AFFAIRS ON THE COAST--LOSS OF PORT ROYAL HARBOR--GEN. R. E. LEE
IN COMMAND OF THE DEPARTMENT--LANDING OF FEDERALS AT PORT ROYAL
FERRY--GALLANT FIGHT ON EDISTO ISLAND--GENERAL PEMBERTON SUCCEEDS LEE
IN COMMAND--DEFENSIVE LINE, APRIL, 1862.
Throughout the summer of 1861, in Charleston and along the coast
of South Carolina, all was activity in the work of preparation and
defense. On August 21st, Brig.-Gen. R. S. Ripley, whose promotion
to that rank had been applauded by the soldiers and citizens of the
State, was assigned to the "department of South Carolina and the coast
defenses of that State." On assuming command, General Ripley found the
governor and people fully alive to the seriousness of the situation,
and everything being done which the limited resources of the State
permitted, to erect fortifications and batteries on the coast, and to
arm and equip troops for State and Confederate service.
Governor Pickens wrote to the secretary of war at Richmond about the
time of the Federal expedition to North Carolina, and the capture of
the batteries at Hatteras inlet, urgently requesting that Gregg's First
regiment might be sent him from Virginia, as he expected an attack
to be made at some point on the coast. In this letter he begged that
40,000 pounds of cannon powder be forwarded from Norfolk at once. The
governor had bought in December, 1860, and January, 1861, 300,000
pounds from Hazard's mills in Connecticut, for the use of the State,
but he had loaned 25,000 pounds to the governor of North Carolina,
5,000 pounds to the governor of Florida, and a large amount to the
governor of Tennessee. Of what remained he needed 40,000 pounds to
supply "about 100 guns on the coast below Charleston." The governor
estimated the troops in the forts and on the islands around Charleston
at 1,800 men, all well drilled, and a reserve force in the city of
3,000. These forces, with Manigault's, Heyward's, Dunovant's and Orr's
regiments, he estimated at about 9,500 effective.
On October 1st, General Ripley reported his Confederate force, not
including the battalion of regular artillery and the regiment of
regular infantry, at 7,713 effectives, stationed as follows: Orr's
First rifles, on Sullivan's island, 1,521; Hagood's First, Cole's
island and stone forts, 1,115; Dunovant's Twelfth, north and south
Edisto, 367; Manigault's Tenth, Georgetown and defenses, 538; Jones'
Fourteenth, camp near Aiken, 739; Heyward's Eleventh, Beaufort and
defenses, 758; cavalry, camp near Columbia, 173; cavalry, camp near
Aiken, 62; arsenal, Charleston (artillery), 68; Edwards' Thirteenth, De
Saussure's Fifteenth, and remainder of Dunovant's Twelfth, 2,372.
On the first day of November, the governor received the following
dispatch from the acting secretary of war: "I have just received
information which I consider entirely reliable, that the enemy's
expedition is intended for Port Royal." Governor Pickens answered:
"Please telegraph General Anderson at Wilmington, and General Lawton
at Savannah, to send what forces they can spare, as the difficulty
with us is as to arms." Ripley replied, "Will act at once. A fine,
strong, southeast gale blowing, which will keep him off for a day or
so." The fleet sailed from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October, and
on the 4th of November the leading vessels that had withstood the gale
appeared off Port Royal harbor. The storm had wrecked several of the
transports, and the whole fleet suffered and was delayed until the
7th, before Admiral DuPont was ready to move in to the attack of the
forts defending this great harbor.
Port Royal harbor was defended by two forts, Walker and Beauregard, the
former on Hilton Head island, and the latter on Bay point opposite. The
distance across the harbor, from fort to fort, is nearly 3 miles, the
harbor ample and deep, and the water on the bar allowing the largest
vessels to enter without risk. A fleet of 100 sail could maneuver
between Forts Walker and Beauregard and keep out of range of all but
their heaviest guns. To defend such a point required guns of the
longest range and the heaviest weight of metal.
In planning the defense of Port Royal, General Beauregard designed that
batteries of 10-inch columbiads and rifled guns should be placed on the
water fronts of both forts, and so directed; but the guns were not to
be had, and the engineers, Maj. Francis D. Lee and Capt. J. W. Gregory,
were obliged to mount the batteries of the forts with such guns as
the Confederate government and the governor of South Carolina could
command. The forts were admirably planned and built, the planters in
the vicinity of the forts supplying all the labor necessary, so that by
September 1, 1861, they were ready for the guns.
Fort Walker mounted twenty guns and Fort Beauregard nineteen, but
of this armament Walker could use but thirteen, and Beauregard but
seven against a fleet attacking from the front. The rest of the guns
were placed for defense against attack by land, or were too light to
be of any use. The twenty guns of Walker and Beauregard that were
used in the battle with the fleet, were wholly insufficient, both in
weight of metal and number. The heaviest of the guns in Walker were
two columbiads, 10-inch and 8-inch, and a 9-inch rifled Dahlgren. The
rest of the thirteen were 42, 32 and 24 pounders. Of the seven guns in
Beauregard, one was a 10-inch columbiad, and one a 24-pounder, rifled.
The rest were 42 and 32 pounders; one of the latter fired hot shot.
Col. William C. Heyward, Eleventh South Carolina volunteers, commanded
at Fort Walker, and Col. R. G. M. Dunovant, of the Twelfth, commanded
at Fort Beauregard. The guns at Walker were manned by Companies A and
B, of the German Flying Artillery, Capts. D. Werner and H. Harms;
Company C, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. Josiah Bedon, and detachments
from the Eleventh under Capt. D. S. Canaday. Maj. Arthur M. Huger,
of the Charleston artillery battalion, was in command of the front
batteries, and of the whole fort after Col. John A. Wagener was
disabled. The guns in Fort Beauregard were manned by the Beaufort
artillery; Company A, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. Stephen Elliott, and
Company D, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. J. J. Harrison; Captain Elliott
directing the firing. The infantry support at Walker was composed of
three companies of the Eleventh and four companies of the Twelfth, and
a company of mounted men under Capt. I. H. Screven. The fighting force
of Fort Walker then, on the morning of the 7th of November, preparing
to cope with the great fleet about to attack, was represented by
thirteen guns, manned and supported by 622 men. The infantry support at
Fort Beauregard was composed of six companies of the Twelfth, the whole
force at Beauregard, under Colonel Dunovant, amounting to 640 men and
seven guns.
Brig.-Gen. Thomas F. Drayton, with headquarters at Beaufort, commanded
the defenses at Port Royal harbor and vicinity. He removed his
headquarters to Hilton Head on the 5th, and pushed forward every
preparation in his power for the impending battle. The remote position
of Fort Beauregard and the interposition of the fleet, lying just out
of range, made it impossible to reinforce that point. An attempt made
early on the morning of the 7th, supported by the gallant Commodore
Tattnall, was prevented by the actual intervention of the leading
battleships of the enemy. Fort Walker, however, received just before
the engagement, a reinforcement of the Fifteenth volunteers, Colonel
DeSaussure, 650 strong; Captain Read's battery of two 12-pounder
howitzers, 50 men and 450 Georgia infantry, under Capt. T. J. Berry.
The morning of the 7th of November was a still, clear, beautiful
morning, "not a ripple," wrote General Drayton, "upon the broad expanse
of water to disturb the accuracy of fire from the broad decks of that
magnificent armada, about advancing in battle array." The attack came
about 9 o'clock, nineteen of the battleships moving up and following
each other in close order, firing upon Fort Beauregard as they passed,
then turning to the left and south, passing in range of Walker, and
pouring broadside after broadside into that fort. Captain Elliott
reports: "This circuit was performed three times, after which they
remained out of reach of any except our heaviest guns." From this
position the heavy metal and long range guns of nineteen batteries
poured forth a ceaseless bombardment of both Beauregard and Walker, but
paying most attention to the latter.
Both forts replied with determination, the gunners standing faithfully
to their guns, but the vastly superior weight of metal and the number
of the Federal batteries, and the distance of their positions from
the forts (never less than 2,500 yards from Beauregard and 2,000 from
Walker), made the contest hopeless for the Confederates almost from the
first shot. Shortly after the engagement began, several of the largest
vessels took flanking positions out of reach of the 32-pounder guns in
Walker, and raked the parapet of that fort. "So soon as these positions
had been established," reported Major Huger, "the fort was fought
simply as a point of honor, for from that moment we were defeated."
This flank fire, with the incessant direct discharge of the fleet's
heavy batteries, dismounted or disabled most of Fort Walker's guns.
The 10-inch columbiad was disabled early in the action; the shells for
the rifled guns were too large to be used, and the ammunition for all
but the 32-pounders exhausted, when, after four hours of hard fighting,
Colonel Heyward ordered that two guns should be served slowly, while
the sick and wounded were removed from the fort; that accomplished, the
fort to be abandoned. Thus terminated the fight at Fort Walker.
At Fort Beauregard, the battle went more fortunately for the
Confederates. A caisson was exploded by the fire of the fleet, and the
rifled 24-pounder burst, and several men and officers were wounded
by these events, but none of the guns were dismounted, and Captain
Elliott only ceased firing when Walker was abandoned. In his report, he
says: "Our fire was directed almost exclusively at the larger vessels.
They were seen to be struck repeatedly, but the distance, never less
than 2,500 yards, prevented our ascertaining the extent of injury."
General Drayton successfully conducted his retreat from Hilton Head,
and Colonel Dunovant from Bay point, all the troops being safely
concentrated on the main behind Beaufort.
The taking of Port Royal harbor on the 7th of November, 1861, gave
the navy of the United States a safe and ample anchorage, while the
numerous and rich islands surrounding it afforded absolutely safe
and comfortable camping grounds for the army of Gen. T. W. Sherman,
who was specially in charge of this expedition. The effect of this
Union victory was to give the fleet and army of the United States a
permanent and abundant base of operations against the whole coast of
South Carolina, and against either Charleston or Savannah, as the
Federal authorities might elect; but its worst result was the immediate
abandonment of the whole sea-island country around Beaufort, the
houses and estates of the planters being left to pillage and ruin, and
thousands of negro slaves falling into the hands of the enemy. General
Sherman wrote to his government, from Hilton Head, that the effect of
his victory was startling. Every white inhabitant had left the islands
of Hilton Head, St. Helena, Ladies, and Port Royal, and the beautiful
estates of the planters were at the mercy of hordes of negroes.
The loss of the forts had demonstrated the power of the Federal fleet,
and the impossibility of defending the island coast with the guns which
the State and the Confederacy could furnish. The 32 and 42 pounders
were no match for the 11-inch batteries of the fleet, and gunboats
of light draught, carrying such heavy guns, could enter the numerous
rivers and creeks and cut off forts or batteries at exposed points,
while larger vessels attacked them, as at Port Royal, in front. It was
evident that the rich islands of the coast were at the mercy of the
Federal fleet, whose numerous gunboats and armed steamers, unopposed by
forts or batteries, could cover the landing of troops at any point or
on any island selected.
On the capture of Port Royal, it was uncertain, of course, what General
Sherman's plans would be, or what force he had with which to move on
the railroad between Charleston and Savannah. The fleet was ample
for all aggressive purposes along the coast, but it was not known at
the time that the army numbered less than 15,000 men, all told. But
it was well known how easily a landing could be effected within a
few miles of the railroad bridges crossing the three upper branches
of the Broad river, the Coosawhatchie, Tulifinny and Pocotaligo, and
the rivers nearer to Charleston, the Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto.
Bluffton, easily reached by gunboats, afforded a good landing and base
for operations against the railroad at Hardeeville, only 4 miles from
the Savannah river, and 15 from the city of Savannah. On this account,
General Ripley, assisted by the planters, caused the upper branches of
the Broad, and the other rivers toward Charleston to be obstructed, and
meanwhile stationed the troops at his command at points covering the
landings.
General Drayton, with a part of Martin's regiment of cavalry, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Colcock, and Heyward's and De Saussure's regiments,
was watching Bluffton and the roads to Hendersonville. Clingman's and
Radcliffe's North Carolina regiments, with artillery under Col. A. J.
Gonzales, Captain Trezevant's company of cavalry, and the Charleston
Light Dragoons and the Rutledge Riflemen, were stationed in front of
Grahamville, to watch the landings from the Broad. Colonel Edwards'
regiment and Moore's light battery were at Coosawhatchie, Colonel
Dunovant's at Pocotaligo, and Colonel Jones', with Tripp's company of
cavalry, in front of the important landing at Port Royal ferry. Colonel
Martin, with part of his regiment of cavalry, was in observation at
the landings on Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto rivers. The idea of this
disposition, made by Ripley immediately upon the fall of Forts Walker
and Beauregard, was to guard the railroad bridges, and keep the troops
in hand to be moved for concentration in case any definite point was
attacked.
On the 8th of November, the day after Port Royal was taken, Gen. Robert
E. Lee took command of the department of South Carolina and Georgia, by
order of the President of the Confederacy. It was evident to him that
the mouths of the rivers and the sea islands, except those immediately
surrounding the harbor of Charleston, could not be defended with the
guns and troops at his command, and, disappointing and distressing as
such a view was to the governor and especially to the island planters,
whose homes and estates must be abandoned and ruined, General Lee
prepared for the inevitable. He wrote to General Ripley, in Charleston,
to review the whole subject and suggest what changes should be made.
"I am in favor," he wrote, "of abandoning all exposed points as far as
possible within reach of the enemy's fleet of gunboats, and of taking
interior positions, where all can meet on more equal terms. All our
resources should be applied to those positions." Subsequently the
government at Richmond ordered General Lee, by telegraph, to withdraw
all his forces from the islands to the mainland. When the order
was carried out, it was done at a terrible sacrifice, to which the
planters and citizens yielded in patient and noble submission, turning
their backs upon their homes and their property with self-sacrificing
devotion to the cause of Southern independence. Never were men and
women subjected to a greater test of the depth and strength of their
sentiments, or put to a severer trial of their patriotism, than were
the planters and their families, who abandoned their houses and estates
along the coast of South Carolina, and retired as refugees into the
interior, all the men who were able entering the army.
At the time of the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, Charleston
harbor was defended by Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Castle Pinckney and
Fort Johnson, and by batteries on Sullivan's and Morris islands. All
these were to be strengthened, and the harbor made secure against
any attack in front. To prevent the occupation of James island, the
mouth of Stono river was defended by forts built on Cole's and Battery
islands, and a line of defensive works built across the island. No
attempt had been made to erect forts or batteries in defense of the
inlets of Worth or South Edisto, but the harbor of Georgetown was
protected by works unfinished on Cat and South islands, for twenty
guns, the heaviest of which were 32-pounders.
When General Lee took command, November 8th, he established his
headquarters at Coosawhatchie, and divided the line of defense into
five military districts, from east to west, as follows: The First,
from the North Carolina line to the South Santee, under Col. A. M.
Manigault, Tenth volunteers, with headquarters at Georgetown; the
Second, from the South Santee to the Stono, under Gen. R. S. Ripley,
with headquarters at Charleston; the Third, from the Stono to the
Ashepoo, under Gen. N. G. Evans, with headquarters at Adams' run;
the Fourth, from Ashepoo to Port Royal entrance, under Gen. J. C.
Pemberton, with headquarters at Coosawhatchie; the Fifth, the remainder
of the line to the Savannah river, under Gen. T. F. Drayton, with
headquarters at Hardeeville.
On the 27th of December, General Lee wrote to Governor Pickens that his
movable force for the defense of the State, not including the garrisons
of the forts at Georgetown and those of Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson,
Castle Pinckney and the works for the defense of the approaches through
Stono, Wappoo, etc., which could not be removed from their posts,
amounted to 10,036 Confederate troops--the Fourth brigade, South
Carolina militia, 1,531 strong; Colonel Martin's mounted regiment, 567
strong; two regiments from North Carolina, Clingman's and Radcliffe's;
two regiments from Tennessee, the Eighth and Sixteenth, and Colonel
Starke's Virginia regiment; the Tennesseeans and Virginians making a
brigade under Brigadier-General Donelson. The above, with four field
batteries, made up the force scattered from Charleston to the Savannah
river, and stationed along the line, on the mainland, in front of the
headquarters above named.
Nothing of great importance occurred for the remainder of the year
1861 along the coast of South Carolina, except the sinking of a
"stone fleet" of some twenty vessels across the main ship channel on
December 20th, in Charleston harbor. This was done by the order of the
United States government to assist the blockade of the port, and was
pronounced by General Lee as an "achievement unworthy of any nation."
On January 1, 1862, at Port Royal ferry, was demonstrated the ease
with which a large force could be placed on the mainland under the
protection of the fleet batteries. Brig.-Gen. Isaac Stevens landed a
brigade of 3,000 men for the purpose of capturing a supposed battery
of heavy guns, which, it was believed, the Confederates had built at
the head of the causeway leading to Port Royal ferry. Landing from
Chisolm's island, some distance east of the small earthwork, Col.
James Jones, Fourteenth volunteers, had promptly withdrawn the guns in
the earthwork, except a 12-pounder, which was overturned in a ditch.
Believing the movement to be an attack in force upon the railroad,
Colonel Jones disposed his regiment and a part of the Twelfth, under
Lieut.-Col. Dixon Barnes, with a section of Leake's battery, and 42
mounted men, under Major Oswald, for resisting the attack, forming his
line about a mile from the ferry. But there was no engagement. The
deserted earthwork was easily captured, and the 12-pounder gun righted
on its carriage and hauled off, under the constant bombardment of
the vessels in the Coosaw river. The opposing troops caught glimpses
of each other, and fired accordingly, but not much harm was done on
either side. Colonel Jones lost Lieut. J. A. Powers and 6 men killed
and 20 wounded by the fire of the gunboats, and Colonel Barnes, 1 man
killed and 4 wounded; 32 casualties. The Federal general reported 2 men
killed, 12 wounded and 1 captured. During the winter and early spring
the fleet was busy exploring the rivers, sounding the channels, and
landing reconnoitering parties on the various islands.
Edisto island was garrisoned early in February, and the commander, Col.
Henry Moore, Forty-seventh New York, wrote to the adjutant-general in
Washington, on the 15th, that he was within 25 miles of Charleston;
considered Edisto island "the great key" to that city, and with a
reinforcement of 10,000 men could "in less than three days be in
Charleston."
It will be noted in this connection that early in March, General Lee
was called to Richmond and placed in command of the armies of the
Confederacy, and General Pemberton, promoted to major-general, was
assigned to the department of South Carolina and Georgia. Major-General
Hunter, of the Federal army, had assumed command instead of General
Sherman, the last of March, and reported to his government, "about
17,000 troops scattered along the coast from St. Augustine, Fla., to
North Edisto inlet." Of these troops, 12,230 were on the South Carolina
coast--4,500 on Hilton Head island; 3,600 at Beaufort; 1,400 on Edisto,
and the rest at other points. The force on Edisto was advanced to the
northern part of the island, with a strong guard on Little Edisto,
which touches the mainland and is cut off from the large island by
Watts' cut and a creek running across its northern neck. Communication
with the large island from Little Edisto is by a bridge and causeway,
about the middle of the creek's course.
This being the situation, General Evans, commanding the Third district,
with headquarters at Adams' run, determined to capture the guard on
Little Edisto and make an armed reconnoissance on the main island. The
project was intrusted to Col. P. F. Stevens, commanding the Holcombe
legion, and was quite successfully executed. On the morning of March
29th, before day, Colonel Stevens, with his legion, Nelson's battalion,
and a company of cavalry, attacked and dispersed the picket at Watts
cut, crossed and landed on the main island west of the bridge, which
communicated with Little Edisto. Moving south into the island, he
detached Maj. F. G. Palmer, with seven companies, 260 men, to attack
the picket at the bridge, cross over to Little Edisto, burn the bridge
behind him, and capture the force thus cut off on Little Edisto, which
was believed to be at least two companies. Palmer carried the bridge
by a charge, and crossing over, left two of his staff, Rev. John D.
McCullough, chaplain of the legion, and Mr. Irwin, with Lieutenant
Bishop's company of the legion, to burn the bridge, and pushed on after
the retreating force. Day had broken, but a heavy fog obscured every
object, and the attack on the Federals was made at great disadvantage.
Palmer captured a lieutenant and 20 men and non-commissioned officers,
the remainder of the force escaping in the fog. Colonel Stevens marched
within sound of the long roll beating in the camps in the interior,
and taking a few prisoners, returned to the mainland by Watts' cut,
and Palmer crossed his command and prisoners over at the north end
of Little Edisto in a small boat, which could only carry five men at
a time, flats which were on the way to him having failed to arrive.
Several of the Federal soldiers were killed and wounded in this affair,
the Confederates having two slightly wounded. But for the dense fog the
entire force on Little Edisto would have been captured.
General Pemberton, on assuming command, executed General Lee's purpose
and ordered the removal of the guns from Fort Palmetto on Cole's
island, at the mouth of the Stono, and from the works at the mouth of
Georgetown harbor. Georgetown was then at the mercy of the fleet, but
there was no help for it, for Port Royal had shown that the guns which
the Confederates could command were practically inefficient against
the batteries of the fleet. For the rear defense of Charleston, James
island must be the battleground, and the forces on the mainland, along
the line of the Charleston & Savannah railroad, must depend upon
rapid concentration to resist an advance from any one of the numerous
landings in front of that line. The regiment of regular South Carolina
infantry, and the regiment of regular artillery, splendidly drilled as
gunners, and officered by accomplished soldiers, garrisoned the harbor
defenses, and Ripley's energy and high capacity were constantly exerted
to secure a perfect defense of the city of Charleston.
The troops on James island and on the line of railroad, as reported
April 30, 1862, present for duty, numbered 22,275, rank and file,
stationed as follows: In the First district, Col. R. F. Graham, 1,254;
Second district, Brigadier-General Ripley, 8,672; Third district,
Brigadier-General Evans, 5,400; Fourth district, Col. P. H. Colquitt,
1,582; Fifth district, Col. P. H. Colquitt, 2,222; Sixth district,
Brigadier-General Drayton, 3,145; total, 22,275.
The above statement includes infantry, artillery and cavalry. They were
all South Carolina troops except Phillips' Georgia legion (infantry),
Thornton's Virginia battery, and a company of Georgia cavalry, under
Capt. T. H. Johnson. Manigault's Tenth volunteers and Moragné's
Nineteenth, with the two Tennessee regiments under Brigadier-General
Donelson, had been sent to Corinth to reinforce Beauregard in the west,
and Dunovant's Twelfth, Edwards' Thirteenth, McGowan's Fourteenth (Col.
James Jones having resigned), and Orr's rifles had gone to the aid of
General Johnston in Virginia. Such was the situation in South Carolina
at the close of April, 1862.