This day in Charleston
2 entries · 1861–1863
“A few men are working this morning at the large battery near Fort Johnson and also on Cummings Point.” Anderson’s reports through late March 1861 read like a construction diary kept by the building’s intended target.
Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1
Charleston’s blockade running peaked in 1863: fast, low, coal-burning steamers built on the Clyde, painted grey, coming over the bar on a moonless flood tide with the Sullivan’s Island range lights lit for a few minutes and then doused. A single successful round trip could pay for the ship.
Official Records of the Navies, Series I, Vol. 13
Entries are dated from the War of the Rebellion official records, the naval official records and contemporary Charleston sources. Browse the whole year.