Nine Union ironclads attempted to enter Charleston Harbor on April 7, 1863, but were repulsed by artillery fire from Fort Sumter and several shore batteries. Following the failure of the naval expedition, Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore made plans to capture Morris Island at the southern entrance to the harbor and use it to bombard Fort Sumter. Union troops landed on the southern end of Morris Island on July 10 and made an unsuccessful assault the following day on Battery Wagner (also known as Fort Wagner) on the northern end. Emma Holmes, the daughter of a plantation owner, followed the battle for the harbor from the city of Charleston.
Thursday 16 Our troops on James I. made a reconnaissance & found negro troops to oppose them—scarcely a white officer among them—at the first discharge they fled, pursued by our men, who mowed them down, & would have cut them to pieces, but one of our officers, put a stop to it, saying he wished some captured to be hung as an example & 16 were taken—most of the gentlemen think it decidedly a wrong step, as many nice questions will now be involved—if we hang them, will not the Yankees retaliate upon our men—they are fiendish enough to delight in the idea—yet it is revolting to our feelings to have them treated as prisoners of war as well as injurious in its effects upon our negroes—however they were brought to the city, barefoot, hatless & coatless & tied in a gang, like common runaways—
Friday morning I was much surprised to receive a message from Carrie saying Mary Jane & Hattie & herself had “run the blockade” but expected to leave next day for Summerville & begging me to go to see her—just as I was starting determined to make a great effort to walk so far, “our good Dr.” came in to visit his patients, & said he would drive me up—he is almost the only person who fully understands & appreciates my weakness & debility—the girls arrived soon after I did, & most happy were we to meet once more—Dr. White & Sims also came in at different times, so I had quite a pleasant day seeing old friends—Isaac driving me down after tea—by the bye, he has sold his pet horse Prince, a beautiful animal, $2000 having been offered him for it & he now drives a remarkably fine large pair of mules, for which he has already been offered $1600—
Lee has recrossed the Potomac, in admirable order, and the army in splendid trim and spirits, without loss, though continual skirmishing took place, in which the gallant Gen. J. J. Pettigrew was mortally wounded & has since died—this time his death is certain, as Henry Young, his aid, telegraphed the fact—Lee’s move has surprised one half the community, & pleased the other—the latter thinking he had gone too far from his base of supplies and communication, particularly as the still frequent heavy rains, which by the bye are now ruining the fine crops everywhere made the Potomac almost impassable—It is said, that the President ordered the recrossing of the river, much to Lee’s anger & mortification & that he said if it were not for his country he would resign—His retreat from Gettysburg was strategic, to draw Meade’s army from the high hills behind which they took refuge—President Davis has called out all male residents of the Confederacy, capable of bearing arms, between 18 & 45. The New York Herald of the 14th gives an account of a tremendous riot which took place there in the attempt to enforce the Conscription Act—it is headed—“The Draft. Tremendous Excitement in the City. Popular Opposition to enforcement of the Conscription—Enrolling Offices in Eight Districts Demolished. Two whole blocks of houses in Third Avenue, near Broadway burned. Military ordered out. Several Citizens & Soldiers killed, Arrival of the Police; and their attack, on the Crowd, Police Dispersed, some killed, others badly beaten—Superintendent Kennedy severely wounded. An Armory destroyed, Raid on negroes, Colored Orphan Asylum laid in ashes Hotels burnt, two mansions sacked, Tribune office attacked, as negro hanged—etc—etc—Everybody and every thing was in a state of excitement, cannon planted in the streets & troops guarding the Post office, & Newspaper offices & hotels—every negro seen by the mob was either murdered or cruelly beaten, and altogether a most demoniac scene—I am glad the Yankees are suffering a touch, even though such a faint one, of the horrors they have committed or tried to incite in our midst—
They have just made another raid on Pon Pon carrying off hundreds of negroes & burning & destroying the most elegant residences & barns etc. of Messrs. Heyward Manigault, Edward Barnwell & Col. Morris, Mrs. Hayne & others—
Saturday 18th. From daylight this morning the enemy was bombarding Battery Wagner furiously; they have over 70 guns concentrated from their various batteries & Monitors, & they fired at the rate of 20 shots a minute—it was intended to demoralize our troops, preparatory to the assault which commenced at dark—I spent a good part of the day with an excellent spy glass watching the Ironsides and four Monitors; I could see almost every discharge, & when the Yankee shells struck the earth, sending up a tall column of sand; I did not feel at all alarmed or excited; I had become so accustomed to the cannonading—but watched everything with intense interest. The Ironsides lay like a huge leviathan, long, low & black, discharging broadsides, while at her side, but nearer to Morris Island, lying between herself & land was a Monitor, whose peculiar black turrets were instantly recognizable, so distinctly defined against the sky are their huge black forms—Our batteries on Morris I. & Sumter slowly replied, but with excellent effect; during the morning the Yankee columns were formed for an attack, but our grape & canister drove them back with considerable loss. I could with a glass, see not only the signalling from our various forts and batteries, but from the Yankee observatory on Folly Island, which is high above the trees I was wishing so much I could read their dispatches & found later that Mr. Westervelt had done so, & intercepted Gilmore’s orders for a general attack on our batteries Saturday night, so our men were ready for them—
Just as we were going to dinner cousin John’s Baltimorean friend from the Marion Artillery, Mr. Jenkins (who had like himself, come to the city sick, & gone to the Roper Hospital, where he had received great attention from various ladies including cousin Beck & aunt Amelia) came to get a view of the bombardment; he is a delicate looking, very gentlemanly young man, who quite interested us—cousin Christopher & others came later, for the same purpose, and the Battery was thronged with spectators; during the afternoon I received a note from Carrie, saying the Summerville plan had been necessarily given up, as Mr. Hughes might be ordered off with the Bank to Columbia at any time, so Carrie intended remaining here till obliged to leave, then go to Camden, & wished me to come and stay with her—At such a time when everything of interest was concentrated on the Battery, & I am not able to walk down there, it really is a sacrifice to friendship to come up into the interior of the town; however, I determined to enjoy a last walk on the Battery & with Miss Ellen, promenaded till dark, watching the beautiful effect of the broad flashes of light at every discharge, which illuminated the sky; on our return found Gen. Gonzales, who had been on the housetop for a long time, in cousin Beck’s piazza, & I could not help being amused to think how war had leveled ceremony all were obliged to pass through her chamber, where she was busily writing by a bright gas light the room was of course neatly arranged, but the pavilion down, etc. & as he was halfway through, some question was asked, and a long & interesting conversation ensued, which decidedly cheered all parties—He said the reason those lower batteries on Morris I. had not been completed was, that instead of sending their negroes, the planters preferred paying the fines, consequently instead of the three or four thousand laborers needed, there were only twenty odd at one time, & we did not even have troops enough to build them, for we had sent 10,000 men to Miss—& had only about three regiments here & if the Yankees had dared, they could have taken the city before, but now there was no cause for apprehension, at present, at least, & he had written for his wife, (he married Miss Elliott of Savannah) to come to the city if she wished & he promised to tell cousin B. when he thought it time for her to leave—Men were not what we wanted on Morris I. we had plenty now, but heavier guns, which were being rapidly supplied there, & on Sullivan’s I. If Battery Wagner were taken, the Yankees’ troubles would only commence, he said, for it would be a work of time to erect batteries to reduce Sumter & every day was gain to us. he had recommended Beauregard to strengthen the officer’s quarter’s there, the weakest side, by taking away the floors & making a wall of compressed cotton on a flooring of wet sand & Battery Bee, on Sullivan’s I. is as strong as Sumter & heavier guns are being put on Moultrie, so even if Sumter were taken, the city was not necessarily lost. I was really glad I had seen him, & was very much pleased with him—Just after Isaac called for me, & everything seemed so quiet up in Beaufain St. that we all slept as quietly as possible, little dreaming of what a sanguinary engagement was going on almost at our doors—
Sunday morning we learned what a tremendous assault had been made & how gloriously repulsed—about eight Saturday evening the Yankees advanced in six columns, as Willie Ramsey has since described to me, in perfect line of battle—our men waited till within 800 yards, then opened on them with grape & canister, which mowed huge gaps in their ranks; they would waver for a moment, then close up and move steadily on, again to be cut down—again and again were assaults made, & in the darkness & melie two or three hundred gained a position on the magazine, where they planted their flag & held it for more than an hour, it being some little time before they were discovered—a call for volunteers to dislodge them was made & numbers instantly stood forth—and in doing so, we lost the majority of our killed & wounded, among them Capt. Ryan of the Irish Volunteers, a very brave man killed & Maj. David Ramsey severely wounded—After having made other desperate assaults, they were finally driven off—They had expected our men to be completely demoralized by the incessant cannonading, & William White who was down there with Ramsey, assisting in erecting a mortar battery, says nothing can be more demoralizing, for the men to be cooped up all day in the close bomb proofs, with this awful never-ending roaring & whistling—the nerves kept in such a state of intense excitement—Our loss is about 24 killed & 70 wounded—sad to say, Lieut. Col. Simpkins, commanding the fort, a most gallant & excellent officer was killed, & Capt. William S. Stone dangerously wounded by our own men. Clingman’s North Carolinians having fired into them by mistake, & Yankee prisoners say their troops did the same—it is fearful to think of such a battle in the darkness, with the roar of artillery mingled with the rattle of musketry. Capt. Warren Adams & William Sinkler wounded slightly, also Lieut. Wm. Clarkson, & William Macbeth very badly in the leg Willie Ramsey says may lose both it & his life—my old acquaintance Lieut. James Powe, whose gallantry is highly spoken, is also wounded—
William W. & William R. have both given us accounts of the fight & say they had heard of “piles of dead Yankees” & “bodies three deep” but never saw it till now, when they actually would be four deep, one on the other, as they fell forward, in every conceivable attitude—it was an awful sight in the ditch below the parapet—The Yankees sent a flag of truce, seeking the body of Col. Putnam, acting Brigadier a splendid looking man, grandson of Gen. Israel Putnam, & requesting to bury their dead—the first request was granted, the latter refused, as it was thought they only wanted an opportunity of close inspection, & the answer was we would bury their dead & take care of their wounded, many of whom however must have been carried off—we buried 600 among them numerous field officers, as well as captains & lieutenants, & beyond our lines the enemy buried over 200; among them about 150 negroes, and a good many of them were among the 230 wounded brought to the city, many so severely they will certainly die—and a negro has been put alternately with a Yankee in the hospital, much to their disgust, but our surgeons told them as they had put them on an equality they must abide the consequences—Their loss in killed, wounded & prisoners must 1500—Col. Shaw of Massachusetts was buried with eleven negroes over him—among the wounded prisoners is a remarkable intelligent negro from Bermuda, educated in the military school there—having no employment at home & needing support for his mother, he went to New York & Boston to seek it, & found large bounties being offered to volunteers, & as he had nothing else to provide his mother with, he joined the army & was made a sergeant—he says, when the column to assault was formed, the general rode up to the negro regiment commanded by Shaw, & told them to charge bravely, remembering if they faltered, 10,000 bayonets were behind them, & he says they marched with the bayonets almost in their backs. He curses the Yankees fearfully, for a set of vile cowards & wretches—
Sunday morning Carrie & I went to Grace Church & heard Rev. Mr. Seabrook; Sims & the girls & Edward dined with us, & in the evening Hanna & Mr. H. came down, having heard a report of W. Ramsey’s death & feeling anxious about their brother—they said they heard a telegram had just been received from Louis Stark, saying Tom Ferguson was better—constant heavy skirmishing has been taking place between Grant’s & Johnson’s army, in which we repulsed them handsomely two or three times, but we finally evacuated Jackson again, Bragg seems to be quiet again, while Morgan is “raiding” in Indiana & scaring Hoosierdom out of its senses—