Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20141123 : vimarsana.co

There are other establishments in new york city, artisan 00 where they try to harken back to those older recipes. To get a taste of 18thcentury tavern culture. The chamber of commerce, the new society, sons of revolution, only a little bit later, those kinds of club survive. The rituals that were invented in the 18th century still survive. Think about freemasons or Something Like that. Is a way people today can experience something i can do the drinkings culture in the 18th century. [applause] youre watching American History tv. 40 aid hours of programming on American History every week and on cspan3. At cspanon twitter history for information on her schedule, upcoming programs, and to keep up with the latest history news. During the civil war, union forces repeatedly targeted the port of charleston, South Carolina, using a variety of tactics, including new naval technology, ironclad warships. Historian steven wise talks about the seize of charleston. The various artillery methods used and the role of blockade runners in keeping charleston supplied. This event was hosted by the South Carolina historical society. It runs about an hour and 10 minutes. Good evening. Im faye jansen. On behalf of the South Carolina historical society, id like to thank everyone for joining us. Id also like to thank the board of managers of the society for sponsoring this event tonight. There will be refreshments afterwards and you can thank our board for those. In his war for the union series, historian alan nevin points out that the federal assault on charleston was planned for both political and military reasons. He writes that the seizure of the cradle of the confederacy, the proud capital of nullify ors and secessionists. Would humiliate every follower of calhoun and exalt every northern heart. Were going to hear about this Important Campaign tonight from two of South Carolinas finest historians. Dr. Walter edgar is Professor Emeritus at the university of South Carolina where he began teaching in 1972. He has written or edited more than a dozen books on the American South and South Carolina, including the South Carolina encyclopedia, carolina a history partisans and red coats, the , southern conflict that turned the tide of the american revolution, and South Carolina in the modern age. He has also contributed numerous essays and reviews to professional publications and has delivered hundreds of talks to school, civic and community groups. Dr. Edgar was the founder and first director of the universitys Public History Program and served as the director of the institute for southern studies. Since 2000, he has been the host of two popular weekly programs on South Carolina e tv radio. Walter edgars journal and southern read. 08, we were 2080 fortunate to have dr. Edgar serve as president of the board of managers of the South Carolina historical society. In 2009, he was inducted into the South Carolina hall of fame in honor of his outstanding contributions to the state. And in 2010, he was inducted into the South Carolina Higher Education hall of fame, which recognizes individuals who have made a Lasting Impact on university education. Joining dr. Edgar is dr. Stephen wise. Dr. Wise received his masters degree from Bowling Green and his ph. D. From the university of South Carolina. He is the director of the parris paris Island Museum and an instructor at the university of South Carolina. A wellknown civil war historian, dr. Wise has authored a number of books and articles, including lifeline of the confederacy, blockade running during the civil war, and gate of hell, the campaign for charleston 1863. He is currently working on the second volume of the history of beaufort county. Dr. Wise is a popular lecturer who has appeared frequently on sce tv and the discovery channel. And fortunately for us, he also serves on the Editorial Board of the South Carolina historical magazine. Please welcome walter edgar and stephen wise. [applause] steve, before we get started, faye also mentioned the books. But somebody asked me, what books would they read about the siege of charleston . And i said, well, if you want to go back, first thing you need to do is look at burtons book, which has been around for a while. And then lifeline of the confederacy and gate of hell, by steve wise. And steve, the siege of charleston, now, when it began is a matter up for discussion. I discovered maybe eight of ten possible dates. Did it start on december 26, with the Union Occupation of fort sumter . Did it start when the blockade was proclaimed in april . Or did it start in may 1861 when the first blockade ship came . Some people have dates after that, but i think it gets a little bit dicey. Everything is confusing, yes. Youve got three possible dates. Youre the man who is the expert in naval history and particularly the blockade. So when would you lets settle this once and for all in charleston. When did the siege actually begin . Boy, i cant even answer that one. I like to put the siege starting when the federals occupied port royal, november 7, 1861. That places the federal troops within 40 air miles of charleston. It allows them to increase the blockade off charleston. It also gives them a base from which they can launch both land and sea assaults against charleston. Almost immediately, when the federals occupied port royal sound. We have to remember, its a whole new time of warfare. In order to carry out a blockade of the confederate coast, you need coaling stations. Very early in the war, the United States actually set up you could argue the first chief of staff board to carry out a strategy to defeat the confederacy. One of the main things they did is they came up with a concept of blockading the south and establishing coaling stations from which vessels warships , could find refuge, be refueled and carry out a much tighter blockade of the coast. And they chose port royal as the site to establish a naval base, guarded by an army installation, to carry out this blockade. They actually chose it before the confederates even started building their fortifications to guard port royal sound. And on november 7, 1861, a fleet, the largest fleet up to this time in u. S. History, 15 warships, will seize port royal sound. The sea islands will be abandoned by their owners. Beaufort will be abandoned. Army troops will be landed on hilton head. Then they will spread out among all the sea islands and then theyll establish this massive base from which they can launch attacks against charleston. And the commander of this Expeditionary Force was thomas west sherman. This is not the sherman. Hes sometimes called the other sherman. This poor guy, he was under direction almost immediately to capture charleston. Well, here he is with only 14,000 men at port royal. Yes, the naval base. Hes supposed to seize jackson, fernandina, saint augustine. Move against savannah. But charleston was a symbol that the north won it. He almost immediately was given out instructions, carry out an attack against charlotte. Actually, when faye quoted alan nevin, who quoted somebody when he talked about charleston in the revolution, he would say, talking about the battle of Sullivans Island, he said the british would find charleston a tough nut to crack. It was. I dont think the federal government ever understood how much it would take. They sent sherman out to his engineers. They came up with a plan that called for landing troops on Sullivans Island and Morris Island. Sullivans island, didnt they fail once before . Im sure they did. Im sure they studied all of that. Problem was, he only had about 14,000 men and the campaign called for about 30,000 men. And he wasnt going to get those 30,000 men. But its going to be out of port royal that all attacks against charleston will come from. And of course, the naval blockade and even the naval attacks will originate. Some things people forget. They think about the blockade. Youve actually got the ships patrolling. But in december 1861, and january 1862, they sank, what, 30 ships loaded with stone to try to block various avenues and passes into charleston . Yes. After they seized port royal, information or directives came down to admiral dupont, at that time captain dupont, saying were going to be sending you a stone fleet. These were old whalers that the United States government had purchased, loaded them up with granite from new england. They were to come down and dupont was supposed to sink them in the channels off of charleston. Dupont hated the idea. He called them white elephants. They didnt know really what to do with them. But he followed orders. Went ahead and sank them in the main ship channel. Then another group came down a little later and sank them off of Sullivans Island. As best as dupont could tell, the sinking of these vessels, the vessels quickly broke up, but the granite helped scour out the channels to make them even deeper. [laughter] so blockade runners could get in a little more easy. He turned them into machine shops which he thought was a much better purpose for them. You mentioned captain admiral dupont. In 1863, he made a stab at fort sumter. Yes. Dupont, fascinating individual. He was sort of the aristocrat of the United States navy. He was on that blockade board. Hes one of the ones who helped design the blockade. Hes given command of the expedition to come down and seize this area. Married to his first cousin. No children. But he wrote her every day. And the letters are fascinating. You go back, and he even writes in french, if theres something he doesnt want everybody to read. But he leaves behind a tremendous amount of wonderful letters that describe it. He did not want to attack charleston. He said its just like a porcupine hide turned inside out. You couldnt get into charleston. And hes also a man of the old navy. He was a midshipman about the age of 12 or 14. He believed in the big, tall, wooden vessels. He didnt like the ironclads. And hes being sent these monitors, these ironclads that are considered to be the weapon of the age. The United States Naval Department thought these ironclads could do anything. And he sent down this is the largest ironclad fleet ever assemblied by the United States during the civil war to come against charleston. Theres a great description of when hes on his flagship, the frigate. Hes standing there watching the first monitor come in. And he said this little tiny raft comes in. Its being swept over by water. He said the crew comes out onto the deck. And they look like drowned rats. [laughter] and he said we can never use iron ships unless we can come up with iron sailors. Well, that leads into the whole area of naval the development of Naval Warfare and technology. And so lets back up a little bit, because i think were going to talk about the monitor, if were going to talk about that, weve got to talk about the engagement of Hampton Roads in virginia, when both the confederacy and the union were coming up with ironclads. The confederacy, to break the blockade, an attempt to break the blockade, not quite as good a design as the monitors. No. The first battle between steampowered ironclad vessels will be the virginia and the monitor or more popularly known as the merrimack. If youre from the south, its the virginia. Yes. Its not the merrimack. If youre from new england, its the merrimack. Okay. Yes, sir. For those who dont know, the merrimack was the frigate sunk at norfolk that they converted into the virginia. Yes. That goes out. And she was designed as a large ram, though she didnt have very good engines, which was a problem with confederate ironclads. She fought the monitor, which was the brainchild of the swedish inventor. So you had this very unusual, huge confederate ironclad, big armored casement coming out of the water. And this little tiny monitor with a turret that just spun around. Couldnt fire straight ahead or it would take off the pilot house, but it could fire in other directions. The merrimack had a big ram but it had already broken off the day before when it attacked some wooden vessels. And they sparred for an entire day. It was a very inconclusive battle. But after this point, each side begins building these styled ironclads. The confederacy, smaller versions of the virginia. The north turns out between 60 and 80 of these monitors during the war. The confederacy turns out between 50 and 60 smaller versions of the virginia. And charleston is a port where they have an ironclad squadron. Before the war is out, there will be four active ironclads in Charleston Harbor with two or three more on the stocks. And two of the they had two. The first two they built, one was the palmetto state. The other was the jacora. Both were vessels built in charleston. Engines were taken out of other ships. They didnt have very good engines. The jacora was particularly slow, a very slow vessel. It was said that the jacora took four hours to steam from the battery to fort johnson. [laughter] one said that a log floating in the tide could outrun it. But they were ironclads. And they will actually go out and attack the federal fleet, january 30, 1863. There were no Union Ironclads out there. And they had plenty of time. I think they had six hours to get from the cooper river out to the mouth of the harbor. Put on a minstral stroll. And they attack the federal fleet. The palmetto state damages the union blockader. The jacora takes on a large steamer called the keystone state. And i have to do this. Im sorry. I have to do this story. Sidewheel vessels do not make the best warships, because you can imagine, you know i knew he was going to work it in. I have to do this. And like comedians, historians steal from other historians, so i have to say im stealing this from craig simmons. But the first warships, the United States and most nations had, were sidewheel vessels. Of course, if you hit a side wheel, it was a shot. It hurts. You cant do much. The jacora damaged the keystone state paddle wheel. So the keystone state is coming along, loses a paddle wheel, so its kind of going like [laughter] the jacora was so slow, she wouldnt catch the one paddle of the keystone state. But, again, they could take on wooden vessels. And if wooden vessels could get into the harbor, they would be very formidable. They had very good armament. Called brook cannons, massive rifled guns. The Confederate Navy believed in rifle guns, fired like a bulletlike projectile, weighing up to 200, 300 pounds that could pierce the side of an enemy ship, hit engines, magazines and such. The north believed in firing great big round balls, weighing up to 440 pounds. They didnt care if they broke the armor of an enemy vessel. They just were going to pound it into submission. If you can imagine being inside an iron case and a 440pound ball hits the side of your ship, knocks out half the crew, splinters are thrown all over the interior of the ship. Thats the main thing, because behind that iron are oak timbers. Just like the danger in the navy on the wooden ships, it was not so much from the shot itself but from the splinters. You mentioned the engines which were a weakness in southern ironclads. Tell us about the smokestack. Yeah. Smokestack would get riddled. Then you didnt have the draw coming back in and that would there was slow you down grately as well greatly as well. In texasgreatly as well. In some battle, the smokestack would literally fall off, it had been hit so many times. Ive never heard of an earthquake in texasbeen hit so many times. One thing is, yes, the i was born and raised that my whole life and in some battle, the smokestack would literally fall off, it had been hit so many times. One thing is, yes, the confederate ironclad is above water, but most of the ship is below water and all of the union ship is below water. No port holes. Youve got that turret and thats it. Youre off Charleston Harbor in the summer. Just stop and think about that. And the monitors were always wet. You could not stay dry in the monitors. Always i mean, they were built erikson had this theory that rafts could ride over waves. It worked well in a wave vat. Doesnt work in reality. And waves go right over them. And it just floods these vessels. And theyre small crews, anywhere from 80 to a little over 100 men. They got special pay for serving on monitors, because they were constantly wet. They couldnt see down in the hulls of these vessels, as walter says. They had some dead lights, some glass on the deck that brought in some light. But it didnt do much at all. One officer who was stationed off charleston wrote his wife and said, we have some Interesting Times when we have our messes. Were given bowls of food. And you cant see the roaches in them. And he said the bigger ones, you can pick out. But the smaller ones, you just eat normally as you go through. It was suggested that the navy had given up the rum ration. By this time, for the sailors. The officers still had their wine mess. But the sailors did not. And it was thought maybe we should bring this back for the men serving on board the monitors. The chief surgeon of the United States navy said, no, no, no. A mixture of warm oatmea