From Colonial times, Charleston was South Carolina’s major port city. It was common for York County residents to travel to Charleston and trade with merchants there. You can still trace remnants of Colonial-era trading routes that linked the mountains with Charleston by crossing the Broad River and passing through York County. As a result, the original Battle of Fort Sumter, igniting the Civil War, and the subsequent Battle of Charleston Harbor stretching through a number of months in 1863 and containing a number of bloody battles, were important topics for residents throughout South Carolina. And the ironclad ships that took part in the naval components of the many battles were sources of huge interest. Some saw them as amazing weapons of war, others saw them as silly. But they did prove their overall value.
- M. Hazlehurst, who was living in Savannah in 1899 and recounted his memories, was one of hundreds of Confederate sailors sitting in the Charleston harbor when seven ships of the United States fleet arrived to reinforce Fort Sumter. This move by President Lincoln placed South Carolina into a put-up or shut-up situation.
Hazlehurst, who had been assigned to the Confederate gunboat Charleston, recalled the arrival of the USS Keokuk, the only ironclad monitor that would participate in defense of the Yankee stronghold. The 159’, double-turreted Keokuk had been constructed in New York City and had a displacement of 677 tons. When commissioned in March 1863, it was immediately assigned to Port Royal to take up a position in the blockade of Confederate states. In less than a month, the Keokuk was ordered to the Charleston harbor.
When it arrived at Fort Sumter, it was seen that a “contrivance of wood” (as Hazlehurst called it) had been constructed on the Keokuk’s bow and filled with explosives. The object was to ram into Confederate ships as they tried to enter the harbor. This device was so destructive, it was nicknamed, “The Devil.”
Fate, however, was against the Keokuk and its “Devil.” During the battle the ironclad ran aground and became easy pickings for Confederate cannons. Keokuk received 90 hits before sinking into the harbor, less than one year after its commission. Hazlehurst reported that “The Devil” was knocked off by a projectile and was later found where it had drifted ashore.
A Northern newspaper detailing the battle admitted the South had given the US fleet a thorough whipping and that the loss of the Keokuk was especially troubling to the Yankee navy. In spite of the loss, the article ended with a bit of humor:
The Keokuk, confound the luck, has
Sunk.
Yet fate is cruel,
But strange to tell, while we caught hell,
The Rebels caught “The Devil.”
In the case of another ship, the USS Ironsides, fate was on the Union side. Although the torpedo had been around for nearly 60 years, no nation had seen it as an effective attack weapon. It was the Confederacy that saw its potential and introduced it into modern warfare.
In the beginning there were several ways to set off the torpedoes, but soon these gave way to electric current. This method was not foolproof and often failed at a critical time, such as in the case of the USS Ironsides. During the attack on Fort Sumter, this most formidable ship in the United States fleet, and probably the world at the time, was anchored in the Charleston harbor. For nearly one hour, the ship floated over a 3000-pound torpedo as Confederates repeatedly attempted to set off the charge. In the end the magnificent ship, with a crew of 600, escaped destruction.
This poem, The Battle of Charleston Harbor, was written in April, 1863, by Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830-1886) at the start of the battle. Hayne was noted for his Confederate patriotic writings. Notice how he talks about the ironclads entering the Charleston Bay.
- Two hours, or more, beyond the prime of a blithe April day,
The Northman’s mailed “Invincibles” steamed up fair
Charleston Bay;
They came in sullen file, and slow, low-breasted on the wave,
Black as a midnight front of storm, and silent as the grave.
- A thousand warrior-hearts beat high as those dread mon-
sters drew
More closely to the game of death across the breezeless bule,
And twice ten thousand hearts of those who watched the
scene afar,
Thrill in the awful hush that bides the battle’s broadening
Star !
III.
Each gunner, moveless by his guns, with rigid aspect stands,
The ready linstocks firmly grasped in bold, untrembling
hands,
So moveless in their marbled calm, their stern heroic guise,
They looked like forms of statued stone with burning human
eyes !
- Our banners on the outmost walls, with stately rustling
fold,
Flash back from arch and parapet the sunlight’s ruddy
gold-
They mount to the deep roll of drums, and widely-echoing
cheers,
And then—once more, dark, breathless, hushed, wait the
grim cannoneers.
- Onward—in sullen file, and slow, low glooming on the
wave,
Near, nearer still, the haughty fleet glides silent as the
grave,
Where sudden, shivering up the calm, o’er startled flood and
shore,
Burst from the sacred Island Fort the thunder-wrath of
yore !*
- Ha ! brutal Corsairs ! tho’ ye come thrice-cased in iron mail,
Beware the storm that’s opening now, God’s vengeance
guides the hail !
Ye strive the ruffian types of Might ’gainst law, and truth,
and Right,
Now quail beneath a sturdier Power, and own a mightier
Might !
VII.
No empty boast ! for while we speak, more furious, wilder,
higher,
Dart from the circling batteries a hundred tongues of fire.
The waves gleam red, the lurid vault of heaven seems rent
above.
Fight on ! oh ! knightly Gentlemen ! for faith, and home,
And love !
VIII.
There’s not in all that line of flame, one soul that would
not rise,
To seize the Victor’s wreath of blood, tho’ Death must give
the prize—
There’s not in all this anxious crowd that throngs the an-
cient Town,
A maid who does not yearn for power to strike one despot
down.
- The strife grows fiercer ! ship by ship the proud Armada
sweeps,
Where hot from Sumter’s raging breast the volleyed light-
ning leaps ;
And ship by ship, raked, overborne, ‘ere burned the sunset
bloom,
Crawls seaward, like a hangman’s hearse bound to his felon
tomb !
- Oh ! glorious Empress of the Main ! from out thy storied
spires,
Thou well mayst peal thy bells of joy, and light thy festal
fires—
Since Heaven this day hath striven for thee, hath nerved
thy dauntless sons,
And thou, in clear-eyed faith hast seen God’s Angels near
the guns !
J.L. West – Author
This article and many others found on the pages of Roots and Recall, were written by author J.L. West, for the YC Magazine and have been reprinted on R&R, with full permission – not for distribution or reprint!
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