1863 was an important year in the US Civil War after years of ineffective leadership and losses to the Confederates the union won two major victories at Vicksburg and at Gettysburg but much less remember that year was the union attempt to bring the war back to where it started Charleston South Carolina the siege of Charleston represented some significant engineering innovations that pre-aged Warfare for the next 60 years as the Union attempted to retake the city and the fort that represented the very birth of the Confederacy it is history that deserves to be remembered the attack at Fort Sumpter is generally considered the opening Salvo of the American Civil War South Carolina was the first state to secede on December 20th 1860 and 4 months later the fort unfinished and undermanned was attacked by Confederate forces under General PGT board The Gerson surrendered after 34 hours of bombardment the union Defenders low on ammunition and entirely without fuses for their explosive shells returned fire only sparingly but no casualties were caused by either bombardment one confederate soldier died after he was wounded by a misfiring Cannon while two Union soldiers were killed on the 47th shot of a 100 gun salute fired after the fort was surrendered Charleston was an important city for the Confederacy one of the largest Atlantic ports it had excellent rail connections to much of the rest of the nation its defense was vital to this and the Confederacy improved defenses at Sumpter and at Fort mtry with compliments of troops and more cannons at Fort mtry new Earthworks were built and the seaward wall was covered with sand Fort Suter was repaired became the Harbor's main defense holding the heaviest guns in the Charleston Arsenal defenses were also prepared on James Island a likely Landing Target that provided the best land approach to Charleston proper a battery was also built on Morris Island which faced sumter's weakest wall federal troops threatened Charleston after they captured the island of Port Royal in November 1861 the South Atlantic blockading Squadron used Port Royal sound as a base for the rest of the war Union forces moved northward capturing bfort and reaching the rivers south of Charleston in June of 1862 7,500 troops from Port Royal briefly landed on James Island threatening the city and even fought a small battle at secessionville but were soon withdrawn defenses continued to improve a wooden boom was positioned across the mouth of the harbor and explosive canisters dubbed tor Torpedoes were added to it meant to explode if a ship ran into them for the union Charleston represented a coveted especially symbolic prize Charleston was also a relatively important industrial site in one of the South Main blockade running ports One Union Commander wrote I think the nation as well as the department of the Navy has set its heart upon the fall of that City I think Justice demands it at the hands of Fate Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells assistant secretary gustavis Fox and Lincoln himself supported an attack on the city the attack was in part meant to justify the expensive Ironclad program and most of the Norse monitors and ironclads were committed to it the monitor along with the frigate new iron sides and most of the new Bic class monitors were put under the command of re Admiral Samuel Francis Dupont the flag officer of the South Atlantic blockading Squadron Dupont didn't like the two gun monitors and doubted their usefulness against nonmon defensive strengthened with sand each carried a 15-in doen gun and a smaller gun either an 11-in doen an 8in parrot it took 7 minutes to reload the guns Dupont was in fact anxious about making the attack at all Charleston Harbor he said was a porcupine hide with quills turned outside in and sewed up at one end the threat of torpedoes terrified Sailors who feared a hole below the water line would turn the monitors into well armored coffins his fears aside on April 3rd 1863 he found the ordered his Squadron out of Port Royal sound his Flagship was the frigate new iron sides accompanied by the odd Tower Ironclad kek and seven monitors the plan was to sail to within 800 yards of Fort Sumter and blast it into submission from there wehawken was equipped with a raft on the bow to clear obstructions they would have to clear a morass of logs netting and Torpedoes to attack the batteries on Morris Island the Army landed a small force on Folly Island but didn't plan on participating in the attack the ships attacked on April 7th but things went wrong almost immediately an explosion caused wehawken to Veer fearing a torpedo and and the ships following became confused new iron sides couldn't maneuver and had to drop anchor the monitors only managed 154 shots while Confederate defenses fired 2,29 shots and hit 20% of the time three ships had to pull out of the fight early and the Kakak was hit 90 times was so damaged that it sank the following day casualties were light only one man was killed on the union side and the Confederates reported five killed Dupont was removed from command to eventually be replaced by John do inventor of the doen gun the Army contingent at Port Royal also got a new commander in Brigadier General Quincy Gilmore Gilmore was the top Cadet in the West Point class of 1849 and served in the Corps of Engineers he had planned and directed The Union attack on Fort palaski which proved Beyond a doubt that rifled Cannon's ability to destroy masonry defenses Gilmore was desperate for the position writing that he was willing to risk my own reputation on attacking Charleston Gilmore's plan to take Charleston was simple take Morris Island level Fort Sumter and then bring the Navy in to take the city the force had been left on Folly Island and they began preparing defenses for the attack on Morris Island they made their preparations in silence at night so that the Confederates only 500 yards away couldn't hear them while the union Was preparing the southerners were spending their night working on the sunk Kakak the Kakak had sunk in Shallow Waters and they were able to take the do guns and install them at Fort Sumter Gilmore planned on assaulting Charleston with around 11,000 infantry 350 artillery men and 400 Engineers who was able to collect Cannon as well including 5 200b parrots 900 Pounders 12 30 Pounders and 4 20 Pounders along with 30 mortars included in his 11,000 infantry were some of the first African-American regiments the first second and third South Carolina volunteers and the 54th Massachusetts volunteers by July 1863 the preparations were complete and the soldiers were waiting orders on Folly Island dalun officially took command of the naval portion on July six only a few days before the attack the attack also called for two diversions meanwhile General board continued building up Charleston's defenses even as he was forced to give up more troops by June 10,000 of his Defenders have been shipped off to other fronts by July around 2,600 infantry 3,800 artillery men and 550 Cavalry were stationed in Charleston Bard presaged the union plans as well writing in April that I think it's most probable that we'll move from Stono Inlet along FY Island then moris Island to Endeavor to take Fort Sumpter all up palaski but they may find that to be a piece of folly still most of his men remained on James Island while around a thousand men including 650 infantry defended Morris Morris Island had significant defenses 11 batteries at the southern in along with rifle pits but most formidable was the battery on the Northern end of the island which the Confederates called battery Wagner and the north often called Fort Wagner Union artillery began their bombardment at 50:8 a.m. on July 10th the Confederates were surprised at breakfast as the ground and Naval cannons opened up with shrapnel and grape shot Federal infantry landed Knack seizing the initial defenses one regiment landed farther down the beach appearing in the Confederates rear and rutting the Defenders during the Attack One Federal Soldier found a newspaper which reported the victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the Confederates retreated to Fort Wagner with a loss of 300 men reinforcements were already in route however the following day the union attack was broken on Fort Wagner the seventh Connecticut gained the parapet but were trapped and decimated 339 Union men were lost to only 12 Confederates the union prepared for several days before the next attack setting up breaching batteries preparations were made for an attack on July 18th which was preceded by 8 hours of bombardment it was impressive firing a sh once every two seconds but unfortunately it was largely ineffective causing only minor casualties and failing to destroy the sand protected walls of the battery the Confederate Force had been reinforced now numbering over, 1600 men and using a codebook from kakuk the Confederates were fully aware of the coming infantry attack which came after Sunset the attack itself was led by the 54th Massachusetts and their Commander Colonel Robert Gul Shaw this attack was depicted in the 1989 movie Glory Gilmore believed the fort had been destroyed and its Garrison demoralized but the defenses were nearly intact and the attack was repulsed with bloody casualties Sergeant William Carney wounded four times crawled away from the fort with the 54 national colors for which we become the first African-American to be awarded the Medal of Honor several other units also participated and suffered heavy casualties though never certainly ascertained around 1500 Union soldiers were captured killed or wounded including Colonel Shaw and General George strong while the South lost only 174 men though the attack had been a disaster Gilmore and dalren didn't withdraw instead they prepared for a Siege the ensuing Siege exemplified the changing military technology of the 19th century complex trenches were dug with covering rifle pits and artillery batteries the union constructed wire entanglements forerunners of Barb Wire obstacles they also made use of requa guns a forerunner to the machine gun requa guns were designed to replace short-range field guns and consisted of 25 barrels arranged horizontally and strapped to a carriage three men would feed in a clip and the gun could fire 175 shots per minute in LS in the shooting and during prisoner exchanges Fort Wagner was reped and reinforced as well Torpedoes were brought onto land where they were buried with a board on the contact fuse they would explode when someone stepped on them like a modern landmine Fort Wagner was garrisoned with 12200 men whose job was to hold while def fenses were prepared in the harbor Fort Sumpter which was extremely vulnerable to bombardment had cannons removed while more batteries and reinforcements shifted defenses in the harbor around 80 black soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts had been captured in the fighting and their fate was uncertain board asked for guidance and they were eventually turned over to South Carolina authorities the law didn't recognize black soldiers and instead demanded that they be tried as slaves in Rebellion or blacks attempting to incite Rebellion this would likely have led to their death but the South was worried about retaliation the union then had the son of the Charleston mayor prisoner on July 30th 1863 Lincoln issued a proclamation that specifically included black soldiers under general order 100 which stated that for every Soldier killed in violation of the laws of War a rebel Soldier shall be executed ultimately South Carolina Courts determined they didn't have jurisdiction and the soldiers continued to be held but were not executed the South's refusal to trade captured black troops eventually led to a near complete end to prisoner exchanges for the duration of the war Gilmore needed more troops and despite general-in-chief Henry Hick's opposition secretary Wells appealed to Lincoln who ordered 10,000 men to Charleston including eight regiments who were at Gettysburg throughout the siege Union Soldiers dug sapping trenches and support batteries working mostly at night and almost always Under Fire Union Engineers progressively Advanced their trenches with a third set only 540 yards from Wagner and only 60 from Confederate rifle pits Gilmore also used bright calcium lights to illuminate the enemy landing area and Light Up Fort Wagner at night for bombardment among the most unique projects was undertaken by Colonel serel who built a battery in the marsh they drove in sheet pilings before building a gun platform made up of 13,000 s handbags weighing more than 800 tons and on it they put a 16,300 lb 8 in parrot dubbed the swamp Angel it fired into Charleston itself to Gilmore the town was a legitimate Target with munition factories and Wares servicing blockade Runners to Bow guard Gilmore was deliberately targeting civilians 36 shots of Greek Fire meant to set the city of Blaze were fired before the swamp Angel exploded it was never replaced bombardment at Fort Sumpter began on August 17th the attack was very different from the attack in 1861 aimed at Sumpter was probably the war's largest concentration of heavy ordinance per historian Steven wise in one volley the 38 guns could fling more than 3,000 lbs of metal mirroring Gilmore's engineering mine the guns were running shifts and would fire continually day and night while the monitors joined in the 6.4 in parrots were to fire every 5 minutes while the 8in parrots fired every eight and the 10-in gun every 10 minutes the bombardment began at 5:00 a.m. on August 17th and lasted until August 23rd Union guns hit around 78% of the time and the 10-in gun was especially impressive one officer claimed that Folly Island shook every time the gun fired as bricks flew one soldiers said it was a great pleasure to hear our guns putting the question to Old Sumpter what went ye out of the union for the bombardment was devastating quickly knocked out most of the fort's guns and by August 19th The Gorge wall was punctured and Canon fire passed into the fort still The Garrison held using destroyed masonry and sand to construct a new harder defense eventually the artillery was mostly pulled out and the fort was defended only by infantry on August 25th Union forces rushed and seized the Confederate rifle pits the 61st North Carolina infantry was overrun in the final stages the union used a sap roller a 9t long 4ft diameter cylinder that weighed a ton and was slowly rolled forward to protect Engineers as it trenches towards the fort they also had to deal with confederate torped they pulled out more than 60 they had to either diffuse or cut into the shells to dispose of them on September 5th the federals began their last push began with a bombardment and the sappers Pressed their trenches nearly up to against the battery infantry prepared to take the battery itself on the morning of September 7th on the night of the 6th realizing the position was untenable the Confederate Garrison quietly spiked their cannons and withdrew the South had successfully pulled out more than a thousand men and the union occupied the fort without opposition the only failure was the magazine didn't explode one confederate soldier was so relieved to be free that he said hell can't be any worse than battery Wagner I got out of that and the other place ain't going to worry me anymore capturing Morris Island hardly completed the capture of Charleston however and by September the working relationship between dalren and Gilmore had completely broken down both planned their own attack on Sumter and ultimately refused to work together though they intended to attack the fourth in the same night the attack was a disaster the army pulled back after seeing the Navy land first and the Navy men became so confused only a quarter of the force actually landed they were quickly captured that ended the Army campaign against Charleston Gilmore was promoted to Major General and the units of Morris put on a three-hour parade the Navy was expected to continue the attack but without Sumter would had to have run the harbor defenses in October secretary Wells finally decided it wasn't worth the risk the Army and Navy each blamed each other for the anticlimactic finish the Morris Island campaign took two months cost hundreds of lives for very little gain the grueling campaign ended with a union only in control of some of the outer defenses but Fort Sumter and Charleston remained in Confederate hands and would remain defended until they finally had to be abandoned in the face of Sherman's March the campaign did however in Charleston's career as a blockade running port and towards the end it to distract some Confederate troops from other fronts the engineering work done there can be seen as sort of an intermediate point between the fighting of the early 19th century and the technology-driven horror of the early 20th century the charge of the 54th Massachusetts might be remembered but the rest of the campaign is largely forgotten as Clara Barton founder of the Red Cross and a nurse who assisted during the campaign said we have captured One Fort Greg one charal house Wagner and one Cemetery Morris Island I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please feel free to like And subscribe and share the history guy with your friends and if if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube a supporter on our community at locals or as a patron on patreon you can also check out our great merchandise shop for book a special message from the history guy on cameo [Applause] [Music] [Applause] no [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
