Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3.

[193] night of Sunday, the 5th,

April, 1863.

in the light of a full moon, the air calm and serene, Dupont anchored his fleet off Charleston bar, himself on board the James Adger, in which he had come up from Port Royal. Already, during the afternoon, Commander Rhind, with the Keokuk,¹ assisted by Mr. Boutelle, of the Coast Survey, commanding the Bibb, Ensign Platt, and pilots of the squadron, had buoyed the bar and arranged guides; and at dawn the next morning,

April 6.

the monitor squadron moved over it, leaving the

Keokuk on the ways.

gun-boats, under the general command of Captain Green, outside the bar, as a “squadron of reserve,” to assist in an attack on Morris Island, should one be made. Dupont had now transferred his flag from the Adger to the New Ironsides from which he intended to direct the movements of his squadron, and in which he determined to share in the labors and dangers of the impending conflict.

The works around Charleston harbor to be attacked were numerous and formidable.² Along its northern margin, and commanding its channels, were five of them, the first being on the outward extremity of Sullivan's Island, guarding Maffit's Channel. The next, near the Moultrie House, on the same island, was a strong sand battery, called Fort Beauregard. Fort Moultrie,. a little farther westward, had been greatly strengthened since the beginning of the war; and near it, on the western end of Sullivan's Island, was a strong earth-work called Battery Bee. On the main, at Mount Pleasant, near the mouth of Cooper River, was a heavy battery; and in front of the city, about; a mile from it, was old Castle Pinckney, which had been strengthened by banking earth against its walls on the outside. In the channel, between Sullivan's and Morris Islands, stood Fort Sumter,³ the most formidable of all the works to be assailed, grimly guarding the entrance to the inner harbor. On the southern side of the harbor, near the city, was the Wappoo Battery, on James's Island, which commanded the mouth of the Ashley River. Next to this was Fort Johnson; and between it and Castle Pinckney was Fort Ripley, constructed on a submerged sand-bank, called the “Middle ground,” of heavy timber, and armed with large guns. It was