This day in Charleston

August 7

2 entries · 1863

1863Morris Island

Steal the ground first, then dig it

Brooks proposed that before extending the approaches beyond the second parallel, the trench guard’s outposts be pushed forward gradually, night after night, so that as much ground as possible was already held when the sap started. Gillmore ordered it done. This is how the Federal line crept up on Battery Wagner: a few yards of sand at a time, in the dark.

Major Brooks’ journal, OR I, 28, Pt. 1

1863Fort Sumter

“Only outworks”

Beauregard forwarded a paper to the War Department in view of the possibility that Batteries Wagner and Gregg — “which are only outworks” — might be lost. He was preparing Richmond for the loss of Morris Island a month before it happened.

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.