This day in Charleston

January 31

2 entries · 1863–1864

1863Ironclads

The rams come out in the fog

Before dawn the Confederate ironclads CSS Palmetto State and CSS Chicora came down on the blockading squadron in thick weather. The Palmetto State rammed and shelled the USS Mercedita, which surrendered; the Chicora crippled the Keystone State. Beauregard and Flag Officer Ingraham then declared the blockade broken and invited the foreign consuls out to see. The blockaders were back on station that afternoon.

Official Records of the Navies, Series I, Vol. 13

1864Fort Sumter

Palmetto Reinforcements, Channel Side — Palmetto logs cribbed against the channel face — the state tree used as armor.Library of Congress

A cargo of sand and lumber

No firing at night. A heavy cargo of sand and lumber was discharged at the fort, a 42-pounder was placed in the northwest casemate ready to be mounted, and a second with a cracked band lay half way up the slope. Fort Sumter was rebuilt, night by night, out of boatloads of sand.

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.