Summary- In late June of 1864 Major General John Foster planned an offensive against Charleston along with Admiral John Dahlgren, head of the Southeast Blockading Squadron. Together they devised a five-part plan which included: an amphibious landing at Fort Johnson on James Island from Morris Island; an assault near the southeastern end of James Island on the Stono River led by Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig with 2500 troops; a landing at White Point on the North Edisto River led by General William Birney with his 1,200-man brigade with orders to “push forward to the railroad, place torpedoes under the track, to endeavor to destroy the bridge over the South Edisto River, and, if fortune favored, to destroy the trestle-work between it and the Ashepoo, and the bridge over the Ashepoo River”; Brigadier General John Hatch was to land on Seabrook Island with a force of 4,000 men with orders to “push forward to the upper part of John’s Island, to seize the ferry, cross over, and, if possible, to destroy the bridge over Rantowles Creek with his artillery”; and finally Naval gunboats were to support the army and shell Confederate batteries and forts along the Stono River such as Fort Pringle and Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The goals of the mission according to Foster’s report were to “make a demonstration against Charleston and the railroad leading to Savannah.” These seem understated given the scope of the operation. Part of the reason for this may lie in a dispatch sent from Foster to his superior Henry Halleck on June 15th when discussing a plan to take Sullivan’s Island he states “I understand you to direct me to act upon the defensive strictly.”
The plan on paper was excellent and if properly executed could have led to the fall of the city. Two main bodies of troops were used along with the Navy. The first, a large force under Foster would leave Hilton Head by sea carrying Hatch’s and Birney’s men. They were covered in the previous post (link). General Schimmelfennig was to land a force on James Island and move toward Secessionville, as well as send troops to Johns Island to open communications with Brigadier General Hatch. The 21st USCTs, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett, along with two guns under Lieutenant Wildt from Battery B of the 3rd NY Artillery were sent to Johns Island (per the 54th MA Regimental history, not mentioned in either Foster’s or Hatch’s reports). The Federals hoped that the threat from the southeastern end of James Island would draw troops away from other strategically important regions such as Fort Johnson on the other side of James Island on Charleston harbor, making it vulnerable to attack. On the morning of July 2nd Brigadier General Schimmelfennig’s force of about 2,000 men made their way to the southern extremity of James Island via two different routes. The 103rd NY, 55th MA, and 33rd USCTs were transported to Long Island. From there they made their way to Tiger Island (per 54th MA Regimental history and Colonel Morrison’s report of the 104th NY- I could find no reference to a Tiger Island anywhere near Charleston) and crossed a swamp to James Island. A second group (54th MA, 74th PA, and section of Battery B 3rd NY Artillery) would be transported to Cole Island and from there cross a bridge to James Island. This bridge is seen on a map from Johnson Hagood’s memoir (link), shown below. It leads to Battery Island. Union troops landed on Battery Island during the Battle of Secessionville in 1862 (link). During that battle they crossed to Sol Legare Island which is sometimes included as part of James Island on maps.
Another map from Hagood’s memoir shows another bridge leading to the area of Sol Legare Island (Legare’s) from Dixon’s Island (near the bottom of the image). Perhaps this is the island referred to as Tiger Island?
The Federals advanced rapidly toward River’s Causeway shown below. They would be coming toward the camera toward Old Sol Legare Road that led to the causeway.
They would have turned down the dirt road on the left side of the picture that led to the causeway.
The west end of River’s Causeway on James Island is shown below at- 32.6896606, -79.9685658. Picture taken on Battery Island Drive looking east.
Colonel Hartwell’s men (55th MA, 103rd NY and 33rd USCTs) would come upon a line of pickets on River’s Causeway, supported by two guns of Blake’s Battery under Lieutenant DeLorme and 15 men of the Palmetto Seige train under the overall command of Major Edward Manigault. Two charges failed to take the battery but the third charge by the 55th MA flanked and captured the guns (two 12-pounder Napoleans). Lieutenant DeLorme stated that when he gave the order to withdraw he was deserted by his cannoneers. The 55th MA suffered 7 men killed and 21 wounded. The Federals moved beyond the fieldwork, and strengthened a hedgebank and ditch. With the element of surprise now gone they were ordered to hold their position, which they did that day despite coming under fire from Secessionville and Fort Lamar. Colonel William Heine led the group crossing from Cole Island (54th NY, 74th PA, a section of Battery B, 3rd NY Artillery and a rocket battery) as they advanced to the head of Grimball’s Causeway closer to the Stono River, see Manigault’s map below.
On his arrival on the Confederate right Major Manigault helped stabilize the skirmish line with reinforcements from Major Bonaud’s Battalion, Black’s Cavalry, and Captain Smith’s dismounted Cavalry, giving him a total force of 449 men. That evening Manigault established two batteries and pickets along the Stono River at Grimball’s in the event of a Federal landing there, shown on the map. One of those two batteries still exists. During the night the Federals fell back to a new line on the eastern side of the causeways. On the morning of the 3rd Manigault received reinforcements with 5 Companies of Colonel Harrison’s 32nd GA and 62 men of the 1st SC dismounted Cavalry. As they discovered the Yankees had fallen back the Rebels occupied their original works. On the 4th Birney’s Brigade (7th, 34th and 35th USCTs) arrived and formed a second line behind Schimmelfennig’s men. Two companies of the 54th MA were sent out as skirmishers and were repulsed by Captain Lewis with part of the 32nd GA. The 54th MA suffered 8 casualties with 2 killed and 6 wounded. On the 5th the Federals marched and countermarched and formed a battle line from the Overseers House to the south end of Grimball’s Causeway as if about to attack but did not. Manigauly fell back to a more secure line between Grimball’s place and the Rivers’ Road. The modern house below sits on the site of the war time Grimball house.
On the 6th Birney’s Brigade now commanded by Colonel Montgomery was sent to join Hatch on Johns Island. On the 7th Colonel Harrison was moved to Johns Island with the 32nd and 47th GA and Bonaud’s Battalion. On the 8th there were 22 Union ships in the river. The Federal lines were unchanged except for new entrenchments that had been dug on Battery Island. Battery Pringle in particular came under heavy fire. Confederate Brigadier General William Taliaferro moved his most experienced gunners there including Colonel Rhett and Major Blanding of the 1st SC Artillery. On the evening of the 8th a Brooke rifled cannon was mounted at Battery Pringle. On the 9th its greater range forced the Federal’s wooden gunboats to move further down the river. After nightfall three fire rafts were sent across the Stono River to try and destroy the bridge connecting James and Johns Islands. The rafts were boarded by a group of Confederates under Lieutenant Smith who guided them to shore leaving the bridge unharmed. The following day Federal troops boarded transports and withdrew back to Morris and Folly Islands. Confederate losses here were 10 killed and 25 wounded.
The assault on Fort Johnson was to be overseen by Colonel Gurney, who was in command on Morris Island, however, he chose to remain behind and delegate one of the most important parts of the operation to Colonel Henry Hoyt. One thousand Federals left Morris Island from Paine’s dock at 1:00 AM on July 3rd in small boats under Colonel Hoyt. The 52nd PA was in the lead, followed by the 3rd RI Artillery, and the 127th NY. They set sail across Charleston Harbor and were to cross the bar at a point midway between Fort Sumter and Battery Simpkins before heading for the beach. The pilot, Sergeant Bennett of the 127th NY, could not locate the channel over the bar and refused to proceed. Colonel Hoyt was able to find a passage through and the other boats followed. By the time this was accomplished, the sun had begun to rise, and the Federals came under fire from the fort. Five of the approximately 20 boats made it ashore, all from the 52nd PA. From the shoreline, Colonel Hoyt could see that the remainder of his vessels had all turned around and were retreating, despite the fact that no order was given to do so. The crews had all been instructed that the signal for retreat would be from a bugle carried only by Colonel Hoyt. Hoyt and his men overran the Brooke Battery and charged Fort Johnson. They made it to the parapet but in the process 7 were killed and 16 wounded. Without support the remainder were all captured by the Confederates including Colonel Hoyt. A formal investigation was carried out by a Judge-Advocate, Major John Gray. It could not be determined who had given the unauthorized order to retreat. The investigation concluded that given the importance of the operation Colonel Gurney used poor judgment in not leading the assault himself. It also singled out many of the men in charge of the individual boats who were felt not to be up to the task and unequal to the occasion.
In Hatch’s report he states that “the object of the mission being fully accomplished, preparations were made to retire from the island.” Foster stated “Having ascertained by reconnaissance that the establishment of enfilading batteries on the south side of the Stono would be of little effect against the well-traversed batteries of the enemy on the north side, and that to venture a general assault would be to incur a certain heavy loss, with doubtful results, I decided to re-embark at once…” He then goes on to try and put a positive spin on the mission “The demonstration had proved perfectly successful in one respect, viz, impressing the enemy with alarm as to our purpose, and in forcing him to accumulate a large force to meet us.” I doubt that the families of those men who gave their lives in this campaign would agree. James Harvey McKee summarized the “demonstration” far better than his commanding officers when he wrote in his book on the history of the 144th NY “The result of the expedition as viewed from the standpoint of the thoughtful soldier was not only not satisfactory but most humiliating. Neither branch of the expedition seemed to accomplish anything. Gen. Birney’s effort at Pocotaligo Bridge was not pushed. The movement under Gen. Hatch was so slow and dilatory as to allow the enemy to make full preparation. When we should have been making early marches, we were crawling along under a torrid sun and when at last we did reach the point where we could strike a hard and prompt blow we waited until the enemy was ready to strike us and that too at a disadvantage when we had ample warning to make full preparations, and now that we can look behind the scenes through the records of the war and know the conditons of the enemy at the time, the management seems worse than at the time. Blunders on Morris Island led to severe losses instead of substantial gains. The effect on the minds of the soldiers was to discount as leaders those immediately in charge of the various branches of the expedition.”
Foster listed his casualties as 33 killed, 133 wounded, 143 missing, 3 died of sunstroke and 18 drowned.
Sources
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Volume XXXV Union reports- pages 7-12, 14-17, 36, 39-41, 47-48, 50, 78-79, 84-108, Confederate reports- 121-127, 139-143, 158-171, 266-271
Back in War Times History of the 144th Regiment, New York Volunteers by James Harvey McKee, pages 164-176 (link)
Siege Train The Journal of a Confederate Artilleryman in the Defense of Charleston edited by Warren Ripley, pages 191-205
History of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 1863-1865 by Luis Emilio, Chapter 10 (link)
The Defense of Charleston Harbor Including Fort Sumter and the Adjacent Islands 1863-1865 by John Johnson, pages 214-223 (link)