Page 56 - NS-2 Textbook

THE CIVIL WAR 49

Union's will to canyon the war. Taking an army of a field of torpedoes (mines).
75,000 men, he marched up Virginia's Shenandoah Val- In addition to these defenses, inside the harbor the
ley and emerged near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsyl- Confederates had built two ironclads, which periodically
vania, on 1 July. At Gettysburg he ran into a Union Army made destructive forays out into the Union's ,vaoden
of 90,000 men under the command of General George blockade fleet. With the experience of the Monitor and
Meade. There followed one of the bloodiest and most de- the Virginia, both sides had begun an ironclad building
cisive battles of the ,var. program. The North believed that its new ironclads
After initial Confederate successes on 1 July, the two could force their way into the harbor at Charleston.
generals spent the next day probing for weaknesses in Union admiral Samuel DuPont decided to launch a naval
each other's lines. Lee took control of the town l ·while attack on 7 April 1863 with nine ironclads. The ships
Meade took control of strong defensive positions in the were slow in getting started, and the lead ship became
hills south of it. Desperate fighting took place as Lee fouled in her own mines weeping apparatus. TI,e column
tried to outflank the Union line on Cemetery Ridge and plodded up the channel, anchoring periodically to avoid
Culp's Hill. The Confederates were thrown back after running agrotuld.
fierce hand-to-hand fighting. On arrival at the first barrier, the entire column be-
On 3 July Lee ordered an all-out frontal assault canle a target for the most aCClu'ate and concentrated fire
against Cemetery Ridge after an intensive two-hour yet seen in the war. The Confederate generals had pre-
artillery barrage. At about 1400, a force of 15,000 aimed their guns and could hardly miss. Hundreds of
men in gray, most tmder the command of Major General Southern shells hit the ironclads. The ironclad Keokuk
George Pickett, moved in front of the ridge and began was stulk after being struck more than ninety times. The
a charge across an open field into the very teeth of other monitors made it out, jarred, jammed, and dam-
the Union lines. Artillery and small-arms fire cut down aged, but with only one death.
thousands. Some managed to reach the Union lines Although the monitors had withstood the pnnish-
but were killed or thrown back. Pickett's failed charge ment, their own fire on the Confederate ·works ·was
decided the battle. Lee was forced to begin his reh'eat ineffective. Fort Stunter had been hit fifty-five times,
back to Virginia that night, leaving 20,000 casualties from but its fighting efficiency was unscathed. TI,e earthen
the three-day battle on the field. works were tuldamaged. DuPont had served well on the
The North had 11mv adlieved nVD great victories on blockade station for over nvo years, but he had at-
successive days-Vicksburg and Gettysburg. The tide of tempted the impossible. The admiral reported to Lincoln
the war had changed; there was no longer any hope of the that Charleston was impregnable to naval attack alone,
South winning. Lee's task now was to try to keep his army and that a major amphibious assault involving large
intact by avoiding major battles, and to hy to arrange a army units 'was necessary. Both the president and the
settlement that would keep the Confederacy alive. Navy Department reluctantly agreed, but the political
pressures ,vere such that DuPont ,vas relieved shortly
thereafter.
CHARLESTON
Admiral John Dahlgren arrived on the scene as
From the beginning of the war, Secretary Welles and the DuPont's relief. The Army sent down General Gillmore
North looked upon Charleston as the hotbed of seces- of the Corps of Engineers. Together, the two hoped to
sion. Especially galling 'vas Fort Sunlter, ·where Union place Charleston tulder siege and force its surrender.
forces had been humbled in the first battle of the war. Thereaftel; a series of land and sea assaults took place.
Charleston V\Tas not as important as New Orleans, Several of the outer islands were taken by amphibious
Wilmington, or Mobile, but it was of high symbolic landings, but only after ,veeks of terrible casualties "vere
value to both sides. TI,e Union Navy had blockaded it the forts secured. The g>ms were then turned on Fort
since the start of the war. Charleston Harbor was de- Sumter, which was reduced to rubble. The Confederates
fended by well-placed fortifications. It was inlpossible refused to surrender, howevel~ and several naval and
to approach the harbor entrance without coming under amphibious assaults on it failed during the next year.
fire from these forts. Further, the main ship channel
went directly past Fort Stunter. Confederate generals
Beauregard and Ripley were engineers who had laid out THE DAVIDS AND THE HUNLEY
an extensive earthen and sandbagged defensive system
that was far more efficient than masomy forts. Theyem- During the attacks on Charleston, the Confederates de-
placed many heavy gtulS of the latest design with rifled vised hvo ne"v kinds of ,var vessels: the "David" and a
barrels that fired shot of great penetrating power. Under- submarine. Davids were old gunboats cut close to the
water they had placed obstacles such as heavy piles, a water line, covered "'lith iron plating, and arnled with a
log and chain boom, rope barriers to foul propellers, and charge of gtulpowder attached to the end of a long spar