Emilio, Luis F., History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , 1863-1865

By order of General Terry, commanding Morris Island, the regiment on the 19th was attached to the Third Brigade with the Tenth Connecticut, Twenty-fourth Massachusetts, Seventh New Hampshire, One Hundredth New York, and Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania, under General Stevenson. Upon the 20th the labors of the siege work began, for in the morning the first detail was furnished. Late in the afternoon the commanding officer received orders to take the Fifty-fourth to the front for grand-guard duty. He reported with all the men in camp—some three hundred— and was placed at the Beacon house, supporting the Third New Hampshire and Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania. There was no firing of consequence that night. In the morning the Fifty-fourth was moved forward into the trenches.

Capt. D. A. Partridge, left sick in Massachusetts, joined July 21, and, as senior officer, assumed command.

Preparations were made for a bombardment of Sumter as well as for the siege of Wagner. Work began on the artillery line of July 18, that night, for the first parallel, 1,350 yards from Wagner. When completed, it mounted eight siege and field guns, ten mortars, and three Requa rifle batteries. July 23, the second parallel was established some four hundred yards in front of the first. Vincent's Creek on its left was obstructed with floating booms. On its right was the ‘Surf Battery,’ armed with field-pieces. This parallel was made strong for defence for the purpose of constructing in its rear the ‘Left Batteries’ against Sumter. It mounted twenty-one light pieces for defence and three thirty-pounder Parrotts and one Wiard rifle. The two parallels were connected by zigzag approaches to protect passing troops. In the construction of these works and the transportation of siege material, ordnance, and