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Second Battle of Fort Sumter
Part of theAmerican Civil War
Photograph taken September 8, 1863, shows the breach compromised at Fort Sumter's wall facing Morris Island during the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The naval party attempted to enter the fort here.
Date September 7, 1863 (1863-09-07) – September 8, 1863 (1863-09-08) Location Charleston Harbor, South Carolina Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Quincy Gillmore	P. G. T. Beauregard
Units involved
U.S. Marine Corps[1]
Strength
413[2]	320
Casualties and losses
117[2]	9

TheSecond Battle of Fort Sumter was fought on September 8, 1863, inCharleston Harbor.ConfederateGeneralP. G. T. Beauregard, who had commanded the defenses of Charleston and capturedFort Sumter in thefirst battle of the war, was in overall command of the defenders. In the battle,Union forces underMajor GeneralQuincy Gillmore attempted to retake the fort at the mouth of the harbor. Union gunners pummeled the fort from their batteries onMorris Island. After a severebombing of the fort, Beauregard, suspecting an attack, replaced the artillerymen and all but one of the fort's guns with 320 infantrymen, who repulsed the naval landing party. Gillmore had reduced Fort Sumter to a pile of rubble, but theConfederate flag still waved over the ruins.

Union efforts to retake Charleston Harbor began on April 7, 1863, whenRear AdmiralSamuel Francis Du Pont, commander of theSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, led theironclad frigateNew Ironsides, the tower ironcladKeokuk, and themonitorsWeehawken,Pasaic,Montauk,Patapsco,Nantucket,Catskill, andNahant in anattack on the harbor's defenses (The 1863 Battle of Fort Sumter was the largest deployment of monitors in action up to that time). The attack was unsuccessful, the Union's best ship, USSNew Ironsides never effectively engaged, and the ironclads fired only 154 rounds, while receiving 2,209 from the Confederate defenders.^[3] Due to damage received in the attack, the USSKeokuk sank the next day, 1,400 yards (1,300 m) off the southern tip ofMorris Island. Over the next month, working at night to avoid the attention of the Federal squadron, the Confederates salvagedKeokuk's two eleven-inchDahlgren guns.^[4] One of the Dahlgren guns was promptly placed in Fort Sumter.

The Confederates, in the meantime, were strengthening Fort Sumter. A workforce of just under 500 slaves, under the supervision of Confederate army engineers, were filling casemates with sand, protecting the gorge wall with sandbags, and building newtraverse,^[5] blindages,^[6] and bombproofs.^[7] Some of Fort Sumter's artillery had been removed, but 40 pieces still were mounted. Fort Sumter's heaviest guns were mounted on the barbette, the fort's highest level, where they had wide angles of fire and could fire down on approaching ships. The barbette was also more exposed to enemy gunfire than thecasemates in the two lower levels of the fort.

A special military decoration, known as theGillmore Medal, was later issued to all Union service members who had performed duty at Fort Sumter under the command of Major-GeneralQuincy Adams Gillmore

• 
  View of Confederate-held Fort Sumter, August 23, 1863.
• 
  Interior View of Fort Sumter, taken by a Confederate photographer, 1864.
• 
  Exterior view of Fort Sumter, 1865. Banded rifle in foreground,fraise at top.
• 
  View of Fort Sumter from the sandbar, 1865.

After the devastating bombardment, both Major GeneralQuincy A. Gillmore andRear AdmiralJohn A. Dahlgren, now commanding theSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, determined to launch a boat assault on Fort Sumter for the night of September 8–9, 1863. Cooperation between the Army and Navy was poor. Dahlgren refused to place his sailors andmarines under the command of an army officer, so two flotillas set out towards Fort Sumter that night. The army flotilla was detained offMorris Island by the low tide. By the time they could proceed, the navy assault had already been defeated and the army flotilla returned to shore.

Thenavy's assault involved 400 sailors and marines in 25 boats. The operation was a fiasco from beginning to end. Poor reconnaissance, planning and communication all characterized the operation.CommanderThomas H. Stevens, Jr., commanding themonitorPatapsco, was placed in charge of the assault. When Commander Stevens protested that he "knew nothing of [the assault's] organization " and "made some remonstrances on this grounds and others." Dahlgren replied "There is nothing but a corporal's guard [about 6–10 men] in the fort, and all we have to do is go and take possession."^[8] This underestimation of the Confederate forces on Dahlgren's part may explain why he was hostile to a joint operation wishing to reserve the credit for the victory to the navy. Fewer than half of the boats landed. Most of the boats that did land landed on the right flank or right gorge angle, rather than on the gorge where there was a passable breach. The Union sailors and marines who did land could not scale the wall. The Confederates fired upon the landing party and as well as throwing hand grenades and loose bricks. The men in the boats that had not landed fired muskets and revolvers blindly at the fort, endangering the landing party more than the garrison. The landing party took shelter in shell holes in the wall of the fort. In response to a signal rocket fired by the garrison, Fort Johnson and the Confederate warship CSSChicora opened fire upon the boats and landing party. The boats that could withdraw withdrew, and the landing party surrendered. The Union casualties were 8 killed, 19 wounded, and 105 captured (including 15 of the wounded). The Confederates did not suffer any casualties in the assault.

After the unsuccessful boat assault, the bombardment recommenced and proceeded with varying degree of intensity, doing more damage to Fort Sumter until the end of thewar. The garrison continued to suffer casualties. The Confederates continued to salvage guns and other material from the ruins and harassed the Union batteries onMorris Island withsharpshooters. The Confederates mounted four 10-inch (250 mm)columbiads, one 8-inch (200 mm) columbiad rifled, and two rifled 42-pounders, in the left face, bottom tier casemates. The last Confederate commander, Major Thomas A. Huguenin, a graduate fromThe Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, never surrendered Fort Sumter, but GeneralWilliam T. Sherman's advance through South Carolina finally forced the Confederates to evacuate Charleston on February 17, 1865, and abandon Fort Sumter. The Federal government formally took possession of Fort Sumter on February 22, 1865, with a flag-raising ceremony. One Union soldier was killed and another Union soldier was mortally wounded during the surrender ceremony. Fifty-two Confederate soldiers were killed there during the remainder of the war. While a number of slaves were killed while working at the fort, the exact number is unknown.

•  This article incorporatespublic domain material fromNPS battle summary.National Park Service.
• CWSAC Report Update
• Ripley, Warren (1984).Artillery and ammunition of the Civil War. Charleston, S.C.: The Battery Press.ISBN 0-88394-003-5.
• Stevens, Thomas H. (1902)."Delayed report, September 28, 1865". Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
• Wise, Stephen R. (1994).Gate of hell : campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.ISBN 0-87249-985-5.

• Media related toSecond Battle of Fort Sumter at Wikimedia Commons

32°45′09″N79°52′30″W / 32.7524°N 79.8749°W /32.7524; -79.8749

• Operations against the Defenses of Charleston (American Civil War)
• Confederate victories of the American Civil War
• Battles of the American Civil War in South Carolina
• Charleston County, South Carolina
• Naval battles of the American Civil War
• United States Marine Corps in the 18th and 19th centuries
• Conflicts in 1863
• 1863 in South Carolina
• History of Charleston, South Carolina
• September 1863
• 19th century in Charleston, South Carolina
• Attacks on military installations in the United States

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