Last updated The Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor
The Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor was an ironclad vessel that was constructed by the Confederacy in early 1861, a few months before the American Civil War ignited. Apart from being a marvel to contemporary Charlestonians, it was a strategic naval artillery platform that took part in the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12 and April 13, 1861, making it the first floating battery to engage in hostilities during the Civil War.[1]
Following the November 6, 1860, election of Abraham Lincoln, there was a popular outcry for secession in Charleston, South Carolina. Relations between the local citizens and the U.S. Army forces that occupied various posts around the Charleston harbor area began to deteriorate. On November 8, Colonel John L. Gardner, federal garrison commander, angered Charlestonians when he attempted to remove all of the small-arms ammunition from the Charleston Arsenal.[2] Gardner attempted to pacify the angry crowd by returning the ammunition which may have saved him at the time but he would eventually be relieved of his command for his actions nonetheless. Governor F. W. Pickens ordered South Carolina State troops to stand guard over the arsenal. When the new garrison commander, Major Robert Anderson, sent CaptainJ. G. Foster to get 100 muskets for the workmen of Castle Pinckney and Fort Sumter, he was flatly refused by Colonel B. H. Huger who cited that special orders from Washington would be necessary.[3]
Maj. Anderson consolidated the majority of his troops at Fort Moultrie but found this to be a poorly defensible position. Sand dunes rose almost to the height of the parapet walls on the inland side and neighboring houses towered above the fort walls affording too many opportunities for militia sharpshooters.[4] Following the December 20 secession of South Carolina from the Union, Anderson planned an evacuation across the harbor channel to Ft. Sumter. State troops sounded alarms on the morning of December 27 when they discovered that Anderson's forces had abandoned Ft. Moultrie during the evening of December 26, spiking the guns and setting fire to the gun carriages before the last troops left. This infuriated the citizens of Charleston who viewed the evacuation and destruction as a breach of good faith.[5] Governor Pickens ordered that all remaining federal positions except Ft. Sumter were to be seized. State troops quickly occupied Ft. Moultrie (capturing 56 guns), Ft. Johnson, and the Morris Island Battery. At about 4 p.m. on December 27, an assault force of 150 men seized the Union-occupied Castle Pinckney fortification capturing 24 guns and mortars without bloodshed. On December 30, the federal arsenal was captured with the Union crew held in their quarters. The capture from the arsenal was massive with more than 22,000 ordnance pieces being appropriated by the militia.[6]
The Confederates promptly made repairs, unspiked the guns, built new gun carriages, and reinforced the fortifications at Ft. Moultrie. Dozens of new batteries and defense positions were constructed throughout the Charleston harbor area and armed with weapons captured from the arsenal. Intent on gaining a strategic advantage in artillery position, the Confederates adopted the contemporary military idea of implementing floating batteries. The French Navy had enjoyed success using floating batteries in the Battle of Kinburn (1855) to demolish Russian forts during the Crimean War.[7]
Construction
Drawing of the Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor
The battery was constructed on the waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina in view of the Union forces at Ft. Sumter near the mouth of Charleston harbor. Construction began in January 1861, under the leadership of Lieutenant John R. Hamilton formerly an officer in the United States Navy and the son of a former governor of South Carolina.[8] Built of pine heartwood logs sawn twelve inches (305mm) square, it was buttressed by palmetto logs on the bow and the exterior of the vessel was clad in two layers of railroad iron vertically and four layers of boiler iron horizontally.[9] Its dimensions were approximately twenty-five feet wide by one hundred feet long. The massive front bow of the battery resembled a peaked barn to onlookers who branded it with that nickname. Along the barn face were four evenly-spaced casemate windows suitable for the naval guns to fire through. The battery's armament consisted of two 42lb and two 32lb naval artillery guns.[9] A detailed drawing by a Confederate officer illustrates the guns (the fourth is not depicted).[10] To offset the weight of the barn with the armament added, the vessel was counterbalanced at the rear with 6ft. thick sandbag emplacements along the length of the stern. The powder magazines were below the sandbags while shot was stored behind the guns in covered bins beneath the deck. Positioned behind the stern and on its own separate raft was a small floating hospital.[9]
Hospital interior drawing from Frank Leslie's Newspaper
The March 30, 1861, issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper contains a detailed sketch of the hospital interior. There appears to be at least eight hospital beds and two operating tables. Access was gained by a steeply-angled staircase through a hatch in the roof. A framed wooden door allowed for entry and exit on the starboard side of the hospital closer to the waterline while two framed glass sash windows allowed in light on the port side. Window casements framed into the roof allowed for some additional light and ventilation.[11]
Captain John G. Foster, a Union Army engineering officer observing from Fort Sumter, wrote reports to his superiors about the progress of the battery construction. Foster's assessment of the battery was dismissive, "...I think it can be destroyed by our fire before it has time to do much damage..." and he followed a few days later with, "...I do not think this floating battery will prove very formidable..." Nonetheless, his superior, MajorRobert Anderson was apprehensive enough that he inquired for specific instructions from Washington regarding the threat of the battery. He was instructed that if he became convinced that the battery was advanced for the purpose of immediate attack then he would be justified in firing on it but if it was only being moved for the purposes of general emplacement that he should exercise forbearance.[12]
Charleston Harbor, showing forts and the Confederate artillery positions that bombarded Fort Sumter. The Floating battery is at the tip of Sullivan's Island.
Members of the Confederate crew were apprehensive about the battery as well but for different reasons. Some of them feared that it would capsize and began referring to it as "the slaughter pen". Union soldiers glibly named it "the raft". Crowds gathered on the waterfront of Charleston to marvel at and celebrate the completed battery in ceremony on March 15 despite cold weather. A seven gun salute was fired to honor the seven states that had already seceded and after a pause, an additional gun was fired on behalf of Arkansas whose secession was pending.[13] Public reaction in the North to the floating battery was as marked as had been their Southern counterparts' enthusiasm. The New York Herald invited readers to visit their offices so they could see a palmetto log similar to those used in the battery. The Herald also posted that another log had been brought north to sell to showman P.T. Barnum but that Barnum had balked at the $150 asking price.[12]
An excerpt of Brigadier General Beauregard's official report describes the participation of the battery during the bombardment..
The signal shell was fired from Ft. Johnson at 4.30 a.m. At about 5 o'clock the fire from our batteries became general. Fort Sumter did not open fire until 7 o'clock, when it commenced with a vigorous fire upon the Cummings Point iron battery. The enemy next directed his fire upon the enfilade battery on Sullivan's Island, constructed to sweep the parapet of Ft. Sumter, to prevent the working of the barbette guns and to dismount them. This was also the aim of the floating battery, the Dahlgren battery, and the gun batteries at Cummings Point.
The enemy next opened on Fort Moultrie, between which and Fort Sumter a steady and almost constant fire was kept up throughout the day. These three points—Fort Moultrie, Cummings Point, and the end of Sullivan's Island, where the floating battery, Dahlgren battery, and the enfilade battery were placed—were the points to which the enemy seemed almost to confine his attention, although he fired a number of shots at Captain Butler's mortar battery, situated to the east of Fort Moultrie, and a few at Captain James' mortar batteries at Fort Johnson.
During the day (12th) the fire of my batteries was kept up most spiritedly, the guns and mortars being worked in the coolest manner, preserving the prescribed intervals of firing. Towards evening it became evident that our fire was very effective, as the enemy was driven from his barbette gun which he attempted to work in the morning, and his fire was confined to his casemated guns, but in a less active manner than in the morning, and it was observed that several of his guns en barbette were disabled. During the whole of Friday night our mortar batteries continued to throw shells, but, in obedience to orders, at longer intervals. The night was rainy and dark, and as it was almost confidently expected that the United States fleet would attempt to laud troops Upon the islands or to throw men into Fort Sumter by means of boats, the greatest vigilance was observed at all our channel batteries, and by our troops on both Morris and Sullivan's Islands.
Early on Saturday morning all of our batteries reopened upon Fort Sumter, which responded vigorously for a time, directing its fire specially against Fort Moultrie. About 8 o'clock a.m. smoke was seen issuing from the quarters of Fort Sumter. Upon this the fire of our batteries was increased, as a matter of course, for the purpose of bringing the enemy to terms as speedily as possibly, inasmuch as his flag was still floating defiantly above him. Fort Sumter continued to fire from time to time, but at long and irregular intervals, amid the dense smoke, flying shot, and bursting shells. Our brave troops, carried away by their natural generous impulses, mounted the different batteries, and at every discharge from the fort cheered the garrison for its pluck and gallantry, and hooted the fleet lying inactive just outside the bar.
Artistic depiction of the Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor while engaged in the Battle of Fort Sumter
Sometime in the dark hours between April 9 and April 10,[15] the battery was towed and emplaced near the western end of Sullivan's Island by order of Brigadier GeneralP. G. T. Beauregard. It was manned by members of Company D of the South Carolina Artillery Battalion and commanded by Capt. Hamilton. On April 12, Hamilton's floating battery commenced in a 34-hour intermittent artillery siege against Union army forces occupying Ft. Sumter.[16]
The battery was struck several times by artillery fire from Ft. Sumter.[8] According to Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia, "... The guns that bore on the three batteries at the west end of 'Sullivan's Island' were 10 32-pounders, situated on the left face, and on at the pan-coupe of the salient angle, (four embrasures being bricked up.)"[17] By midday, a shortage of cartridges in Ft. Sumter forced the Union troops to lower the number of guns to only two in active battery against the batteries at the western end of Sullivan's Island.[17] "The so-called 'floating battery' was struck very frequently by shot, one of them penetrating at the angle between the front and the roof, entirely through the iron covering and wood work beneath, and wounding one man. The rest of the 32-pounder balls failed to penetrate the front or the roof, but were deflected from their surfaces, which were arranged at a suitable angle for this purpose."[17] The damage was considered minimal and with Maj. Anderson's surrender of Ft. Sumter, the Confederates and the crew of Hamilton's floating battery were victorious. Newspapers and magazines proliferated details of the battle and surrender. "On Friday, 12th, at 27 minutes past 4 A. M., General Beauregard, in accordance with instructions received on Wednesday from the Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy, opened fire upon Fort Sumter. Forts Johnson and Moultrie, the iron battery at Cumming's Point, and the Stevens Floating Battery, kept up an active cannonade during the entire day, and probably during the past night. The damage done to Fort Sumter is stated by the Confederate authorities to have been considerable. Guns had been dismounted, and a part of the parapet swept away."[18] - Harper's Weekly
Beauregard commended Capt. Hamilton in his battle report written at the Provisional Army Headquarters, Charleston, S.C., April 27, 1861. He wrote "...I would also mention in the highest terms of praise Captains Calhoun and Hallonquist, assistant commandants of batteries to Colonel Ripley; and the following commanders of batteries on Sullivan's Island: Capt. J. R. Hamilton, commanding the floating battery and Dahlgren gun; Captains Butler, South Carolina Army, and Bruns, aide-de-camp to General Dunovant, and Lieutenants Wagner, Rhett, Yates, Valentine, and Parker."[14]
Damage was assessed with reports and twenty-two photographs "showing the condition of Forts Sumter and Moultrie and of the floating battery after the surrender of the former fort" and sent to LeRoy Pope Walker, Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America, in Montgomery, Alabama on April 27, 1861.[19] Details of the battery's history beyond this point are somewhat elusive. According to a United States Coast Survey chart of 1863, the battery is depicted as anchored in the harbor between Middle Ground and Ft. Johnson but later charts rendered in 1865 do not indicate the existence of the battery. The Confederates apparently ended up stripping the iron off the battery at some point to construct a navigable ironclad.[20] There may be evidence that the dismantled battery broke up later during a storm as early as the latter part of 1863. One diarist, serving on Morris Island, wrote that they had a shortage of fuel until one morning after a storm when they found logs purportedly from the battery washed up on the beach. In 1865, a visitor to Charleston described the harbor entrance with this description, "... Just beyond the ruin (of Ft. Sumter) at the left, lies the wreck of the famous old floating battery ... A portion of one of its sides, with four portholes visible, still remains above the water. ..."[12]
Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island near Charleston, South Carolina to defend the region from a naval invasion. It was built after British forces captured and occupied Washington during the War of 1812 via a naval attack. The fort was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battle of Fort Sumter occurred, sparking the American Civil War. It was severely damaged during the battle and left in ruins. Although there were some efforts at reconstruction after the war, the fort as conceived was never completed. Since the middle of the 20th century, Fort Sumter has been open to the public as part of the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, operated by the National Park Service.
Morris Island is an 840-acre (3.4 km²) uninhabited island in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, accessible only by boat. The island lies in the outer reaches of the harbor and was thus a strategic location in the American Civil War. The island is part of the cities of Charleston and Folly Beach, in Charleston County.
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender by the United States Army, beginning the American Civil War.
Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, formerly named Fort Sullivan, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and nickname of South Carolina, as "The Palmetto State". The fort was renamed for the U.S. patriot commander in the Battle of Sullivan's Island, General William Moultrie. During British occupation, in 1780–1782, the fort was known as Fort Arbuthnot.
The first USS Weehawken was a Passaic-class ironclad monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named after Weehawken, New Jersey.
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in Charleston County, in coastal South Carolina. It mainly protects Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, the Charleston Light and Liberty Square. It was known as Fort Sumter National Monument until it was renamed in the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019.
The first USS Nahant was a Passaic-class ironclad monitor of the United States Navy that saw service in the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War.
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, then captured the Confederate-held Fort Pulaski after a 30-hour bombardment. 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 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 and captured Fort Sumter in the first battle of the war, was in overall command of the defenders. 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 fort's guns with 320 infantrymen, who repulsed the naval landing party. Gillmore had reduced Fort Sumter to a pile of rubble, but the Confederate flag still waved over the ruins.
The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, on November 7, 1861. 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 Phillip's Island to the north. A small force of four gunboats supported the forts, but did not materially affect the battle.
Charleston, South Carolina, was a hotbed of secession at the start of the American Civil War and an important Atlantic Ocean port city for the fledgling Confederate States of America. The first shots against the Federal government were those fired there by cadets of the Citadel to stop a ship from resupplying the Federally held Fort Sumter. Three months later, the bombardment of Fort Sumter triggered a massive call for Federal troops to put down the rebellion. Although the city and its surrounding fortifications were repeatedly targeted by the Union Army and Navy, Charleston did not fall to Federal forces until the last months of the war. Charleston was devastated.
Roswell Sabine Ripley was an officer in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. He was also an author and a prosperous South Carolina businessman.
The Second Battle of Charleston Harbor, also known as the siege of Charleston Harbor, siege of Fort Wagner, or Battle of Morris Island, took place during the American Civil War in the late summer of 1863 between a combined U.S. Army/Navy force and the Confederate defenses of Charleston, South Carolina.
A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.
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 ironclad warships of the Union Navy, including seven monitors that were improved versions of the original USS Monitor. A Union Army contingent associated with the attack took no active part in the battle. The ships, under command of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, attacked the Confederate defenses near the entrance to Charleston Harbor. 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.
The Battle of Sullivan's Island or the Battle of Fort Sullivan was fought on June 28, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. It took place near Charleston, South Carolina, during the first British attempt to capture the city from American forces. It is also sometimes referred to as the first siege of Charleston, owing to a more successful British siege in 1780.
Siege artillery is heavy artillery primarily used in military attacks on fortified positions. At the time of the American Civil War, the U.S. Army classified its artillery into three types, depending on the gun's weight and intended use. Field artillery were light pieces that often traveled with the armies. Siege and garrison artillery were heavy pieces that could be used either in attacking or defending fortified places. Seacoast artillery were the heaviest pieces and were intended to be used in permanent fortifications along the seaboard. They were primarily designed to fire on attacking warships. The distinctions are somewhat arbitrary, as field, siege and garrison, and seacoast artillery were all used in various attacks and defenses of fortifications. This article will focus on the use of heavy artillery in the attack of fortified places during the American Civil War.
The 1st New York Engineer Regiment was an engineer regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was also known as Serrell's Engineers, New York Volunteer Corps of Engineers, or Engineer's and Artizans. The regiment served initially in the Lower Seaboard Theater, and later in the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign.
Daniel Hough was an Irish-born American soldier who became the first man to die in the American Civil War. His death was accidental, caused by a cannon that went off prematurely during a salute to the flag after the Battle of Fort Sumter. He was an Irish immigrant, having been born in County Tipperary.
John Lane Gardner (1793–1869) served in the U.S. Army eventually achieving the rank of brevet Brigadier General after serving in the American Civil War having also served in the War of 1812, the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War. After Gardner retired from military service he devoted time to recruiting for the Army.
Ripley, Warren (1992). "South Builds Floating Battery". In Wilcox, Arthur M. & Ripley, Warren, The Civil War at Charleston, pp.9–10. Sixteenth Ed. Evening-Post Publishing Co.
Ripley, Warren (1992). "Arsenal Falls In Bloodless Coup". In Wilcox, Arthur M. & Ripley, Warren, The Civil War at Charleston, p.6. Sixteenth Ed. Evening-Post Publishing Co.
Wilcox, Arthur M. (1992). Southern Fortifications bearing on Fort Sumter April 12–13, 1861.. In Wilcox, Arthur M. & Ripley, Warren, The Civil War at Charleston, p.14. Sixteenth Ed. Evening-Post Publishing Co.
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