"Morris & Sullivan Island, Fort Wagner & the Civil War" Topic

I recently traveled to South Carolina and spent a considerable amount of time exploring the Civil War and Revolutionary War sites around the city. This post will focus on some of the places I visited and some background regarding those locations.

I traveled by boat to Morris Island twice during my stay. Morris Island near Charleston was the scene of considerable activity during the Civil War including occupation, artillery duels, and ground combat by both Confederate and Union forces from 1861 until the very end of the Civil War. Some of the most intense fighting of the Civil War took place on Morris Island, and certainly the most intense in and around Charleston. I speak of course of one of the most famous events in Civil War history, the charge of the 54th Mass Infantry Regiment on Battery Wagner on July 18th, 1863.

Charleston harbor is flanked by Sullivan Island to the north and Morris Island to the south. Both are strategically located to cover the entrance to the harbor. With Fort Sumter near the center and many other smaller emplacements near by Charleston was a terrifically difficult city to attempt to control from the sea.

Sullivan Island saw a critical role early in the Revolutionary War and was the location of an important fortification in 1776. The Battle of Sullivan Island took place there on June 28th 1776 and was a very hard fought ground-naval battle between a British naval fleet under the command of Peter Parker and South Carolina militia located at Fort Moultrie. The 435 Patriots at Fort Moultrie won what should have been a total rout against 2000 British and 9 powerful naval vessels. Instead the militia forced a lopsided victory against a vastly superior force by inflicting 220 killed and wounded, 2 fourth-rates severely damaged, 2 frigates moderately damaged, and 1 frigate grounded later scuttled at the cost of 12 killed and 25 wounded.

This is a period map showing the location of Sullivan Island and Fort Moultrie.

This is a view of Fort Moultrie from the water at about the location the British Fleet was firing from.

This is a view from the National Park Service museum of a famous scene from the battle. It depicts the raising of the South Carolina militia flag with an artillery pole after it had been shot down by the British.

A famous depiction of the event.

Reconstruction of the partially completed fort at the time the British fleet attacked.

This is the entrance to the Civil War era Fort Moultrie located at the same spot. Fort Moutrie was changed many times over, from the first log fort in 1776 all the way to WWII and beyond. There are remnants of the fortifications from 1812, the Civil War, and World War II all still present.

This is a view of the fort from atop the coastal observation tower built during WWII.

Guarding the southern end of Charleston harbor is Morris Island. Morris Island today has been significantly eroded away. The locations of Fort Greg (later Fort Putnam), Battery Wagner, and the Union siege lines leading up to the fort are all essentially under water. Pretty much THE entire island was occupied by both sides at one point and there was so much action of some sort, everywhere you walk is historic.

During the Civil War Morris Island was the location of the first real shot of the Civil War when on January 9th 1861 a defensive battery located there manned by South Carolina cadets from The Citadel fired on the Star of the West which was attempting to resupply the besieged Federal garrison at Fort Sumter under Major Robert Anderson. The battery was later renamed Star of the West Battery before being abandoned by the Confederates.

The most famous battle on Morris Island occurred on July 18th, 1863 when Union forces attempted to assault Battery Wagner for the 2nd time. The first attempt occurred on July 11th, 1863 and was delayed by one day after Union troops successfully stormed the southern end of Morris Island and established a beach head against strong Confederate resistance on July 10th. Because the attack was delayed Confederate forces on Morris Island had a chance to regroup and recover at Fort Wagner and they easily repelled the unsupported Union attack led by the 7th Conn which took heavy casualties in the process.

I won't get into too much detail about the actual assault since it's pretty well known by most people interested in the Civil War. What isn't known very well is what the place looks like today and where it actually is now.

Here are some images from the period of Battery Wagner.

The following photos were all taken on Morris Island last week and show in detail the location of where Wagner once stood and its immediate environment.

Here is an interesting then and now comparison.

While on Morris Island I found some pretty amazing stuff, most of it just washed up on the beach.

The northern tip of Morris Island (even today after being heavily eroded) is very close to Fort Sumter. During the Confederate bombardment of Sumter on April 12th 1861 and for many years after when the Union pounded it into rubble, shells constantly blew pieces of the masonry fort into the water around it.

These period images show this occurring.

And what the fort looked like at the end of the war. Utterly destroyed. Those bricks had to go somewhere…

Those pieces not blown to atoms fell into the ocean around the fortress. After more than 150 years of being pushed by the tides many of those masonry bricks blown off of Fort Sumter eventually made land fall on Morris Island. If you are lucky like I was you can actually find them buried in the sand. What an amazing and incredible piece of Civil War and American history to hold in your hands!

For comparison this is a photo of a brick from Sumter in the collection of the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. These bricks are 160-185 years old and are very distinct. Some people in Charleston refer to them as blueberry bricks because of their distinct blueish spotting that results from chert found in the clay originally used to hand make the bricks. They of course originally had straight edges but were rounded after being tumbled in the ocean for years and years.

Here is a close up of the bricks still standing at Fort Sumter with a 100 pound shell embedded into the wall.

And bricks from Fort Sumter aren't all that can be found on Morris Island. These are shark teeth that liter the sand in great numbers. We picked up 20-30 while walking the beach.

And lastly the grand finale. This is almost assuredly a large fragment of a Union naval shell that exploded into pieces during the bombardment of Battery Wagner. After all these years though it's seen better days the metal is intact and still retains a magnetic charge.

Another brilliant post. I was just at Fort Moultrie this past weekend. Lots of history layered in there. Is it possible to drive out to Morris island? Are there any plaques or monuments or any remains of the fortifications in that area? If I thought I could find a cool souvenir I would have taken a stroll on the beach! Thanks, Rob.

There are no visible remains on Morris Island though the landscape is pretty much identical and hasn't changed much. I did see a wreath stand that was placed near the north end, though I didn't have a chance to see what it was for (though clearly something with Sumter or Wagner). The colors, lay of the land, beach frontage etc are all like they were during the Civil War, just the shoreline has eroded dramatically and the location of Wagner, Greg and the Union siege lines have all disappeared under water.

You can only get to Morris Island by boat. Getting there can be a challenge too as you have to time it according to the tides and during the summer the weather can change quickly. When I was there the first day a squall came upon us within a short time and we couldn't see more than 6 feet ahead and the rain was horizontal and in sheets.

I should mention that I have very mixed feelings about souvenir hunting on battlefields. There is a back story to the shell fragment that I won't get into here (it was found by a friend), but suffice to say I'm a big supporter of maintaining the integrity of historic sites. When you remove an artifact from a site, especially if it is dug from the ground, it looses its historical provenance and simply becomes an object. Objects devoid of context loose their significant historical value. My intention with the shell fragment is to get it professionally preserved documented and into a museum. I don't generally support taking artifacts from battlefields and in many instances it is actually illegal unless you are on private property and have the land owners permission. But surface finds on a beach are a somewhat different matter. If you don't secure a find the artifact will be likely lost forever.

Certain times of the year the tide allows you to walk to Morris Island from Sumter. The water is quite shallow between them. Even in the 1860's this was so. The Sept 63 boat assault on Sumter failed in part because the covering monitor ran aground in these waters.

Great place. I love Charleston and was one of the re-enactors who portrayed Major Anderson's men for the 150th. We are going back next year, just as the real survivors did in 1865 to put the US flag back up and officially end the Park Service 150th Anniversary.

Shame – my work PC won't download the photos. Only got a far down as the south of Virginia duing my visits to the USA. Terrible weather in the evening put of a possible quick nip into NC. Been to New England since and the next visit is likely to be the, much postponed, trip to Texas to visit sister-in-law's folks.
Would really love to get to the Carolinas and Georgia at some point.

I will be heading to Charleston next week for a family vacation. I have been to the area many times and visited all the locations. Seeing your pictures I think I will have to add a trip out to Morris Island as I have not been there in many years. It really gives you a sense of the scope of the siege of Charleston and what difficult time the Union had in their attacks.