Charleston Harbor

“ He first appeared off the bar of Charleston Harbor, to the no small excitement of the worthy town of that ilk, and there he lay for five or six days, blockading the port, and stopping incoming and outgoing vessels at his pleasure, so that, for the time, the commerce of the province was entirely paralyzed. ”

“ But when the next day came and we were all transferred to a steamer, and her head was turned for Charleston, we began to master all doubts and fears. We reached Charleston harbor very early on the morning of the 3rd, lay at anchor for two or three hours, and then steamed slowly in toward the city, until we passed the last monitor, and halted again. In a short time, a small boat came out from Charleston, with the fifty Federal prisoners on board and officers of General Jones' staff, [Pg 505] authorized to conclude the exchange. ”

“ I refer to his report also for a full history of the occurrences in Charleston Harbor prior to and including the bombardment and reduction of Fort Sumter, and of the measures subsequently taken for the common defense on receiving the intelligence of the declaration of war against us, made by the President of the United States. There are now in the field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, Saint Philip, and Pulaski 19,000 men, and 16,000 are now en route for Virginia. ”

“ Nothing can be more melancholy and desolate than the appearance of the lower part of the city immediately adjoining the wharves. The grass seed intended by the seceders for the streets of New York has brought forth a bountiful yield in the streets of Charleston. The military authorities have caused the streets to be well policed, but in the immediate vicinity of the harbor it seems impossible to keep the grass down. ”

“ Only One in America
37 CASTLE PINCKNEY, in Charleston Harbor: Stand on the incomparable Battery and look seaward. Fort Sumter is in plain view, of course, but nearer the gaze is Castle Pinckney, holding the status nowadays of a government monument. It is to be reached only by boat. The fort at the edge of the sand bank known as Shute’s Folly was built after the Revolution, in 1797-1804. Later, it was enlarged. In the War for Southern Independence, it lacked opportunity to contribute materially to the defense of Charleston. ”

“ The crossing of the bar involved considerable risk from grounding, but all passed it safely, and were at anchor inside by ten o'clock. The Weehawken lagged somewhat behind, by having a raft from the Ericsson again fitted to her bow, but soon joined the rest. Charleston bar is a ridge-like elevation of the bottom of the sea, reaching from one end of the entrance of the harbor to the other. Large vessels can safely make the inside only through three openings in this, known as the Main Ship, Swash, and North Channels. The first runs to the south of the bar, almost parallel to Morris Island. ”

“ The very reasons which determine the original selection of a port—facility for entrance, abundant anchorage, and ease of access to the interior for distribution and receipt of the articles of commerce—determine also the accumulation of defences, to the exclusion of other less favored localities. All these conditions, natural and artificial, combined with the Union occupancy of the other inlets to concentrate blockade-running upon Charleston. This in turn drew thither the blockaders, which had to be the more numerous because the harbor could be entered by two or more channels, widely separated. ”

“ The National loss was about 30, and the Confederate considerably larger.
Throughout the war there was a strong desire to capture or punish the city of Charleston, which was looked upon as the cradle of secession, and also to close its harbor to blockade runners. Elaborate and costly operations on the seaward side were maintained for a long time, but never with any real success. The lowlands that stretch out ten or twelve miles south of the harbor are cut by many winding rivers and inlets, and broken frequently by swamps. ”

“ CHARLESTON UNDER ARMS. On Saturday morning, January 19, 1861, the steamer Columbia, from New York, lay off the harbor of Charleston in full sight of Fort Sumter. It is a circumstance which perhaps would never have reached the knowledge of the magazine-reading world, nor have been of any importance to it, but for the attendant fact that I, the writer of this article, was on board the steamer. It takes two events to make a consequence, as well as two parties to make a bargain. ”

“ That a great city must spring up hereabouts, has been laid down as an axiom. This is the best harbor on the coast, while that of Charleston is positively bad, and that of Savannah is contracted, and not easy of access. Situated midway between the two, the speculators insist that it ought to fall legitimate heir to the trade of both. Besides, the Carolina sea-coast must have a seaport, and Charleston is so utterly ruined, they argue, and so odious to the 88nation that Northern trade and capital would discriminate against it, in favor of its younger rival. ”

“ West of the channel is a lighthouse with a flashing light at an elevation of 133 feet. The harbor defenses include Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island—where the Federal Government, at an expenditure of over $500,000, is making extensive improvements designed to render the artillery post at that point one of the most completely equipped in the United States—and Fort Sumter. The other forts, well known in history, are now abandoned. The United States Navy Department has decided to transfer the naval station at Port Royal, S. C., to Charleston. ”

“ The monument to William Gilmore Simms, editor, author and historian, was erected in June, 1879. At the foot of Meeting Street is a memorial fountain to the men of the first submarine, Confederates. Facing Fort Sumter is a monument to the defenders of Fort Sumter. On the Battery are relics of all the wars Charleston has seen, the Spanish War being represented by the capstan of the battleship Maine, destroyed in Havana harbor in 1898. To visit Charleston and not to see the Battery is unthinkable. From time to time concerts are given in the band stand. ”

“ All the business had fled to Savannah. Foreign vessels would not attempt to enter a harbor where civil war was raging, especially as it was reported that obstructions had been sunk in the channel. The Charleston people said they now fully understood and appreciated the kindness of the people of Savannah in furnishing them with old hulks to destroy the harbor of Charleston. ”

“ There was no navy yard and no ship-building plant at Charleston, but with an energy that did credit to the men who exercised it, several small gunboats and torpedo boats were extemporized within the harbor and employed with energy and effect. ”

“ Charleston extended before us. The city, distinguished as a seaport, lies upon a tongue of land, formed by the rivers Ashley and Cooper: we crossed the Ashley to reach the city. A causeway, constructed of fascines, passes through the swamp to the ferry. The river is three-quarters of a mile broad; we crossed it in an eight-horse team-boat. A wooden bridge, which formerly crossed the river here, was destroyed by a severe storm, and never again rebuilt. Upon the right bank, in the vicinity of Charleston, an entirely novel spectacle expanded itself to my view. ”

“ The city lies on a spur or promontory between the Ashley and the Cooper rivers, and the land behind it is divided in the same manner by similar creeks, and is sandy and light, bearing, nevertheless, very fine crops, and trees of magnificent vegetation. The steeples, the domes of public buildings, the rows of massive warehouses and cotton stores on the wharfs, and the bright colours of the houses, render the appearance of Charleston, as seen from the river front, rather imposing. From the mastheads of the few large vessels in harbour floated the Confederate flag. ”

“ Our voyage to Charleston was very rapid. I certainly was in no hurry to have it over, when I had so disagreeable a prospect before me as a trial, and not impossibly an execution. I was treated with less harshness than the rest of the prisoners—perhaps on account of my youth—perhaps because some believed me innocent. I fain hoped on the latter account.
At length we arrived. I will not stop to describe Charleston. It is a fine, flourishing city, with a dock-yard, where many of the ships of the American navy are built. ”

“ Good transportation facilities, by rail and water, form a feature of its equipment as a commercial centre. The Clyde Line connects Charleston with New York, Boston, and Jacksonville, and freight-steamers go to important foreign and domestic ports; the Atlantic Coast Line, Southern, and Plant System railways afford railroad communication.
In the early years of the Nineteenth Century Charleston was the chief cotton port in the United States, and down to 1860 it held third place among the cotton-receiving ports. ”

“ With the setting of the sun, the roar of battle slackens. The victory is Moultrie's. Twilight and silence fall upon the smoking fort. Here and there lights glimmer in the city, as the joyful people of Charleston return to their homes. The stars look down upon the lapping waters of the bay, where ride at anchor the shadowy vessels of the British fleet. Towards midnight, when the tide begins to ebb, the battered war ships slip their cables and sail out into the darkness with their dead. ”

“ The latter and the Isle of Palms are separated by Breach Inlet, over which is a modern bridge. By way of the Ashley River Bridge, thence through James Island, is the route to Folly Beach, with its seven-mile strand. An entertainment pier was built in time for the season of 1931; this is over the water at high tide. To the east of Folly Beach is Morris Island where stands the Charleston Light, the first and only 92 Colonial light south of the Delaware capes. To the west is the desirable Island of Kiawah, property of the late Major Arnoldus Vanderhorst. ”

“ Then tumbled everything on board and by gum if up didn’t go northwest storm warnings. No place to take a twister, this Charleston. So up anchor and into the clubhouse wharf where we tied snugly. On shore for another good feed. Charleston, nominally prohibition, is really more wide open than any town I ever saw. The blind tigers are running with wide open eyes at every corner and the signs of open gambling everywhere. Commend me always to a good, gambling bar for good cooking and so we hit a mahogany palace having an electric roulette wheel for a sign. ”

“ Charleston, the principal maritime port of the British in the southern parts of the continent, the grand deposite and point of support for the present theatre of the war, is open to a combined attack, and might be carried with as much certainty as the place which has just surrendered. ”

“ It is not strange, then, that I almost fancied myself in another world, when after a prosperous sea voyage I one morning went on shore at Charleston, and first breathed the soft, balmy air of the South. Dense and green was the foliage of the trees, while thousands of roses and flowering shrubs filled the air with a perfume almost sickening to the senses. From Charleston to Augusta was a wearisome ride, for the cars were crowded and dirty, and there was to me nothing remarkably pleasing in the long stretches of cypress swamps and pine barrens through which we passed. ”

“ I carried my grievance to the manager. He promised redress, but the boots were not cleaned, that is to say, not in the hotel. I mention this as it was the only instance of insubordination I met with in this class in my tour through the United States.
Nature has done much for Charleston. Its fine harbour is formed by the junction of two large navigable [Pg 118] rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper. It is free from yellow fever, the scourge of Mobile and New Orleans. The orange and oleander grow in the spaces between its streets and its houses. ”

“ Large extents of country in the neighborhood of Charleston, especially that lying along the streams, and stretching for many miles inland, are low and swampy. The region is sparsely settled, and furnishes no thriving agricultural or manufacturing population, which, seeking a market or a port for its productions, and wanting supplies in return, helps to build up the city. Several railways connecting with the North, West and South centre here; and she is also connected, by means of steamship lines, with the principal Atlantic seaports and some European ones. ”

“ Coming to Charleston President George Washington, President James Monroe and the Marquis de Lafayette traveled over the old King’s Highway. Washington was here in 1791, Monroe in 1819 and Lafayette in 1825. From the Mount Pleasant shore to the City of Charleston they crossed by primitive ferry. To August of 1929 ferries over the broad Cooper River were continued. In that month the great bridge over the Cooper River was opened to traffic. This is the world’s third highest vehicular bridge! ”

“ But if oncoming years have worked great changes in the manner of the race which continues to be of numerical importance in the seaport city, it will take more than one or two or three or even four generations to work great changes in the manners of the well-born white-skinned folk who have ruled Charleston through the years by wit, diplomacy, the keen force of intellect more than even the force of arms. ”