This day in Charleston

April 7

2 entries · 1863–1864

1863Ironclads

Du Pont attacks Fort Sumter

Nine ironclads — the armored frigate New Ironsides, seven monitors and the strange twin-turreted Keokuk — crossed the bar and steamed at Fort Sumter. In about two hours of firing they got off some 150 rounds; the harbor batteries answered with well over 2,000. Five ironclads were disabled. Du Pont broke off, intending to renew it in the morning, and by morning had decided not to.

Official Records of the Navies, Series I, Vol. 14

1864Fort Sumter

A fifth monitor crosses the bar

“A fifth monitor has just entered the bar; nothing else unusual.” One year to the day after Du Pont's ironclads had tried the harbor and been turned back, the Confederate garrison of the ruin they had failed to take was still counting them as they came in.

Fort Sumter post returns, OR I, 35, Pt. 1

Entries are dated from the War of the Rebellion official records, the naval official records and contemporary Charleston sources. Browse the whole year.