Stop 1- Grimball’s Landing- covered in the Battle of Secessionville Part 1

Stop 2- Sol Legare Battlefield July 16, 1863- The 1862 landing on Battery Island is covered in the Battle of Secessionville Part 1.

In July 1863 this site was where the 54th MA were involved in their first combat shortly before their assault on Battery Wagner. The dirt road going across the picture from the left to the right leads to Rivers’ Causeway across which the Confederates were advancing. Rivers’ Causeway was one of two causeways that connected James Island to Sol Legare Island (the island that this monument is on). The other known as Grimball’s Causeway is closer to the Stono River, see map below from civilwartalk.com. The Confederate plan was to move from James Island across Rivers’ Causeway onto Sol Legare Island head toward the Stono River and then cross Grimball’s Causeway to strike and capture the 10th CT. The 10th CT was in an exposed position at Grimball’s Landing on the James Island side of Grimball’s Causeway. This battle is commonly referred to as the Battle of Grimball’s Landing, however, the monument below is correct, the fighting occurred on Sol Legare Island (see map below from civilwartalk.com). The efforts of the 54th MA in delaying the Confederate assault allowed the 10th CT to move to a safer position. I’ll cover this battle in more detail in a future post.

Union gunboats were offshore here in the Stono River supporting the June 1862 landing at Battery Island (32.6683552, -79.9967031).

Stop 3- Morris Island Lighthouse. The closest point that you get to the Morris Island Lighthouse without getting on a boat is at the tip of Folly Inlet at the Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve.

Stop 4- The Battle of Secessionville- Fort Lamar- 1231 Fort Lamar Road. See separate posts for Stop 4. Part 1 and Part 2

Stop 5- Fort Johnson- See also the post on The First Shot. After the War of 1812 the fort was abandoned in 1829. After South Carolina seceded from the Union the fort was reoccupied, and earthworks constructed aiming toward Fort Sumter. On April 12, 1861, the first shot of the war was fired from a mortar battery on Fort Johnson. The Battery was located on the beach. Federal forces attempted to take the fort on July 2, 1864, but failed. The fort was abandoned on February 17, 1865, and occupied by the 54th MA during the following spring and summer.

Cisterns

Geodetic survey markers

Stop 6- McLeod Plantation- 325 Country Club Drive. The present home was constructed in 1856 and served as the headquarters for General Gist’s Brigade. An earthwork named Battery Means was built at the confluence of Wappoo Creek and the Ashley River. Later in the war the home was used as a commissary and field hospital until the Union occupied the plantation in February of 1865. Dead soldiers were buried at Battery Means and there was a slave cemetery along Wappoo Creek.

Only the first floor is accessible to the public.

The pictures below are from the docent’s computer screen.