This day in Charleston

September 19

2 entries · 1863–1864

1863The lines

A hundred and thirty-three shots at men with shovels

In twenty-four hours Batteries Simkins, Haskell and the West Columbiad Battery threw 133 rounds at the Federal working parties on Morris Island. The enemy fired a few shots at Fort Johnson and did no damage. Thirty-nine vessels lay inside the bar; off it, a French warship and five blockaders.

Journal of Operations in Charleston Harbor, OR I, 28, Pt. 1

1864Fort Sumter

Fifteen shots from the Swamp Angel

“Fifteen shots from Swamp Angel last night; all missed. Enemy have thrown up covered way connecting Gregg with the sand hills.” The marsh battery whose first gun burst in August 1863 was still in business thirteen months later.

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.