This day in Charleston

December 12

3 entries · 1861–1864

1861The city

Richmond hears that Charleston is burning

“Unusual interest and sympathy is exhibited here, in the suffering among the people of Charleston, by the great fire of which we received news to-day. Congress transacted no business in open session.” The telegraphic dispatch from Richmond, printed in the Mercury the next morning — the Confederate Congress adjourned for a fire four hundred miles away.

Charleston Mercury, 13 December 1861, p. 1, “News by Telegraph” (dispatch dated Richmond, 12 December)

1862Lowcountry

A quiet December on the coast

December 1862 passed on the South Carolina coast with expeditions, pickets and reconnaissances while the great battles were fought in Virginia and Tennessee. The ironclads that would attack Charleston were being finished in Northern yards.

Official Records, Series I, Vol. 14

1864Sherman

“Enemy developed in strong force”

At half past eleven at night: “Lieutenant-General Hardee reports enemy developed in strong force along his entire front” at Savannah. Nine days later Savannah fell, and the Confederate defense of the coast came down to Charleston alone.

Official Records, Series I, Vol. 44

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