fort, Beauregard suspecting an attack replaced the artillerymen and all but one of the forts guns with 320 infantrymen, who repulsed the naval landing party. Gillmore had reduced Fort Sumter to a pile of rubble, the attack was unsuccessful, the Unions best ship, USS New Ironsides never effectively engaged, and the ironclads fired only 154 rounds, while receiving 2,209 from the Confederate defenders. Due to damage received in the attack, the USS Keokuk sank the day,1,400 yards off the southern tip of Morris Island. Over the next month, working at night to avoid the attention of the Federal squadron, one of the Dahlgren guns was promptly placed in Fort Sumter. The Confederates, in the meantime, were strengthening Fort Sumter, some of Fort Sumters artillery had been removed, but 40 pieces still were mounted. Fort Sumters heaviest guns were mounted on the barbette, the forts highest level, the barbette was also more exposed to enemy gunfire than the casemates in the two lower levels of the fort. Gillmore and Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, now commanding the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, cooperation between the Army and Navy was poor. Dahlgren refused to place his sailors and marines under the command of an army officer, the army flotilla was detained off Morris Island by the low tide. By the time they could proceed, the assault had already been defeated. The navys assault involved 400 sailors and marines in 25 boats, the operation was a fiasco from beginning to end. Poor reconnaissance, planning and communication all characterized the operation, Commander Thomas H. Stevens, Jr. commanding the monitor Patapsco, was placed in charge of the assault. When Commander Stevens protested that he knew nothing of organization and made some remonstrances on this grounds, Dahlgren replied There is nothing but a corporals guard in the fort, and all we have to do is go and take possession. This underestimation of the Confederate forces on Dahlgrens part may explain why he was hostile to a joint operation wishing to reserve the credit for the victory to the navy, less than half of the boats landed. Most of the boats that did land landed on the flank or right gorge angle. The Union sailors and marines who did land could not scale the wall, the Confederates fired upon the landing party and as well as throwing hand grenades and loose bricks. The men in the boats that had not landed fired muskets and revolvers blindly at the fort, the landing party took shelter in shell holes in the wall of the fort
36.
Siege of Port Hudson
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The Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, General Nathaniel Banks was ordered to capture the Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson, when his assault failed, Banks settled into a 48-day siege, the longest in US military history. A second attack failed, and it was only after the fall of Vicksburg that the Confederate commander. This left the Mississippi open to Union navigation from its source to the Gulf of Mexico, from the time the American Civil War started in April 1861, both the North and South made controlling the Mississippi River a major part of their strategy. The Confederacy wanted to keep using the river to transport needed supplies, particularly important to the South was the stretch of the Mississippi that included the mouth of the Red River. In the spring and early summer of 1862, the Union advanced their control of the Mississippi from both the north and the south, a second Union fleet commanded by Charles H. Davis occupied Memphis, Tennessee, after defeating Confederate riverine forces in Battle of Memphis. To make sure it could continue to use the section of the river. The initial idea of fortifying the heights of Port Hudson came from the master of fixed defenses, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Commander, Army of the Mississippi. ”In June 1862, Major General Earl Van Dorn wrote Jefferson Davis, “I want Baton Rouge and Port Hudson” A few days after the fall of Baton Rouge to the Union. Breckinridge with 4,000 men, carried out the wishes of General Van Dorn by occupying Port Hudson, soldiers of the 4th Louisiana Infantry arrived at the site on August 15,1862. According to historian John D. Winters, Port Hudson, unlike Baton Rouge, was one of the strongest points on the river and it was a position similar to that of Quebec City in the French and Indian War. The political momentum behind the Union actions against Port Hudson came from the elections of November 1862, the Republican base, centered in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, had been shaken by embarrassing Democratic victories. A dramatic letter from Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton to Lincoln claimed “The fate of the North-West is trembling in the balance. ”His implication was that unless the independent trade of Union states along the Ohio River was restored by Union control of the entire Mississippi, further breakup of the Union was possible. Morton believed the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were in danger of breaking away from the Northeast to join the Confederacy, the threatening political fractures galvanized the Lincoln administration into action. Major General Nathanial Banks was diverted from an expedition to Texas and given Benjamin Butler’s command of the Department of the Gulf. ”On December 4,1862, Banks. In May 1863, Union land and naval forces began a campaign they hoped would give control of the full length of the Mississippi River. Banks simultaneously attacked Port Hudson, which stood at the southern end, Port Hudson was sited on an 80 feet bluff on the east bank above a hairpin turn in the Mississippi River 25 miles upriver from Baton Rouge. The hills and ridges in the area of the town represented extremely rough terrain, a maze of deep, thickly forested ravines, swamps, the town was a port for shipping cotton and sugar downriver from the surrounding area. Despite its importance, the city consisted of a few buildings and 200 people by the start of the war, the river had shifted south and the docks had been moved about.5 miles south
37.
Battle of Stirling's Plantation
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The Battle of Stirlings Plantation was an American Civil War battle took place on September 29,1863 in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Following the Siege of Vicksburg, Union Major General Francis J. Herrons Division of the Army of the Frontier was transferred down the Mississippi River to become a part of the 13th Corps. Arriving at Port Hudson on July 25, they remained there until August 13,1863 when they were moved to Carrollton, Louisiana, above New Orleans. Banks had been ordered to invade and “plant the Flag in Texas”, as a part of his overall plan, Herron’s division was to be transported to Morganza, Louisiana, below the mouth of the Red River. Both Confederate Brigadier General Tom Greens cavalry and Brigadier General Alfred Mouton’s small infantry division were operating on the upper Atchafalaya River. Herron’s movement would distract the Confederates from the invasion of Texas, on September 5, Herrons division was dispatched up the Mississippi on transports and made a landing below Morganza on the 7th. On the 8th the entire force marched through Morganza, and down the Opelousas road and they retired to the Fordoche and camped there for the night. The next day the Division marched to Morganza where they went into camp, Lt. Col. Joseph Bloomfield Leake of the 20th Iowa was to be in command. A small provisional brigade was formed consisting of the 19th Iowa under Maj. John Bruce, the 26th Indiana under Col. A. D. Rose, light Artillery, and a battalion of the 6th Missouri Cavalry under Major Samuel Montgomery. To supplement the cavalry, a company of mounted infantry was created by drawing men from every regiment in the division and was led by Lt. Henry Walton of the 34th Iowa. Just west of Norwoods, the Opelousas Road forked to the northwest, crossed the Fordoche, the country was unknown and Leake had no adequate maps. Mouton saw Leake’s exposed position as an opportunity to destroy this force around Fordoche Bridge, upon scouting the area on the 13th, Leake discovered that the position at Norwoods was not very tenable. There were several old roads and a half completed railbed in the vicinity that would make it easy for Confederates to move, pickets and posts were set out and Leake requested to withdraw about a mile closer to the Stirling plantation, but this request was refused by Herron. This position, though better than Norwoods, still had defects due to the roads that gave the Confederates easy ability to move around the federal position. A levee ran along the east side of the road by the Stirling plantation, pickets were maintained constantly, but the force was so small that they were deemed to be inadequate, and the whole brigade was uneasy as to their position. The Confederates were becoming increasingly visible, and were observed in small groups between Stirlings and Morganza. Although Herron was apprised of the rebels between him and Leake, he took no efforts to secure their rear, Herron was ill, and on the evening of the 28th turned over the command to Major General Napoleon J. T. Dana, and left for New Orleans. Mouton had realized the opportunity to gobble up this force and on the 19th had ordered Green to plan an attack
38.
Attack on USS New Ironsides
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The attack on USS New Ironsides in October 1863 was one of the first successful torpedo boat engagements in history. Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina deployed the newly built semi-submersible CSS David to attach a spar torpedo to the hull of USS New Ironsides, though the attack is regarded as a rebel victory, the Union ship was saved from serious damage. Because it was an impediment to Confederate commerce and warfare, there was no choice. CSS David was one of the Souths secret weapons, similar to the submarine H. L. Hunley, the boat was designed to destroy enemy ships by stealthily sneaking up to their sides and placing an explosive on their hulls. The David was only fifty feet long with a beam of six feet and her crew consisted of just four officers and men. She was under the command of Lieutenant William T. Glassell during her three year career. On the night of 5 October, at about 8,00 am the torpedo boat headed out from the pier toward the fourteen gun ironclad USS New Ironsides and she had also survived a failed torpedo boat attack in August 1863. An hour later the rebels were approaching the ironclad when lookouts spotted them fifty yards away, the Union commander Captain Stephen C. Rowan reported the following, At 9 p. m. W, when the water fell back, some of it went down the Davids smokestack and put out the fire in her engine. The explosion ripped a large fissure in the starboard quarter and her crew had to quickly repair the hole. Damage was also inflicted to the ships armory bulkhead and some storerooms, there were two wounded, one of whom later died, and a third man who suffered from confusions. CSS David was heavily damaged, enough for her commander to order his men to abandon ship, ensign C. W. Cannon could not swim so he remained aboard and after the others left they tried to swim for nearby Morris Island under fire. It was at this time Assistant Engineer J. H. Tomb decided to go back to the boat where he restarted the fire. The remaining two Confederates, including Lieutenant Glassel, surrendered to the men of New Ironsides after evacuating the David, New Ironsides was apparently not in threat of sinking and the damage proved to be mostly superficial. She returned to duty after taking a short time in Philadelphia to make repairs. CSS David was repaired as well and she made attacks on USS Memphis. Several torpedo boats of the David class were captured at the end of the war, the David may have been among them. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, the Neglected Ironclad, A Design and Constructional Analysis of the U. S. S
39.
Battle of Fort Brooke
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The Battle of Fort Brooke was a minor engagement fought October 16–18,1863, near Tampa, Florida, during the American Civil War. Two Union Navy ships, the USS Tahoma and the USS Adela, two days later, on October 18,1863, as conflict continued, the Battle of Ballast Point took place. A Union raiding party, under Acting Master T. R. Harris, disembarked at Ballast Point, landing at the current intersection of Gandy Boulevard, the two ships were at the shipyard to have their bottoms cleaned. The Union troops surprised, captured, and burned McKays two notorious ships, the blockade runner Scottish Chief, a steamship, and the sloop Kate Dale a few miles up the river, the ships and shipyard were owned by the future mayor of Tampa, James McKay. Escaping capture by mere minutes, with members of his crew in tow, James McKay sped to the city of Tampa and warned all of the landing party, after the burning of the ships, the Confederate forces were alerted to the raiding partys location, and commenced pursuit. Harriss Union forces were surprised by a detachment of the garrison, a brief but sharp exchange resulted in a few casualties before the Union troops returned to sea. A Confederate cavalry unit, the Oklawaha Rangers, finally caught up with the Union raiders, the union soldiers came under direct fire as they boarded their dinghies in a tactical retreat. The Confederate defenders destroyed the steamer A. B. Noyes to preclude her capture, the remains of the Kate Dale are sunk near the west side of Jean Street Shipyard, while the Scottish Chief remained afloat while it burned. It was towed back to Tampa and stripped and destroyed
40.
Battle of Gainesville
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The Battle of Gainesville was fought on 17 August 1864, when a Confederate force defeated Union detachments on a raid from the Union garrison in the Jacksonville, Florida, area. However, the other and first Battle of Gainesville was fought on 14 February 1864, Gainesville, site of a railroad junction and depot in north central Florida, was the scene of two small-scale engagements during the war. On 14 February 1864, the first battle occurred when about 50 Union troops entered the city intending to capture two trains. Company H of the 2nd Florida Cavalry with 130 men attempted to repulse this raid, but were defeated by the Union force, which successfully returned to Jacksonville after holding the town. The Battle of Gainesville took place on 17 August 1864, in the town square, a Union column of 342 men under the command of Col. Andrew L. Harris had occupied Gainesville that morning. It was composed of the 75th Ohio Mounted infantry, 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, Battery A, 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, dickisons men numbered about 290, although only 175 entered Gainesville and engaged in the fighting. The Union troops were tired from a march from Baldwin in the August heat. They were taken by surprise and had not fully deployed when the Confederate attack began, after about two hours Col. Harris gave the order to retreat from Gainesville, the Confederates continued to close in on the disorganized Union columns. About 40 Union troops, including Colonel Harris, escaped and he reported his column was destroyed by a large Confederate force of 600—800 men and three cannon. After hearing his account, the remaining Union forces in the north central Florida area withdrew to the garrisons at Jacksonville, Gainesville remained in Confederate control for the duration of the war. General Seymours Report on the Results of the 1st Battle of Gainesville General Seymours General Order No
41.
Battle of Olustee
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The Battle of Olustee or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on February 20,1864, during the American Civil War. It was the major battle fought in Florida during the war. Union General Truman Seymour had landed troops at Jacksonville, aiming chiefly to disrupt Confederate food-supply, meeting little resistance, he proceeded towards the state capital Tallahassee, against orders, assuming that he would face only the small Florida militia. But the Confederates in Charleston had sent reinforcements under General Alfred H. Colquitt, the fighting was so fierce that the Northern authorities placed a lower priority on defending their Florida enclaves. In February 1864, Major General Quincy A, Brigadier General Truman Seymour, in command of the expedition, landed troops at Jacksonville, in an area already seized by the Union in March 1862. Seymours forces then made several raids into northeast and north-central Florida, during these raids he met little resistance, seized several Confederate camps, captured small bands of troops and artillery pieces, liberated slaves, etc. However, Seymour was under orders from Gillmore not to advance deep into the state, Seymours preparations at Hilton Head had concerned the Confederate command in the key port city of Charleston, South Carolina. Colquitt arrived in time to reinforce Florida troops under the command of Brigadier General Joseph Finnegan, as Colquitts troops began arriving, Seymour, without Gillmores knowledge, began a new drive across north Florida with the capture of Tallahassee as a possible objective. Following the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, Seymour led his 5,500 men in the direction of Lake City, at approximately 2,30 in the afternoon of February 20, the Union force approached General Finnegans 5,000 Confederates entrenched near Olustee Station. Finnegan sent out a brigade to meet Seymours advance units and lure them into the Confederate entrenchments. The opposing forces met at Ocean Pond and the battle began, Seymour made the mistake of assuming he was once again facing Florida militia units he had previously routed with ease and committed his troops piecemeal into the battle. Finnegan and Seymour both reinforced their units during the afternoon and the battle took place in open pine woods. The Union forces attacked but were repulsed by withering barrages of rifle. The battle raged throughout the afternoon until, as Finnegan committed the last of his reserves, Finnegan did not exploit the retreat, allowing most of the fleeing Union forces to reach Jacksonville. The Confederate cavalry commander received criticism for failing to pursue the retreating Union forces, Union casualties were 203 killed,1,152 wounded, and 506 missing, a total of 1,861 men—about 34 percent. Confederate losses were lower,93 killed,847 wounded, and 6 missing, Union forces also lost six artillery pieces and 39 horses that were captured. The ratio of Union casualties to the number of troops involved made this the second bloodiest battle of the War for the Union, the Confederate dead were buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in nearby Lake City. The Union losses caused Northern authorities to question the necessity of further Union involvement in the militarily insignificant state of Florida, according to Confederate memoirs and letters, Confederate troops killed most of the wounded and captured black Union soldiers
42.
Sinking of USS Housatonic
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The Sinking of USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864 during the American Civil War was an important turning point in naval warfare. The Confederate States Navy submarine, H. L. Hunley made her first, on the evening of 17 February 1864, the Hunley made her first mission against an enemy vessel during the American Civil War. Housatonic was a 1,240 long tons vessel with an armament of twelve large cannons, Housatonic was commanded by Captain Charles W. Pickering and had a crew of 150 men. The Hunley began her approach at about 8,45 pm, commanded by First Lieutenant George E. Dixon, accounts differ about the initial approach, what is known is that the Hunley was spotted just before embedding her torpedo into Housatonics hull. Official accounts say Housatonic was unable to fire a broadside at Hunley, the Hunley attached her explosive to Housatonics side before reversing and setting a course for home. A few moments later the torpedo detonated and sank the sloop-of-war, first-hand reports say no explosion was heard by the crew of Housatonic, who immediately began climbing the rigging or entering life boats as the sloop began to sink. Within five minutes, Housatonic was partially underwater, Hunley thus achieved the first sinking of a warship in combat via submarine. Five men - two officers and three crewmen - went down with their ship while a number of Union Navy sailors were injured. The survivors were rescued by other elements of the Charleston blockading force. Hunley won her first victory, but was lost at sea the same night while returning home to Sullivans Island. It was originally thought that the Hunley was sunk as the result of her own torpedo exploding, further support comes from the testimony of a lookout on the sunken Housatonic, who reported seeing a blue light from his perch in the sunken ships rigging. There was also a claim that two blue lights were the prearranged signal between the sub and Fort Moultrie. Blue light at the time of the Civil War was a signal in long use by the US Navy. This was the last time the Hunley was heard from, until her recovery from the waters off Charleston, while returning to her naval station Hunley sank for unknown reasons. However, a team of historians managed to examine the submarines remains, a film entitled The Hunley was made about the story of H. L. Hunley and the sinking of the submarine H. L. Hunley. New evidence announced by archaeologists in 2013 indicates that the Hunley may have much closer to the point of detonation than previously realized. Action of 9 April 1914 Chilean ship Almirante Lynch This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, the entry can be found here. Shipwrecks of the Civil War, Charleston, South Carolina, 1861–1865 map by E. Lee Spence OCLC11214217 Robert F. Burgess, Ships Beneath the Sea, A History of Subs and Submersibles
United States (Union)
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