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HISTORY of the FIFTY-FOURTH REGIMENT
of
MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
1863-1865
by Luis Fenollosa Emilio
Published:
Boston:
The History Book Company
1894.
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CHAPTER IX.
MORRIS ISLAND
pp. 186 -
[Page 186]
OUR voyage from
Florida terminated at Stono Inlet on the morning of April 18.
The steamer thence proceeded up Folly River, but running aground,
the left-wing companies were transferred to the steamer "Canonicus."
Disembarking at Pawnee Landing about 3 P.M., the fifty-fourth at
once marched to Lighthouse Inlet in a heavy rain-storm, and there
crossed on a large flat boat to Morris Island. Shelter for the
night was provided in the ordnance building for the men, the
officers finding accommodations with friends. That evening
Captain Emilio was ordered to command the outpost of Black Island
with Companies C, E, and H, as the garrison.
Camp was established where the receding sand-hills
formed a sort of natural amphitheatre, at a point about a mile up
the beach, near the signal hill. There the regiment remained
during its continuance on Morris Island. A company was sent to
Fort Wagner that evening, and the next day suffered the loss of one
man, killed by a shell.
Again the Fifty-fourth was upon the sand isle, which
the winds and tides had perceptibly encroached upon during our
absence. At the front the thunder of great guns rang out only
occasionally, in place of incessant bombardment. Monitors,
gunboats, and supply-vessels still rode upon the near waters; and
blockaders appeared and disappeared along the horizon before the
beleaguered port. But the
[Page 187]
thousands of blue-garmented soldiery had departed for other
fields, leaving but a remnant behind. Col. W. W H.
Davis still commanded, but had only his own
regiment,the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, the
Fifty-second Pennsylvania, and five companies of the Third
Rhode Island Heavy Artillery on Morris Island, and the
Eleventh Maine on Black Island. Few events of
importance had occurred during the winter months.
Vessels still ran the blockade, but sometimes came to grief,
as did the "Presto," which went ashore on Sullivan's Island
February 2, and was destroyed by our guns. The navy
lost the "Housatonic " on February 17, sunk by a torpedo
boat, the latter also going to the bottom with all on board.
Sumter had been made stronger against assault, and a few
guns were mounted on its channel face.
Black Island was reached by the three companies, after
laboriously rowing up Lighthouse Inlet and the creeks, on
the evening of the 18th. The Eleventh Maine was
relieved there and departed the next day. This
outpost, occupied by a portion of the Fifty-fourth until
Charleston was evacuated, merits description. It was
of small extent and almost the only dry spot amid the
marshes between Morris and James islands. The safety
of Lighthouse Inlet and the inland channel from Stono
depended upon its safe maintenance. Our heavy guns,
mounted there in August, 1863, had been removed. There
was an enclosed work holding a single Wiard rifle-gun.
As it was within range of the lower James Island batteries,
bombproofs had been constructed. From a platform near
the top of a tall pine-tree called the "Crow's Nest,"
commanding a fine view of the whole region, a constant watch
was kept. Messages were sent to and received from
Morris Island by signal flags
[Page 188]
and torches. A foot-bridge over the marshes connected it with
the main post. Stores had to be brought in rowboats.
Much vegetation covered the ground, rendering it altogether a
pleasanter spot than Morris Island. Some twenty-five men were
detailed daily for guards and pickets. A non-commissioned
officer and five men in each of two boats were sent at night to
guard the water-ways toward James Island. Sergt.
Joseph Sulsey of Company E was appointed acting
sergeant-major. A detail of twenty-three non-commissioned
officers and men was placed under instruction until proficiency was
attained in artillery practice.
Colonel Hallowell assumed command of
Morris Island on the 20th, relieving Colonel Davis,
who, with the Fifty-second and One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania,
departed for Hilton Head. The next day Colonel
Montgomery arrived and relieved Colonel Hallowell.
He brought the Thirty-fourth United States Colored Troops (formerly
the Second South Carolina) and the Twenty-first United States
Colored Troops. Col. William Gurney, with his regiment,
the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York, came on the 23d, and in
turn relieved Montgomery. In consequence of these
frequent changes of post-commander some of the Fifty-fourth
companies were as often shifted from one duty to another. On
the 23d Companies B and G were made the provost-guard at Morris
Island; but Company B was relieved therefrom in two or three days.
Companies A, I, and K, under Lieutenant Leonard, were
detailed for a few days as boat infantry. Captain Jones,
with Company D, relieved a company of the Thirty-fourth United
States Colored Troops as the garrison of Fort Shaw.
[Page 189]
A very heavy wind swept the island on the 25th, which blew
down the Beacon house on the beach-front. This
prominent landmark was a frame building, resting on a
masonry foundation. On the northerly end was the
chimney-stack, and surmounting the roof was a cupola.
It had long been stripped of weather boarding, and stood,
skeleton like, in our daily pathway to and from Cumming's
Point.
General Schimmelfennig, commanding the
Northern District, and Colonel Gurney visited
Black Island May 1, and after inspecting the post, viewed
the enemy's lines beyond. About this period the
commanding officer thus wrote :
" So near
are we to the enemy on this island that we can distinctly hear the
bands and drums on James Island, and see them drilling in the
daytime. For the past few nights we could hear them having
jolly times at Secessionville, cheering, etc., and from seeing
regiments leaving in heavy marching order, with baggage-wagons in
the rear, judge that the uproar was occasioned by these departures
of troops, probably to join Lee."
General
Gillmore, on May 1, formally relinquished command of the
department to General Hatch. Admiral
Dahlgren, who had been North, returned that day and records in
his journal: "Hatch says that Gillmore has taken off
twenty thousand men, and leaves him no more than enough to hold on."
On the 17th Dahlgren writes that Hatch had some
fourteen thousand men remaining, "which were barely sufficient for
the defensive."
No mails came to Morris Island for many days, while the
steamers were all employed in transporting troops North. The
infantry regiments went out in regular turn for grand guard, and
fatigue work, at the front, or at the ordnance and quartermaster's
depots. Our artillerymen were throw
[Page 190]
ing about a dozen shells into Charleston daily.
Against Sumter they were firing mainly with mortars at
night. A new commander was in charge of the
Confederates there, for Capt. John C. Mitchel, First
South Carolina Artillery, relieved Colonel Elliott
on May 4.
For some time a very few men of the Fifty-fourth had
manifested sullenness and an indisposition to promptly obey
orders, justifying their actions to themselves and others on
the ground of non-payment. Advices from the North
regarding Congressional action were surely discouraging. Mr.
Wilson, on April 22, had moved to add the Equalizing to the
Appropriation Bill, which was finally agreed to by the
Senate ; but the House amended it as to the amount of bounty
and the clause authorizing the Secretary of War to allow
full pay to those colored soldiers who had been promised it.
In place, the House inserted a provision allowing full pay
only to free persons of color who were enlisted. This
the Senate refused to agree with on May 3. Two
conference committees were appointed, but the House rejected
their reports. Colonel Hallowell used
every means to secure the just claims of the men by letters
to their friends. His frequent applications for leave
of absence upon this business had not been granted.
When informed of the threatening disposition of the few men
referred to, he visited each post, addressed the companies,
explaining the causes of delay, and counselling patience
still longer; but he warned the disaffected that orders must
be obeyed, and set forth the sure penalty of disobedience.
His words were disregarded in but two instances. On
May 12, a private of Company B, for refusing duty, was
slightly wounded by a pistol-shot from an officer; and on
the 21st another man (of Company H) was shot at
[Page 191]
and slightly wounded by an officer for a similar offence.
This summary punishment inflicted was effective in its
results to the command.
Colonel Hallowell on June 4 informed
Governor Andrew that the regiment had not been
paid, and requested that he demand of the Secretary of War
that the Fifty-fourth be paid or sent to Massachusetts for
muster-out, as the contract was broken.
For the further security of Black Island, early in May,
Company E was ordered to encamp within the fort to guard
against sudden attack; and Lieutenant Spear,
in charge of the picket-boats from there, placed a boom of
barrels, connected by chains, across the creek, in advance
of his night stations. While visiting the pickets in
the patrolboat after dark, Captain Homans on
one occasion discovered a floating torpedo, which he secured
and brought to Black Island. It was made of staves,
cigar-shaped, with a large cap to explode by contact.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hooper assumed command of the
"Defences of Lighthouse Inlet " on May 7. They
included Black Island, Battery Purviance, and Fort Green, on
Folly Island, opposite Purviance. These two batteries
mounted thirty-pounder Parrotts for offensive purposes
against James Island. Lieutenant-Colonel
Hooper made his headquarters at Fort Green.
Captain Tucker, with Company H, left Black Island
and relieved Lieutenant-Colonel Fox and
Companies A and F, Fifty-fifth Massachusetts, at Fort Green
on the 7th. Company I, under Lieut. Lewis
Reed, took the place of Company H at Black Island.
A rude structure of logs raised above the marsh had
been built by the Confederates near the water-ways toward
James Island. We called it "Block House No. 1."
Lieu-
[Page 192]
tenant Spear made a reconnoissance of it on the night of the
8th, and was twice fired upon. Capt. T. L. Appleton,
provost-marshal on Colonel Gurney's staff, had been
for some time making preparations to capture this block
house. With a party of Fifty-fourth men he went there
on the night of the 14th, only to find it unoccupied.
It was visited a number of times afterward by our officers
from Black Island.
There was an utter stagnation of active operations in
the department. Hatch was considering a plan of moving up
the Wando River in connection with the ironclads, and a
foray at Murrell's Inlet and Georgetown. Admiral
Dahlgren had convened another council of his chief
officers when the project of attack on Sumter was again
negatived. He was contenting himself with a sharp
bombardment of the fort with an ironclad or two for the
purpose of preventing work there. The land forces were
firing more briskly in unison with the navy. High
tides somewhat damaged our works at Cumming's Point toward
the close of May.
Further changes of station occurred for some of our
companies, as, on the 18th, Captain Emilio,
with Company E, relieved Company H at Fort Green, and the
succeeding day Captain Bridge, with Company F,
took post at Battery Purviance. Company H returned to
Black Island, where Captain Homans was in
command; and the garrison there was increased toward the
last of May by a portion of Company F, under Lieutenant
Edmands. Then the Fifty-fourth held all the
posts about Lighthouse Inlet. Our men at Green and
Purviance in a short time became efficient artillerists, as
had those of Company H. Both works on Lighthouse Inlet were
frequently engaged with the lower James Island batteries
about Secessionville, at long range.
CAPT. ORIN E. SMITH
CAPT. LUIS F. EMILIO
CAPT. GARTH W. JAMES
CAPT. WILLARD HOWARD
[Page 193]
General
Hatch, having concluded to try to cut the railroad at Ashepoo,
sent Brig.-Gen. William Birney with some sixteen hundred men
to make the attempt. He landed at the mouth of Mosquito Creek
on May 25, advancing about six miles in the evening. The naval
vessels landed a force to co-operate on Johassie Island. The steamer
"Boston," on which were Colonel Montgomery and the
Thirty-fourth United States Colored Troops, ran aground and was
fired upon by the enemy with artillery, compelling her abandonment
and destruction by fire. General Birney's force
retired to Port Royal on the 27th.
Maj.-Gen. John G. Foster, a distinguished
officer, who graduated from West Point in 1846, took command of the
Department May 26. He was no stranger there, for in April,
1861, he was the engineer officer at Moultrie and Sumter, and in
January, 1862, brought a large part of the Eighteenth Corps to South
Carolina. Throughout the Civil War he suffered from a wound
received in Mexico.
As Lieutenant-Colonel Hooper was
detailed for court-martial duty and Captain Emilio as
judge-advocate at Hilton Head, on May 29, Captain Bridge
took command of Lighthouse Inlet and Capt. T. L. Appleton of
Fort Green. During the ensuing night some of our officers
perpetrated a great joke on the Johnnies. Making the stuffed
figure of a soldier, they took it out in a boat and stood it on top
of Block House No. 1, placing an imitation gun in its hands.
When morning broke, the Johnnies espied the supposed sentinel, and
fired at him for half an hour, through which he seemed to bear a
charmed life. When they opened, we replied from Green and
Purviance.
Lieutenant Swails, when commissioned, was
placed on
[Page 194]
duty as an officer, but the application for his muster
inaugurated a new struggle with the War Department.
When the usual request was made, it was refused on account
of Lieutenant Swails's African descent,
although to all appearances he was a white man. After
the regiment came under Colonel Gurney,
Swails was ordered to discard his officer's uniform and
take duty as an enlisted man. Colonel
Hallowell, however, procured him a furlough, and sent
him, provided with the necessary papers, to see General
Foster at Hilton Head. There Lieutenant
Swails presented his claims in person and received
the general's recommendation for muster, to be forwarded to
higher authority.
We had only seven monitors before Charleston June 1,
with but four of that number serviceable, while the enemy
had four ironclads. Their garrisons were depleted to
the last man, artillerymen holding their forts with feeble
supports. On James Island there was not a single
infantry regiment; and for some time the Citadel Cadets,
composed of youths, and some companies of city firemen,
armed for the duty, served at that point. One of their
supply steamers grounded during the night of the 4th between
Sumter and Johnson, and the next morning Gregg opened on
her, and soon destroyed the craft. A few vessels,
under skilful and daring officers, managed to run the
blockade into Charleston. From first to last some
sixty-seven steamers and twenty-one sailing-vessels eluded
us, of which a large proportion were owned by J. Fraser &
Co. With spool-cotton at $12.50 per dozen,
sole-leather $9.25 per pound, writing-paper $72 per ream,
steel pens $8.50 per gross, and other foreign goods in like
proportion, enormous profits were realized, as the cotton
ex-
[Page 195]
ported cost but little over the ordinary price. A
clear profit of $150,000 for the round trip was not unusual.
Captains of vessels frequently realized $5,000 for the
voyage.
Colonel Hallowell having at last received
permission to proceed North to press the claims of the
regiment in person, left Morris Island on June 6, and
Major Appleton assumed command. On the same
day the great ironclad, "New Ironsides," steamed away for
the North. Our boat parties were spurred on to
activity by General Schimmelfennig, who was
desirous of obtaining information of the enemy's lines by
such means, or from prisoners who might be secured. A
steadier and increased fire on the city was ordered by
General Foster.
General Jones, the Confederate Department commander,
about this time bethought himself of an expedient by which
he hoped to cause a cessation of our bombardment. He
set forth his inhumane plan as follows:
Charleston, June 1, 1864.
GENERAL BRAGG
The enemy continue their bombardment of the city with increased
vigor, damaging private property and endangering the lives of women
and children. I can take care of a party say fifty Yankee
prisoners. Can you not send me that number including a general
Seymour will do and other officers of high rank, to be
confined in parts of the city still occupied by citizens under the
enemy's fire?
S. JONES.
In response to this telegram, Generals Wessells,
Scammon, Shaler, Seymour, and Heckman, and
forty-five field officers were sent to Charleston and placed under
fire, General Jones notifying General Foster
of the fact on
June 13. In compliance with General Foster's
request
[Page 196]
to the President, on the 29th Generals Gardner,
Steuart, Archer, Jeff. Thompson, and
Edward Johnson, besides forty-five Confederate
field-officers, were received at Hilton Head and confined on the
brig "Dragoon" there.It was General Foster's purpose
if necessary to imprison these officers under fire in retaliation.
Our Morris Island garrison was reinforced on June 13 by
the return of the Fifty-second Pennsylvania, Col. H. M. Hoyt;
and the next day the Thirty-third United States Colored Troops
landed and camped above the Fifty-fourth. A company of the One
Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York relieved Company G, of our
regiment, from provost duty on the 15th. On the next day at 5
P. M. the enemy fired salutes of shotted guns from every battery in
view, besides two rams, probably in honor of some success to their
arms.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hooper returned on the 18th
and took command of the regiment, Major Appleton
assuming charge of the defences of the inlet. During May and
June the following changes took place among the officers: Surg.
Chas. E. Briggs and Lieutenants Fred. E. Rogers,
Joseph E. Cousens, Chas. O. Hallett and Benj. B. Edmands,
newly appointed, reported; Capt. R. H. L. Jewett and
Lieutenant Littlefield re-joined from the North; Assistant-Surgeon
Pease resigned; Assistant-Surgeon Bridgham,
who had been reappointed, reported June 5, but went to Beaufort,
sick, resigning there on the 16th. Lieutenant
Tomlinson was discharged at the North.
There was variable weather the second week in June, but
remarkably cool for three days previous to the 15th, with rain.
Then the hot weather set in, the temperature often being 90° in the
shade. Orders were given for thorough
[Page 197]
policing, the burial of garbage, and the free use of disinfectants.
Every man was required to bathe twice each week. Where
practicable, sentry-boxes were built for shelter. The troops
suffered from want of ice. Desiccated vegetables, soaked
overnight and boiled with fresh beef, were issued twice a week.
As fresh vegetables were sorely needed, Commissary-Sergeant Lee
was sent to Beaufort and brought back a limited quantity.
Our daily duties of fatigue and grand guard went on
unvaryingly week after week. The troops only looked forward to
the arrival of the mails to bring news of events taking place
elsewhere. Some sick and wounded comrades returned; and on June 20
we received twelve recruits for the regiment. That same day
Quartermaster Ritchie recorded in his journal that he saw
and talked with "Washington Smith just escaped from
Charleston," who told him about the Fifty-fourth prisoners there.
This seems to be the first news received of these men, then confined
nearly a year.
Until late in June it was not expected that any active
operations would be attempted, at least during the summer months.
But on the 19th there were demonstrations made by our troops from
Folly Island about the Stono. By the 29th evidences of some
projected movement became apparent. Our scouting parties were
urged to greater activity; boats were put in order, bridges toward
James Island were laid, and ammunition was served out. The
time seemed favorable, for the enemy were few in number, and did not
expect attack.
Major Appleton, commanding Lighthouse
Inlet, made a boat reconnoissance on the night of the 29th, nearly
up to the enemy's lines at Secessionville. Orders were
received
[Page 198]
on the 30th for the Fifty-fourth, except Companies C, H, I, and part
of F at Black Island, to move at sunset, with arms and intrenching
tools. But at 9 p. M., after waiting three hours, the orders
to march were countermanded for twenty-four hours.
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