Battle of Sullivan's Island

Battle of Sullivan's Island
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Sergeant William Jasper raising the flag over the fort
Date June 28, 1776 Location Sullivan's Island, South Carolina 32°45′34″N 79°51′28″W / 32.759373°N 79.857748°W / 32.759373; -79.857748Coordinates: 32°45′34″N 79°51′28″W / 32.759373°N 79.857748°W / 32.759373; -79.857748 Result South Carolinian victory
Belligerents
South Carolina	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Charles Lee William Moultrie	Peter Parker (WIA) Henry Clinton
Strength
Fort Sullivan: 435 militia 31 artillery pieces Other defenses: 3 shore batteries over 6,000 regulars and militia	2,200 infantry 2 fourth-rates 6 frigates 1 bomb vessel
Casualties and losses
12 killed 25 wounded	220 killed and wounded 2 fourth-rates severely damaged 2 frigates moderately damaged 1 frigate grounded, later scuttled

Fort Sullivan:

Other defenses:

The Battle of Sullivan's Island or the Battle of Fort Sullivan was fought on June 28, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. It took place near Charleston, South Carolina, during the first British attempt to capture the city from American rebels. It is also sometimes referred to as the First Siege of Charleston, owing to a more successful British siege in 1780.

The British organized an expedition in early 1776 for operations in the rebellious southern colonies of North America. Delayed by logistical concerns and bad weather, the expedition reached the coast of North Carolina in May 1776. Finding conditions unsuitable for their operations, General Henry Clinton and Admiral Sir Peter Parker decided instead to act against Charleston. Arriving there in early June, troops were landed on Long Island, near Sullivan's Island where Colonel William Moultrie commanded a partially constructed fort, in preparation for a naval bombardment and land assault. General Charles Lee, commanding the southern Continental theater of the war, would provide supervision.

The land assault was frustrated when the channel between the two islands was found to be too deep to wade, and the American defenses prevented an amphibious landing. The naval bombardment had little effect due to the sandy soil and the spongy nature of the fort's palmetto log construction. Careful fire by the defenders wrought significant damage on the British fleet, which withdrew after an entire day's bombardment. The British withdrew their expedition force to New York, and did not return to South Carolina until 1780.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, the city of Charleston in the colony of South Carolina was a center of commerce in southern North America. The city's citizens joined other colonists in opposing the British parliament's attempts to tax them, and militia recruitment increased when word arrived of the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. Throughout 1775 and into 1776, militia recruits arrived in the city from the colony's backcountry, the city's manufacturers and tradesmen began producing war materiel, and defensive fortifications began to take shape around the city.

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