Charleston, SC I

[The Confederate Museum]

Date(s): April 7, 1863

Location: Please click on link below for map.

Campaign(s): Operations against Defenses of Charleston (1863)

Battles in Campaign:

• Charleston Harbor, SC I- April 7, 1863 C

• Fort Wagner, Morris Island, SC - July 18-September 7, 1863 B

• Fort Wagner, SC - July 10-11, 1863 D¹

• Grimball's Landing, SC - July 16, 1863 D¹

• Fort Sumter, SC II - August 17-December 31, 1863 D

• Charleston Harbor, SC II - September 7-8, 1863 B

Situation:

• Since the capture of Fort Sumter in 1861, the port of Charleston has been able to receive shipments.

• This represented a significant hole in the U.S. Navy's Atlantic naval blockade.

• The Union began operations to retake the fort and stop shipments into the harbor.

Commanders:

• Union: Rear Adm. S.F. DuPont

• Confederate: Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard

Principal Forces: 9 warships

• Union:

• Confederate:

Description:

• In April 1863, Maj. Gen. David Hunter prepared his land forces on Folly, Cole's, and North Edisto Islands to cooperate with a naval bombardment of Fort Sumter.

• On April 7th, the South Atlantic Squadron under Rear Admiral S.F. Du Pont bombarded Fort Sumter, having little impact on the Confederate defenses of Charleston Harbor.

• The ironclad warships Keokuk, Weehawken, Passaic, Montauk, Patapsco, New Ironsides, Catskill, Nantucket, and Nahant participated in the bombardment.

• Keokuk was hit more than 90 times by the accurate Confederate fire and sunk the next day.

• Although several of Hunter’s units had embarked on transports, the infantry were not landed, and the joint operation was abandoned.

Photo Gallery:² Images of Charleston, SC

Charleston's Candy Kitchen			Single House The single house features a multi-story construction, one room wide, usually with gabled roof, sideways to the street.
	Single House Along the southwest face of the house is a full-length columned porch, or piazza, which is entered by a door on the street, and from the piazza, a center door leads into the house.
			Charleston Fire Department
	Charleston Fire Department	Single House	Single House This construction was intended to keep the house cool, as prevailing southwest winds would sweep the house end-to-end, while the piazza roof would shade windows from the sun.
		The Citadel	The Citadel
The Citadel	The Citadel
U.S. Customs House	The Market Sweet Grass Basket Vendors	The Market	The Market
			Building with Supporting Rods
Dock Street Theater			Street Paved with Ballast Stones
			Confederate Monument
			Mills House Hotel Note Ornamental Grill

Slide Presentation³: Fort Sumter, SC

Classification⁴: C

Casualties⁵:

• Union: Warship Keokuk sunk

• Confederate:

Results: Confederate Victory

Battlefield Websites:

• Fort Sumter National Monument - National Park Service

• Fort Sumter - Wikipedia 

Recommended Resources:

¹ National Park Service summary.

² Please click on the image to enlarge it. You may copy the images if you include the following note and link with each image: "Courtesy of civil-war-journeys.org."

³ Slide Presentations Updated on 2/02/07. Click on link to view as web-based slide show.

⁴ Classification:

• A - having a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war

• B - having a direct and decisive influence on their campaign

• C - having observable influence on the outcome of a campaign

• D - having a limited influence on the outcome of their campaign or operation but achieving or affecting important local objectives

⁵ Casualties are someone killed, injured, wounded, captured or missing.

Revised 01/02/2009