This day in Charleston
2 entries · 1863
The 8-inch Parrott mounted on the left of the Federal line — the first heavy breaching gun emplaced on Morris Island — fired at Fort Sumter for the first time, from a range never before thought practicable against masonry. Five days later every gun that could bear opened together.
Major Brooks’ journal, OR I, 28, Pt. 1
At seven in the morning Beauregard telegraphed Richmond: “Little firing yesterday; only 1 man mortally wounded on Morris Island. Enemy still persistently at work, like ourselves.” Five days later the great bombardment of Fort Sumter opened.
Official Records, Series I, Vol. 28, Pt. 2
Entries are dated from the War of the Rebellion official records, the naval official records and contemporary Charleston sources. Browse the whole year.