This day in Charleston

May 13

3 entries · 1862–1864

1862The city

Martial law in Charleston

Martial law came into force in Charleston on the same day Robert Smalls took the Planter out of the harbor. The ordinary courts were suspended and a Provost Marshal’s Court set up in their place, over the city and ten miles beyond it on every side, and over the adjacent islands. Squads of the Provost Marshal’s Guard appeared in the public parts of the city.

Charleston Mercury, 14 May 1862, p. 2, “Martial Law” and “The Regulations of the Provost Marshal under Martial Law”

1862Freedom

Robert Smalls takes the Planter out

In the small hours the enslaved wheelman Robert Smalls put on the captain’s straw hat, gave the correct steam-whistle signals at Fort Johnson and at Fort Sumter, and steamed the armed transport Planter out of Charleston Harbor with his family and twelve other enslaved people aboard. He surrendered her to the blockading squadron at daylight. He later served in Congress for five terms.

Official Records of the Navies, Series I, Vol. 12

1864Fort Sumter

Firing on the east angle, and no water

“The enemy opened fire on the east angle of fort shortly before 9 o'clock, and up to this time (10 o'clock) have fired 25 shots, 30 of which struck; firing continues. The water-boat did not come down last night.” Both halves of that report mattered equally to the garrison.

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.