Okla-homey
7/18/2007, 06:32 AM
July 18, 1863: Assault on Battery Wagner and death of Robert Gould Shaw
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/21766/2004547212698071387_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004547212698071387)
144 years ago today, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and 272 of his troops are killed in an assault on Fort Wagner, on Morris Island at the southern entrance to Charleston harbor. Shaw was commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Colored), perhaps the most famous regiment of black troops during the war.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/21459/2005235040973434547_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005235040973434547)
Robert Shaw
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/22296/2004530613803248151_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004530613803248151)
Period Map of Charleston Harbor. Morris Island is to the south, the northern tip of the island (Cummings Point) is almost due south of Ft Sumter. The defenses were described as a "porcupine with the quills turned outside in."
Battery Wagner stood on Morris Island, guarding the approach to Charleston harbor. It was a massive earthwork, 600 feet wide and made from sand piled 30 feet high. The only approach to the position was across a narrow stretch of beach bounded by the Atlantic on one side and a swampy marshland on the other. That narrow approach required any assault force to attack in column -- only one regiment at a time. Union General Quincy Gillmore headed an operation in July 1863 to take the island and therefore seal the approach to Charleston.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/22119/2004554436679361070_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004554436679361070)
Contemporary aerial photo of the approximate location of Battery Wagner on Morris Island looking west. In the years since the Civil War, the barrier island has literally changed shape because of the action of wind, waves and hurricanes. The entire island has shifted westward and the location of the battery is now under water at the bottom of the photo. Thus, there is no longer even a trace of the contested battery.
Shaw and his 54th Mass. were chosen to lead the attack of July 18. Shaw was the scion of an abolitionist family and a veteran of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley and Antietam campaigns. The regiment included two sons of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the grandson of author and poet Sojourner Truth.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/21882/2004519249536876763_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004519249536876763)
Scene from "Glory" depicting the moment before the column stepped off. Note that because it was shot in California, the sun is setting over the ocean, and thus the movie charge is basically a mirror image of what really happened on the SC coast. The assault was from south to north, with the ocean on the right of the attackers.
Federal artillery battered battery Wagner all day on July 18, but the barrage did little damage to the fort and its garrison. The Confederates inside sheltered in the battery's "bombproof" shelter deep inside the position. It was hot and stuffy inside the "bombproof" but at 7:45 p.m., when Shaw's attack commenced, the battery's defenders sallied out of the shelter unharmed and quickly prepared to repel the infantry assault.
http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/21980/2005250734113314202_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005250734113314202)
Entrance to Wagner's "Bombproof" shelter photographed after Wagner was occupied by Federal forces when the battery was evacuated by Confederate defenders in February1865 at war's end.
Assault troops had to march 1,200 yards down the beach to the stronghold, facing a hail of bullets from the Confederates. Shaw's troops and elements of two white Union regiments penetrated the walls at two points but did not have sufficient numbers to take the fort.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/21162/2004538867549856485_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004538867549856485)
Over 1,500 US troops fell or were captured to the Confederates' 222. Among US dead, was the young Shaw who was buried in a common grave on the beach among his fallen troops.
Despite the failure, the battle proved that black forces could not only hold their own but persist against strong defenses. The experience of Shaw and his regiment was memorialized in the critically acclaimed 1990 movie Glory, starring Mathew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman. Washington won an Academy Award for his role in the film.
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/2884/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa17.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/21507/2004598386775474858_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004598386775474858)
Boston monument to Shaw and the 54th. Bas relief by big-time sculptor August St Gaudins.
As an aside, a couple years ago, Charlestonians and committed preservationists from around the US vehemently protested proposed development of the uninhabited Morris Island and were successful in blocking construction of a string of luxury villas. The developer intended to turn the entire island into private property and limit public access. Fortunately, he lost the zoning battle. Thus, Morris island remains the hallowed domain of sea birds, day campers and history lovers who walk its peaceful beach and contemplate the great deeds done there. Funds are now being raised among governmental and private entities to purchase the island from the family who holds the title and to place it in a perpetual trust for the benefit of all Americans.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/21814/2004586544407239583_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004586544407239583)
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/21766/2004547212698071387_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004547212698071387)
144 years ago today, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and 272 of his troops are killed in an assault on Fort Wagner, on Morris Island at the southern entrance to Charleston harbor. Shaw was commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Colored), perhaps the most famous regiment of black troops during the war.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/21459/2005235040973434547_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005235040973434547)
Robert Shaw
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/22296/2004530613803248151_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004530613803248151)
Period Map of Charleston Harbor. Morris Island is to the south, the northern tip of the island (Cummings Point) is almost due south of Ft Sumter. The defenses were described as a "porcupine with the quills turned outside in."
Battery Wagner stood on Morris Island, guarding the approach to Charleston harbor. It was a massive earthwork, 600 feet wide and made from sand piled 30 feet high. The only approach to the position was across a narrow stretch of beach bounded by the Atlantic on one side and a swampy marshland on the other. That narrow approach required any assault force to attack in column -- only one regiment at a time. Union General Quincy Gillmore headed an operation in July 1863 to take the island and therefore seal the approach to Charleston.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/22119/2004554436679361070_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004554436679361070)
Contemporary aerial photo of the approximate location of Battery Wagner on Morris Island looking west. In the years since the Civil War, the barrier island has literally changed shape because of the action of wind, waves and hurricanes. The entire island has shifted westward and the location of the battery is now under water at the bottom of the photo. Thus, there is no longer even a trace of the contested battery.
Shaw and his 54th Mass. were chosen to lead the attack of July 18. Shaw was the scion of an abolitionist family and a veteran of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley and Antietam campaigns. The regiment included two sons of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the grandson of author and poet Sojourner Truth.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/21882/2004519249536876763_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004519249536876763)
Scene from "Glory" depicting the moment before the column stepped off. Note that because it was shot in California, the sun is setting over the ocean, and thus the movie charge is basically a mirror image of what really happened on the SC coast. The assault was from south to north, with the ocean on the right of the attackers.
Federal artillery battered battery Wagner all day on July 18, but the barrage did little damage to the fort and its garrison. The Confederates inside sheltered in the battery's "bombproof" shelter deep inside the position. It was hot and stuffy inside the "bombproof" but at 7:45 p.m., when Shaw's attack commenced, the battery's defenders sallied out of the shelter unharmed and quickly prepared to repel the infantry assault.
http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/21980/2005250734113314202_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005250734113314202)
Entrance to Wagner's "Bombproof" shelter photographed after Wagner was occupied by Federal forces when the battery was evacuated by Confederate defenders in February1865 at war's end.
Assault troops had to march 1,200 yards down the beach to the stronghold, facing a hail of bullets from the Confederates. Shaw's troops and elements of two white Union regiments penetrated the walls at two points but did not have sufficient numbers to take the fort.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/21162/2004538867549856485_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004538867549856485)
Over 1,500 US troops fell or were captured to the Confederates' 222. Among US dead, was the young Shaw who was buried in a common grave on the beach among his fallen troops.
Despite the failure, the battle proved that black forces could not only hold their own but persist against strong defenses. The experience of Shaw and his regiment was memorialized in the critically acclaimed 1990 movie Glory, starring Mathew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman. Washington won an Academy Award for his role in the film.
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/2884/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa17.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/21507/2004598386775474858_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004598386775474858)
Boston monument to Shaw and the 54th. Bas relief by big-time sculptor August St Gaudins.
As an aside, a couple years ago, Charlestonians and committed preservationists from around the US vehemently protested proposed development of the uninhabited Morris Island and were successful in blocking construction of a string of luxury villas. The developer intended to turn the entire island into private property and limit public access. Fortunately, he lost the zoning battle. Thus, Morris island remains the hallowed domain of sea birds, day campers and history lovers who walk its peaceful beach and contemplate the great deeds done there. Funds are now being raised among governmental and private entities to purchase the island from the family who holds the title and to place it in a perpetual trust for the benefit of all Americans.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/21814/2004586544407239583_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004586544407239583)