This day in Charleston
2 entries · 1862
Against Hunter’s explicit orders, Brigadier General Henry Benham threw his troops at the Confederate battery across the narrow neck at Secessionville at daybreak. The approach was a strip of ground a hundred and twenty yards wide between marshes, swept by a 8-inch columbiad loaded with canister. The Federals lost around 700 men in a few hours and gained nothing. Benham was arrested and lost his commission.
Official Records, Series I, Vol. 14
Colonel Thomas Welsh of the 45th Pennsylvania reported his brigade’s part in the assault at Secessionville, made under instructions received the evening before. The Federal reports of that morning are among the plainest accounts of a failed frontal attack in the whole Official Records.
Official Records, Series I, Vol. 14
Entries are dated from the War of the Rebellion official records, the naval official records and contemporary Charleston sources. Browse the whole year.