This day in Charleston
2 entries · 1863–1864
Work continued day and night, but only a small engineer detachment could work by daylight: “the enemy’s sharpshooters, who during this period give us more trouble by day than his heavy guns. The least exposure above the crest of the parapet will draw the fire of his telescopic Whitworths.” Wagner’s marksmen were the best-equipped in the Confederate service.
Major Brooks’ journal, OR I, 28, Pt. 1
Fifty-six Parrott shells during the night, twenty-four missing, and fifty-four mortar shells, twenty missing. “One negro killed, 2 wounded.” In the summer of 1864 the men doing the repair work at Fort Sumter were being killed at a higher rate than the garrison holding it.
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.