Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

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Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867
James Island
Morris Island
Charleston
Fort Wagner
Bird’s-eye view of Charleston Harbor, with Morris Island and Fort Wagner at the
bottom of the picture. James Island is the large wooded island just above Morris
Island; across the harbor is the city of Charleston.
to defend the railroad bridge and the expedition was unable to approach. Running
downstream, the smallest of Higginson’s boats grounded again. “Her first engineer
was killed and the second engineer was wounded,” Rogers wrote:
We were perfectly helpless, hard and fast. . . . We could not use our guns. One
[paddle] wheel of the boat was playing in the mud and high grass of the river bank,
and we pushed and rolled the vessel for some time. . . . I remained on the upper
deck with the colonel and pilots and did what I could to make the latter do their
duty and to keep the captain of the boat away from them, for he was so frightened
that he was almost crazy. Once when the steam nearly gave out . . . the firemen
were all so scared that they were lying on their faces on the floor and not until I
had thrown the wood at them did they turn and go to work. . . . The only thing to
keep her from falling into the hands of the rebs was to burn her, and accordingly it
was done after spiking the guns and taking off all we could of value.
The expedition was able to free two hundred slaves, who escaped with the retreating
troops, but the railroad bridge remained undamaged. 61
In the meantime, federal troops farther east were moving forward. On 10
July, General Strong’s six regiments landed on Morris Island but failed to capture
Fort Wagner by assault the next day. Terry’s demonstration up the Stono River
61 OR, ser. 1, vol. 28, pt. 1, pp. 194–95; J. S. Rogers typescript, pp. 102, 103–04 (“Her first”).