First Battle of Charleston Harbor

First Battle of Charleston Harbor
Part of the American Civil War
Advance of Ironclads to the Attack, April 7th, 1863
Date April 7, 1863 (1863-04-07) Location Charleston, South Carolina Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Samuel Francis Du Pont	P.G.T. Beauregard
Units involved
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron	First Military District of South Carolina
Strength
2 ironclads 7 monitors	2 ironclads 385 land-based guns
Casualties and losses
1 killed 21 wounded 1 ship sunk	5 killed 8 wounded

The First Battle of Charleston Harbor was an engagement near Charleston, South Carolina that took place April 7, 1863, during the American Civil War. The striking force was a fleet of nine ironclad warships of the Union Navy, including seven monitors that were improved versions of the original USS Monitor. A Union Army contingent associated with the attack took no active part in the battle. The ships, under command of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, attacked the Confederate defenses near the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Navy Department officials in Washington hoped for a stunning success that would validate a new form of warfare, with armored warships mounting heavy guns reducing traditional forts.

Du Pont had been given seven of the Passaic class monitors, the powerful New Ironsides, and the experimental ironclad Keokuk. Other naval operations were sidetracked as their resources were diverted to the attack on Charleston. After a long period of preparation, conditions of tide and visibility allowed the attack to proceed. The slow monitors got into position rather late in the afternoon, and when the tide turned, Du Pont had to suspend the operation. Firing had occupied less than two hours, and the ships had been unable to penetrate even the first line of harbor defense. The fleet retired with one in a sinking condition and most of the others damaged. One sailor in the fleet was killed and twenty-one were wounded, while five Confederate soldiers were killed and eight wounded. After consulting with his captains, Du Pont concluded that his fleet had little chance to succeed. He therefore declined to renew the battle the next morning.

The war was not going well for the Union in late 1862 and early 1863. Although the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had been repulsed at Antietam, it had escaped intact and had inflicted a major defeat on the Federal Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, Virginia, following which the Army of the Potomac was in disarray. In the West, the campaign for control of the Mississippi River seemed to be bogged down before Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Confederates had actually managed to retake Galveston, Texas. A mood of war-weariness was evident throughout the North, and the fall elections, regarded as a referendum on the war, had shown a swing away from the Republican party. The Lincoln Administration therefore began to apply great pressure on its field commanders to achieve some success that would lift the national spirit. It was in this atmosphere that the Navy Department began to urge an attack on Charleston.

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