"An Affair of Outposts": The Battle of Secessionville, June 16, 1862

"An Affair of Outposts": The Battle of Secessionville, June i6, 1862 /. Tracy Power In mid-June 1862, with the Civil War just over a year old, the military survival of the Confederacy was in serious doubt. From February through early June Union forces had won impressive strategic victories at Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Island Number 10, and Fort Pulaski. Cities such as Yorktown, Norfolk, and Memphis had also been occupied by Federal troops. Perhaps the most crippling blows, however, were the fall of Nashville, the Tennessee capital, in February, and New Orleans, the largest Confederate city and a vital seaport, in April. All of these successes further encouraged Union strategists, and the fall of New Orleans demonstrated the great potential for Federal operations combining land and naval forces. Charleston's significance, both in a symbolic and a strategic sense, equalled and in some ways surpassed that of Nashville and New Orleans. It was, after all, the city where the first Ordinance of Secession was passed, and where the war opened at Fort Sumter. It symbolized "the Cradle of Secession" to most Southerners and "that viper's nest and breeding place of rebellion" to most Northerners.1 Strategically, it was the Confederacy's largest seaport after the fall of New Orleans, and a major base for ships running the Federal blockade. In addition, Charleston 's network of rivers and railroads into the South Carolina interior made it "the economic and cultural capital to a wealthy plantation This article was originally written for the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. 1 E. Milby Burton, The Siege of Charleston ¡86¡-¡865 (Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1970), 84; and p. 99, quoting New York Tribune, June 9, 1862. Civil War History, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, c 1992 by The Kent State University Press THE BATTLE OF SECESSIONVILLE157 society."2 For all these reasons, Union army and navy commanders increased their efforts to gain a secure footing on the sea islands immediately south and east of the city, and from them to attempt its capture. The partial Federal occupation of the South Carolina coast began in November 1861 with the occupation of Port Royal, some seventy miles southwest of Charleston. This port, strategically located between Charleston and Savannah, was the base for the navy's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the remainder of the war, while nearby Hilton Head Island became the principal headquarters for the army's Department of the South. Sea islands in the immediate vicinity, most notably Hilton Head and St. Helena Island, became massive Union camps and staging grounds for further operations.3 Throughout the winter and early spring of 1862, Confederate plans for the defense of the South Carolina coast became increasingly centered on Charleston. In large part, of course, this was dictated by the city's vital significance, but it was also influenced by increasing Union pressure from the sea islands to the southwest. Edisto Island and John's Island were abandoned by the Confederates soon after the fall of Port Royal but were not occupied by the Federals until March 1862. At that time Maj. Gen. John C. Pemberton, who had just succeeded Gen. Robert E. Lee as Confederate commander of the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, abandoned Cole's Island and Battery Island, near the entrance of the Stono River.4 Though the Federals immediately occupied Edisto and John's Islands, pushing their presence uncomfortably close to Charleston, the most significant result of Pemberton's withdrawal was the opening of the Stono River. James Island, less than a mile from Charleston at its closest point, and less than two miles from it at its farthest point, was the main line of Confederate defenses south of the city. Union gunboats steaming up the Stono could shell the island, or even the city, and transport ships could land large numbers of Federal soldiers at the mouth of the river. If they could occupy James Island and hold it in force, Charleston's future as a Confederate stronghold seemed destined to go the way of Nashville and New Orleans. Maj . Gen. David Hunter, the Union department commander, intended to ensure such an outcome. In early May...