GUNBOATS, MUSKETS, AND TORPEDOES: Coastal South Carolina, 1861-1865

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Examines the contest for the South Carolina coastline during the American Civil War, especially the siege of Charleston that would last from early 1863 until the last months of the war. It was during these operations that the industrial age first introduced elements of modern warfare at a scale that the world noticed.

The ironclad, the newest of the wonder weapons, tested its abilities against the naval fortifications and the artillery of the day, while torpedo boats and the forerunner of submarines were demonstrated with stunning effect. Nor were these matters confined to just maritime affairs as the trench warfare, artillery barrages, bombproof shelters, wire obstructions, and one of the first minefields amply demonstrated. Also covers Union amphibious raids to cut the Savannah-Charleston railroad and the establishment of a Union army and navy facility at Port Royal.