Chapter 44: A Heroic Charge Fails at Ft. Wagner

Since the opening loss of Ft. Sumter, the Union continues its efforts to regain Charleston Harbor by exploiting its superior naval power. But after Admiral DuPont and his upgraded fleet of ironclads are turned back on April 7, 1863, Major General Quincy Gillmore is called upon to succeed on land. To do so, he aims to lead his X Corps infantry against Morris Island at the southern entrance to Charleston Harbor.

It is defended by Brigadier William Taliaferro’s 1,800 men in their formidable stronghold at Ft. Wagner, also known as Battery Wagner. Its face runs for 200 yards, with sand and earthen walls rising 30 ft. high, and fronted by a ten foot wide water-filled trench. It boasts fourteen cannon, including a 10” Columbiad pointed to the ocean and capable of firing a 128 pound shell.

Gillmore brings up roughly 5,000 soldiers, led by General Crocker Strong and including some 600 black enlistees of the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteers under Colonel Robert Shaw and 37 white officers. At 7:45pm on July 18, Shaw orders a “quick time” march along a narrow strip of sand leading some 1400 yards to the enemy. Already under intense fire about 200 yards out, he orders a “double quick” charge into a hail of canister fire.

A few Blue troops reach the parapet before being mowed down. Shaw gets there but suffers seven wounds, dies, and his corpse disappears into the earthworks. General Strong is hit in the thigh by grapeshot and falls mortally wounded. It’s also estimated that another 260 or so members of the 54^th Mass fail to survive the charge. One who does escape is 22 year old Sgt. Major Louis Henry Douglass, son of the famous abolitionist icon, Frederick Douglass.

The fighting is over by 10:00pm with total casualties at 1,515 for the Union vs. only 174 for the Confederates. But Ft. Wagner itself only survives for less than two more months, being abandoned on September 7, 1863 after intense naval shelling by offshore Union ironclads.