This day in Charleston

July 29

2 entries · 1863–1864

1863Battery Wagner

Sand will not hold a parapet

“The destructive effect of the wind on our works greatly increases the labor of the siege. Strong parapets, built of fine sand, the only available material, are half destroyed in a week, and the trenches are correspondingly filled up; hence a force must be constantly kept on repairs.” Brooks had seen the same thing at Fort Pulaski.

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

1864Fort Sumter

A gun goes missing at Gregg

Thirty Parrott shots and sixty-one mortar shells in the night. “One of the 8-inch Parrotts at Gregg was missing yesterday, and the enemy are now mounting another in its place.” Missing usually meant burst.

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.