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On my return to
Charleston, in September, 1862, to assume command of the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, I found the defenses of those two States in a bad and incomplete condition, including defective location and arrangement of works, even at
Charleston and
Savannah.
Several points — such as the mouths of the
Stono and
Edisto rivers, and the headwaters of
Broad river at
Port Royal — I found unprotected; though, soon after the fall of
Fort Sumter, in 1861, as I was about to be detached, I had designated them to be properly fortified.
A recommendation had even been made by my immediate predecessor that the outer defenses of
Charleston harbor should be given up, as untenable against the iron-clads and monitors then known to be under construction at the
North, and that the water line of the immediate city of
Charleston should be made the sole line of defense.
This course, however, not having been authorized by the
Richmond authorities, it was not attempted, except that the fortifications of
Cole's Island — the key to the defense of the
Stono river — was abandoned, and the harbor in the mouth of the
Stono left open to the enemy, who made it their base of operations.
Immediately on my arrival I inspected the defenses of
Charleston and
Savannah, and made a requisition on the War Department for additional troops and heavy guns deemed necessary; but neither could be furnished, owing, it was stated, to the pressing wants of the
Confederacy at other points.
Shortly afterward,
Florida was added to my command, but without any increase of troops or guns, except the few already in that State; and,