First Battle of Charleston Harbor The First Battle of Charleston Harbor was an engagement near Charleston , South Carolina that took place April 7 , 1863 , during the American Civil War . The striking force was a fleet of nine ironclad warships of the Union Navy , including seven monitors that were improved versions of the original . A Union Army contingent associated with the attack took no active part in the battle . The ships , under command of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont , attacked the Confederate defenses near the entrance to Charleston Harbor . Navy Department officials in Washington hoped for a stunning success that would validate a new form of warfare , with armored warships mounting heavy guns reducing traditional forts . Du Pont had been given seven of the Passaic class monitor s , the powerful , and the experimental ironclad . Other naval operations were sidetracked as their resources were diverted to the attack on Charleston . After a long period of preparation , conditions of tide and visibility allowed the attack to proceed . The slow monitors got into position rather late in the afternoon , and when the tide turned , Du Pont had to suspend the operation . Firing had occupied less than two hours , and the ships had been unable to penetrate even the first line of harbor defense . The fleet retired with one in a sinking condition and most of the others damaged . One sailor in the fleet was killed and twenty - one were wounded , while five Confederate soldiers were killed and eight wounded . After consulting with his captains , Du Pont concluded that his fleet had little chance to succeed . He therefore declined to renew the battle the next morning . Background . Union . The war was not going well for the Union in late 1862 and early 1863 . Although the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had been repulsed at Antietam , it had escaped intact and had inflicted a major defeat on the Federal Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg , Virginia , following which the Army of the Potomac was in disarray . In the West , the campaign for control of the Mississippi River seemed to be bogged down before Vicksburg , Mississippi . The Confederates had actually managed to retake Galveston , Texas . A mood of war - weariness was evident throughout the North , and the fall elections , regarded as a referendum on the war , had shown a swing away from the Republican party . The Lincoln Administration therefore began to apply great pressure on its field commanders to achieve some success that would lift the national spirit . It was in this atmosphere that the Navy Department began to urge an attack on Charleston . Charleston in 1863 was already of only limited military significance , as the active centers of combat were mostly in Virginia and the interior of the country . Its value as a port for blockade runners was not much greater than that of Mobile , Alabama or Savannah , Georgia , and all were eclipsed by Wilmington , North Carolina . However , it was selected as a target more for its symbolic worth than for its strategic importance . In the words of one of the participants in the naval attack , " Fort Sumter was regarded in the public mind , North and South , as the citadel of the fortress , the incarnation of the rebellion , and as such it was attacked and defended . " Among the most vocal proponents of the attack was Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox . Fox had an ulterior motive , in that he wanted the Navy to be free from domination by the Army . He was therefore not disturbed when General - in - Chief Henry W . Halleck would not agree to a major part for the Army in the operation . Halleck was willing to commit only 10 , 000 to 15 , 000 untrained soldiers , who would exploit any successes made by the naval force but would not otherwise have an active role . The Navy Department supported the operation by assigning almost all of its armored vessels to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron , commanded by Rear Admiral Du Pont . These included the massive ; " New Ironsides " would serve as Du Pont ' s flagship . The " Passaic " class gunboats were designed as improved versions of the original ; as they were commissioned , they were sent to South Carolina , so seven of them were able to participate in the attack . In addition , the experimental armored gunboat was added to the fleet . Du Pont did not share the enthusiasm of the Navy Department for the armored vessels . Although they could withstand whatever punishment the coastal artillery of the day could mete out , their offensive capabilities were severely restricted . " New Ironsides " carried 16 guns ( broadside , so only 8 could be brought to bear at one time ) , but each of the others carried only two guns . Each " Passaic " had one and one gun , while " Keokuk " carried two guns . Although they were larger than the typical 32 - pounder weapons that would be used against them , their rate of fire was much less . Seven minutes was needed to swab , reload , and aim between shots . Despite his lack of faith in the monitors , Du Pont did not propose any alternative plans to capture Charleston . He concentrated instead on how to preserve his ships . His defeatism must be taken into account in any reckoning of results of the battle . Confederacy . General P . G . T . Beauregard commanded the Confederate Department of South Carolina , Georgia , and Florida . As he had led the rebel forces at Charleston at the time of the bombardment of Fort Sumter that opened the war , he was intimately familiar with the fortifications surrounding the city . He had been called away to service elsewhere , but returned in September 1862 . The batteries that had been set up under his supervision to assault the fort were incorporated into the harbor defenses . His successors , Major General John C . Pemberton and Brigadier General Roswell S . Ripley , made some additions in the year and a half that he was gone , but the basic features were due to Beauregard . The fortifications that had been set up around the harbor were well - suited to repel attacks from the ocean . The most seaward guns were placed in Battery Wagner ( often referred to in Union accounts as Fort Wagner ) and Battery Gregg , both on Morris Island . Near them , on a man - made island on the same side of the harbor , was Fort Sumter . Fort Moultrie and its outlying batteries lay across the harbor on Sullivan ' s Island . These formed the first or outer defensive ring . A second ring consisted of Fort Johnson and Battery Glover on James Island , and Fort Ripley and Castle Pinckney in the harbor , and finally the White Point Battery ( Battery Ramsay ) at the southern end of the city itself . A third ring , formed of several batteries on the Cooper and Ashley River s and in Charleston , was intended to protect against land assault on the city . In all , they mounted some 385 land - based guns . The defense also included shipping barriers spanning the harbor . First to be put in place was a row of piles that stretched from Fort Johnson to near Fort Ripley in the Middle Ground . This proved to be ineffective , as storms and strong tides soon ripped out major sections . Later , a " boom " was laid between Forts Sumter and Moultrie . Formed of 20 - foot ( 6 . 1 m ) lengths of railroad iron floated by large timbers , bound together by chains , and anchored at intervals , this barrier also broke under the strain imposed by the tides . It was supplemented by a rope obstruction that was meant to foul the propellers of enemy vessels . Despite the effort that went into these barriers , the defenders did not believe them to be serious impediments to an invading fleet . The same was true of most of the torpedoes ( present - day mines ) that were laid . Du Pont was unaware of their flaws , so the barriers and torpedoes were major concerns in his preparations for the battle . The South also had a naval contingent present . Two armored gunboats , and , were ready to fight if the invaders neared the city . They would be used only reluctantly , as they were known to be too slow to pose a significant threat to the Northern monitors . The defenses before Charleston were strong , but Beauregard knew that he had to prepare for the worst . Thus , shortly after he resumed his command , he made the potentially fateful decision to defend the city street by street if necessary . He wrote to Governor Francis W . Pickens to state his position : " As I understand it is the wish of all , people and government , that the city shall be defended to the last extremity . " Battle . Du Pont chose to mount the attack in the early part of April , in order to take advantage of the spring tide s brought by the full Moon . Minesweepers . As the date was nearing , a new device was introduced by the Navy Department . Because of Du Pont ' s often - expressed fears of torpedoes in the harbor , the Department had called on the man who designed the monitors , John Ericsson , to provide some means of defense . He came up with a raft - like structure made up of heavy timbers that could be attached to a ship ' s bow . Each raft carried grappling hooks intended to snag the mooring lines of enemy torpedoes . It also carried its own torpedo , so it could blast its way through the obstructions . Two of the rafts were built and sent down to South Carolina in time for the attack . After considering the steering and handling problems the rafts would introduce , Du Pont ' s captains were unwilling to mount them on their ships . The torpedo was particularly worrisome , as collisions between ships in the narrow channel with unknown currents could be expected . Only one captain , John Rodgers of " Weekawken " , could be persuaded to carry the raft on his ship , and then only without the torpedo . In the event , the motion of the raft pounded his ship so severely that Rodgers decided to cast it loose before it had cleared any enemy torpedoes . Final preparations . The fleet assembled off the mouth of the harbor on 5 April ; on that day , Du Pont sent the buoy schooner and the survey vessel , accompanied by " Keokuk " , to mark the entrance channel with buoys . The weather on the following day was hazy , making navigation difficult , so Du Pont postponed the attack for another day . The harbor was obscured by haze again on the morning of April 7 , but it cleared up by noon , and the signal to attack was given . Line of battle . Four monitors led the way ; first was , under Captain John Rodgers . Getting under way , " Weehawken ' s " anchor fouled the grappling hooks on the torpedo raft , delaying the start by about an hour . She then could make only three knots ( 5 . 5 km / h ) , and the rest of the column had to follow at her slow pace . Second was , commanded by Charleston native Captain Percival Drayton . Third was , led by Commander John L . Worden ; Worden was famed as the captain of when she engaged CSS " Virginia " at the Battle of Hampton Roads . Next came , under Commander Daniel Ammen . These were followed by the flagship , , commanded by Commodore Thomas Turner ; also aboard were Rear Admiral Du Pont and his fleet captain , Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers . Then came three more monitors : , under Commander George W . Rodgers , brother of C . R . P . Rodgers and cousin of John Rodgers ; , under Commander Donald M . Fairfax ; and , under Commander John Downes . Twin - turreted , commanded by Commander Alexander C . Rhind , was at the end of the line . Almost two hours elapsed between the time the ships got under way until the opening shots were fired . In that time , they found that " New Ironsides " had severe handling problems in the strong current and shallow water . She was forced to stop and anchor to avoid going aground , just about the time that the lead monitors were coming under fire . She dropped out of the line , and the four ships following her passed around , with some difficulty . The waiting Rebels could not have chosen a better place for " New Ironsides " to anchor , as she was directly over a 3000 - pound ( 1360 kg ) electrically - triggered torpedo that would be activated by closing a switch on shore . Their high hopes were dashed , however , when the switch was closed and nothing happened . Two explanations for the failure have been offered . According to the one , an ordnance wagon had broken the wires by being driven over them . The other holds that the wires were simply too long , so the electrical current would not be great enough to create a spark and detonate the charge . Meanwhile , the other ships were being pummeled . " Weehawken " had advanced to a line of buoys that Captain Rodgers thought might mark torpedoes , so he swerved from the channel and stopped to consider what to do next . At this time , an underwater explosion rocked the vessel ; Rodgers thought that it was a torpedo , but some historians believe that it was more likely the explosion of a shell from one of the forts . In either case , the ship suffered no significant injury . Because she had left the channel , however , the line of ships following her were thrown into confusion , and whatever was left of Du Pont ' s battle plan collapsed . The intense fire the ships received from the forts kept them farther from Fort Sumter than the admiral had envisioned , so their return fire was less accurate than planned . It was not accuracy that determined the result , however , but the sheer disparity in firepower . In the course of the two hours of the engagement , the Confederate forces got off more than 2000 shot and shell , of which 520 hit . By contrast , the Union fleet fired only 154 shots . Their armor protected the crews , but several ships suffered damage that impaired their fighting abilities , such as jammed turrets and gunport stoppers . Worst hit was " Keokuk " , which was hit 90 times , including 19 shots at or below the waterline . Captain Rhind withdrew his ship from the fight , barely able to keep her afloat until she was beyond enemy gunfire . By this time , the tide had turned , so Admiral Du Pont decided to suspend the attack until the following day . Termination . Du Pont in his official report asserted that he fully intended to renew the attack the next day , but his captains were unanimously opposed . " Keokuk " sank during the night ( with no loss of life ) , two or three of the monitors had sustained damage that would keep them out of further action for days if not weeks , and the captains agreed that nothing good could come from prolonging the battle . Even if they could knock out Fort Sumter , the rest of the fortifications remained , and the fleet had not penetrated the first defensive ring . Thus the battle fizzled out . The Union had lost one ironclad , and Fort Sumter had sustained damage that could be repaired in short order , though it was somewhat more than Du Pont realized . Personnel casualties were quite low despite the volume of fire . Only one man , Quartermaster Edward Cobb of " Nahant " , was killed in the fleet , and 21 others sustained various degrees of injury . The Rebels had lost five killed and eight wounded . Aftermath . Secretary of the Navy Welles was dismayed by the failure . The small casualty list , coupled with Du Pont ' s evident reluctance beforehand , led him to believe at first that the attack was not pressed with vigor . His criticism softened only when John Rodgers , who was known to be a thoroughly competent and aggressive officer , sided with Du Pont . As Rodgers saw it , and as Welles had to agree , Charleston could not be taken by a purely naval assault . It would require a combined operation , with full cooperation of both services , to achieve that . Welles saw that Du Pont was correct in stating that Charleston could not be taken by naval forces alone , but the breach between the two men was irreparable . Welles recalled the admiral on June 3 , replacing him at first with Rear Admiral Andrew H . Foote . Foote , however , had never fully recovered from a wound he had received during the Battle of Fort Donelson , and he died before he could report to his new station . Welles therefore somewhat reluctantly turned responsibility for the naval portion of the campaign to Rear Admiral John A . Dahlgren . Du Pont ' s captains fared better than he , and none of them suffered professionally for their participation in the failed campaign . Seven of them ( John and C . R . P . Rodgers , Ammen , Fairfax , Turner , Worden , and Rhind ) eventually became rear admirals . Drayton was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Navigation , which would have made him a rear admiral , but he died of a heart attack while awaiting Senate confirmation . George W . Rodgers was known as one of the best captains in the fleet , but he was killed in a later attack on Charleston . The monitors and " New Ironsides " continued to take part in the blockade of Charleston that remained in force , but the former never again inspired such awe among the Rebels as they had before the attack . All were used in the continuing campaign against the city . Even the sunken " Keokuk " continued to figure in the war . She had sunk in shallow water that left her smokestack above the surface , so her position was known . Adolphus W . LaCoste , a Charleston civilian hired by the Confederate government , was able to salvage the two guns from the wreck . He and his crew worked by night and were able to escape notice of the blockaders ; Du Pont did not suspect their activity until it was announced in the Charleston " Mercury . "