OPERATIONS ON JAMES'S ISLAND.

187

General Hunter had been for some time making preparations for throwing troops suddenly upon James's Island, and then advancing rapidly upon Charleston, where General Pemberton was then in chief command. He had called General Brannan with his force from Key West to Hilton Head, and began the concentration of troops on Edisto Island. It was expected to have the latter co-operate with the gun-boats when they entered the Stono, but for lack of transportation they were unable to do so. It was nearly a fortnight after the steamers reached Wappoo before a part of the troops were landed on James's Island, under the immediate command of General Benham, accompanied by General Hunter; and it was nearly a week later before General Wright arrived with the remainder. Meanwhile, General Stevens had been sent with a small force' to strike the Charleston and Savannah railway at Pocotaligo, with a view of cutting off communication between those cities. There he encountered a thousand Confederates well posted, but these were soon driven, and the railway was destroyed for several miles. Stevens then retired and joined the troops destined for the direct attack on Charleston.

• June 2, 1863.

June.

While these movements were going on, the Confederates, who much outnumbered the Nationals then on James's Island, were strengthening their position at Secessionville, a pleasant little group of the summer residences of the James's Island planters, about two miles from the Stono, with salt water on three sides. It was upon a narrow ridge, with swamps bordering it, and accessible from the land only from the west. There, under the direction of Colonel J. G. Lamar, the Confederates constructed a formidable battery, which commanded the Union camp. Perceiving this, General Benham,* who had been left in command by General Hunter a few days before, determined to carry the battery by assault. The time fixed for the attempt was the dawn of the 11th. He was anticipated by Lamar, who made offensive movements the evening before. Skirmishing ensued, and the attack was postponed. A battery was constructed to silence the Confederate guns. It failed to do so, and Benham proceeded to execute his original plan of assault. He arranged about six thousand troops for the purpose, under Generals Wright and Stevens, the forces of the latter forming the assaulting column, covered by the troops of the former. These were put in motion at four o'clock on the morning of the 16th. Stevens's command was about three thousand three hundred strong, composed of the brigades of Colonels W. M. Fenton and D. Leasure. Swiftly and silently they moved over the uneven cotton-fields in the gloom, for the sky was covered with thick clouds, and it was scarcely dawn when they started. The Confederate pickets were mostly captured, and it was hoped that the garrison might be surprised. The Eighth Michigan (Fenton's own) led the way, closely supported by the New York Highlanders, a storming party of the

1 These consisted of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania, two companies of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, and a section of the First Connecticut Battery.

2 See page 95, volume II.

Brigadier-General Isaac Stevens, who was killed near Chantilly, in Virginia, a few weeks afterward. See page 461, volume II.

• Fenton's brigade was formed of the Eighth Michigan, Seventeenth Connecticut, and Twenty-eighth Massachusetts. Leasure's brigade consisted of the Seventy-ninth (Highlanders) and Forty-sixth New York, and One Hundredth Pennsylvania, with four detached companies of artillery.

188

BATTLE OF SECESSIONVILLE.

Michigan regiment in the extreme advance.' While these were pressing along the narrow strip of land by which, only, the battery might be reached, Lamar, who had been watching the movement, opened upon the column a murderous storm of grape and canister-shot from six masked guns. At the same time heavy volleys of musketry were poured upon their right flank. A severe struggle ensued, in which General Wright's troops participated. It was soon found that the battery, protected by a strong abatis, a ditch seven feet in depth, a parapet seven feet in height, and a full garrison well armed, could not be carried by assault, and the Nationals fell back, with a loss, in a short space of time, of about six hundred men.3

The BATTLE OF SECESSIONVILLE, in which Benham was in general command, in the field, was marked by great prowess on both sides. It was fatal to the plan of an immediate advance upon Charleston. The National troops withdrew from James's Island, and no further attempt to capture the capital of South Carolina was made for some time.

General O. M. Mitchel, who, as we have observed, was called to Washington City from Tennessee, was appointed to succeed General Hunter in

4

Hilton Head Island swarming with refugee slaves, disorganized and idle, and he at once took measures for their relief, and to make them useful. On the plantation of the Confederate General Drayton, a short mile from Hilton Head, he laid out a village plot, and caused neat and comfortable huts to be built along regular and wide streets. They were constructed chiefly of pine saplings, uniform in size and style, and each had a garden plot attached. Into these he gathered the refugee families to the aggregate of full five thousand souls, and made the labor of the men regular and useful in some way. When the writer visited Mitchelville, as the little town was called, in the spring of 1866, it contained between three and four thousand inhabitants. The houses and

1 Companies C and E, led by Lieutenant B. R. Lyons, of General Stevens's staff, and guided by a negro. 2 His command consisted of the brigades of Acting Brigadier-General Williams, composed of New Hamp shire, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania troops, with a section of artillery; of Colonel Chatfield, composed of Connecticut and New York troops, and of Colonel Welsh, composed of Pennsylvania and New York troops, two sections of artillery, and a squadron of cavalry. To Williams's brigade were added the Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment and a section of Hamilton's battery, which did good service.

3 The Confederate loss was a little over two hundred. Among the wounded were Colonel Lamar, their commander, and Lieutenant-Colonel Gaillard. See page 804, volume II.

EXPEDITION AGAINST A RAILWAY.

189

lots had been sold to the occupants for ten dollars each, and they had created for themselves a regular municipal government. Their mayor was an intelligent negro, very black,

who had once been a slave at Savannah. His name was Murchison, and he occupied a larger dwelling than did any of his fellow-citizens. They had a neat chapel, and a flourishing school, in charge of feminine teachers from the North, was an interesting feature of the village society. The men

DRAYTON'S MANSION.

were employed largely in cultivating the soil of Hilton Head Island, and were making the desolated plantation of Drayton (whose mansion-house, deserted and ruined, stood near) quite as productive as when its owner was master of scores of slaves upon it.'

⚫ Oct. 21, 22.

When Mitchel had settled the policy of affairs near head-quarters, he prepared to use his military force with vigor. He planned an advance, not directly upon Charleston, but having that city as the final objective. He projected an expedition to the Coosawhatchie River, to destroy the Charleston and Savannah railway at Pocotaligo and vicinity. But before his arrangements were completed he was smitten by disease similar to yellow fever, when he was conveyed to the more healthful locality of Beaufort. There, in one of the fine mansions of that deserted town, he died on the 30th of October. General Brannan, meanwhile, had perfected the • 1962. arrangements and attempted to carry out Mitchel's plans. With an effective force of about four thousand five hundred men, he embarked on gun-boats and transports at Hilton Head,' went up the Broad River to the Coosawhatchie, landed, and pushed on four or five miles in the direction of Pocotaligo without hinderance. There he encountered and easily drove Confederate pickets, who burned the bridges behind them, and retarded Brannan's march. He pressed forward, skirmishing a little, and in front of Pocotaligo was met by a heavy fire of artillery from a swamp across a creek, supported by an infantry force under General W. S. Walker. Brannan's ammunition wagons were behind, and his powder soon ran low. His foe was in a position to be re-enforced quickly from Charleston and Savannah, so, taking counsel of prudence, he fell back to Mackay's Landing and re-embarked for Hilton Head. It was a fortunate movement, for Walker had telegraphed to both Charleston and Savannah for help, and it was nigh. Colonel Barton, of Brannan's command, had, meanwhile, gone up the Coosawhatchie in gun-boats, with about four hundred men, toward a village of the same name. The boats grounded. Barton landed his men, and was pushing on, when he encountered a train of cars filled with troops from Savannah, hastening to the relief of Walker. He fired upon it while in

See page 118, volume II.

190

DESTRUCTION OF THE "NASHVILLE."

motion, killing the Confederate commander, Major Harrison. A greater portion of the Confederates escaped to the woods and joined a detachment stationed at the railroad bridge at Coosawhatchie, toward which Barton pushed. He found superior numbers strongly posted on his front, with three guns, when he, too, retreated to his boats, feebly pursued. The expedition returned to Hilton Head, with a loss of about three hundred men. The Confederate loss was about the same.

1862-68.

1863.

Very little was done in the Department of the South (over which Hunter resumed command after the death of Mitchel) during the succeeding winter," toward attempting to capture Charleston, excepting preparations such, as it was believed, would surely lead to success. Other important movements were made in that Department, all tending to cripple the resisting power of the Confederates, who were now in a defensive attitude there. One of these occurred near Fort McAllister1 a few miles up the Ogeechee River from Ossabaw Sound, where the Confederate warsteamer Nashville, a former blockade-runner,' was lying under the guns of the fort, watching an opportunity to slip out to sea. Late in February,' a squadron of “monitors" and mortar-vessels3 were at the mouth of the Ogeechee, where Commander J. L. Worden had been for some time, with the monitor Montauk, watching the Nashville. He finally discovered that she was aground, just above the fort, and on the following morning he proceeded with the Montauk, followed by the Seneca, Wissahickon, and Dawn, to destroy her. Unmindful of torpedoes and the heavy guns of the fort, Worden pushed by the latter unharmed by either, and when within twelve hundred yards of the Nashville he opened upon her with twelve and fifteen-inch shells. The gun-boats could not pass the fort, but fired upon the doomed ship at long range. Not more than twenty minutes had elapsed, after Worden opened his guns, before she was in flames. One of his shells had exploded within her, setting her on fire. One after the other of her heavy guns were exploded by the heat, and then her magazine blew up, and she was reduced to the total wreck delineated on page 327 of volume II. Shells from the fort struck the Montauk five times, but did no damage; and when she dropped down the river a torpedo exploded under her, but injured her a very little. The destruction of the Nashville was effected without the loss of a man.'

• Feb. 27.

Worden's success determined Dupont to try the metal of the monitors and mortar-boats upon Fort McAllister. They went up the Ogeechee on the 3d of March, the Passaic, Commander Drayton, leading. The obstructions in the river would not allow her to approach nearer the fort than twelve hundred yards. The others were still farther off, and the mortarboats were the most remote. The Passaic, Patapsco, and Nahant opened fire at a little past eight o'clock in the morning, and kept it up until four in

1 This was a strong earth-work built by the Confederates for the blockade of the Ogeechee, and to protect the railway bridge that spans it about ten miles south of Savannah.

2 See note 8, page 810, volume II.

These consisted of the Passaic, Montauk, Ericsson, Patapsco, and Nahant, all monitors; three mortar-vessels, and gun-boats Seneca, Wissahickon, and Dawn.

4 A little earlier than this, the Monitor, the first of the turreted iron-clad vessels, which Worden commanded in her conflict with the Merrimack, was lost off Cape Hatteras. She was then in charge of Commander Bankhead, and was in tow of a side-wheel steamer, making her way to Port Royal. She foundered in a gale on the night of the 80th of December, and went to the bottom of the sea with some of her crew.

RAID ON A BLOCKADING SQUADRON.

191

• March 4, 1863.

the afternoon, when the mortar-boats began throwing a shell every fifteen minutes, and kept it up until next morning. Then Drayton went up as near the fort as possible with the Passaic, for observation, shielded from the guns by the turret of his vessel. He was satisfied that further efforts to drive out the Confederates would be useless, and the enterprise was abandoned.'

Jan. 81.

A little earlier than this the Nationals lost the steamer Isaac Smith, Acting Lieutenant Conover, while reconnoitering near Charleston. She went up the Stono River, some miles beyond Legareville, without molestation, but when she was within a mile of that place, on her return, three masked batteries opened a cross fire upon her at a bend in the stream, when she was captured and sent to Charleston. On the following morning another blow was given to National vessels. The Confederates at Charleston had been informed that the two larger ships of the blockading fleet lying off the bar (Powhatan and Canandaigua) had gone to Port Royal to coal, so two Confederate armored gun-boats, of the "ram" class (Palmetto State, Captain Ingraham, and Chicora, Captain Tucker), went out before daylight' and in a shrouding haze, to strike the weaker National vessels then watching the harbor entrances. Softly they stole over the bar, when the Palmetto State, acting as a ram, struck the Mercidita, Captain Stellwagen, with full force, amidships, and at the same time fired a 7-inch rifled shell into her side, that went crashing through her machinery, releasing steam that scalded many men, and so completely disabling her that she could neither fight nor fly. The victor then attacked the Keystone State, Captain Le Roy, and sent a shell, into her forehold, setting it on fire. As soon as the flames were put out, Le Roy attempted to run down his antagonist (the Keystone State having a full head of steam), but was foiled by a huge shot sent by the Palmetto State, which went through both steam-chests of his vessel, and so utterly disabled her that, like the Mercidita, she was surrendered. Ten rifled shells had struck her, and two of them had burst on her deck.3

4

Day was now dawning, and the remainder of the blockading squadron, wide awake, dashed into the fight, when the Memphis towed the Keystone out of danger. The assailants then retreated toward Charleston, where Beauregard, then in command there, and Ingraham, "flag-officer commanding naval forces of South Carolina," proclaimed, without the shadow of truth, the blockade of Charleston "to be raised by a superior force of the Confederate States." Not a single vessel of the blockading squadron had been lost, for the Confederates did not make the Mercidita a prize by putting men on board of her, and the Keystone State was saved by her friends. In the face of these facts, the raising of the blockade was.falsely announced, for effect abroad, and the British consul at Charleston and the commander of

1 The earth-works of the fort were very little damaged, and only one of its nine great guns was dismounted. This was effected by one of the 15-inch shells, which weighed 345 pounds. No man was killed on either side, and only one wounded. This engagement is sometimes called THE BATTLE OF GENESIS POINT.

2 Duncan N. Ingraham, formerly a useful officer of the National Navy, who had abandoned his flag and given his services to the Conspirators.

The Mercidita had three men killed and four wounded. The Keystone State had twenty men killed, chiefly by the steam, and twenty wounded.

4 The Augusta, Quaker City, Memphis, and Housatonic

• Pemberton had been ordered to Mississippi.