Bulls Island Incident (cont.)
30-31 JANUARY 1863
BULLS ISLAND INCIDENT (cont.)
The morning of 31 January roused CAPT Charles T. Haskell’s Confederates from their rest at the Gibbes house and greeted the arrival of 50 Confederate reinforcements from Fort Moultrie. Suspecting FLAMBEAU would send a second search party ashore, Haskell set out for Gibbes wharf to lay an ambush. But before his now sizeable force could reach the wharf, they noted more longboats coming ashore, this time carrying 75 sailors and Marines in a first wave, followed by 50 more. The sailors searched the area of the previous day’s captures and were observed to discover a rifle and pistol that had undoubtedly been dropped by d’Estimauville in his flight to escape.
Haskell concealed his men behind the Gibbes summerhouse and waited. Seventy-five Union sailors and Marines worked their way slowly in his direction until Haskell noted them to be in range. Half of his men rose and fired a sudden volley, the other half standing at the ready. The thick underbrush deflected most of the volley, only the Union Captain of the Foretop, Marine Lieutenant Alexander Cushman, was killed, and Acting Ensign G. Cottrell was wounded in the arm and the thigh. LT Smith, in command of the shore party, scanned the area to determine the exact location of the enemy. Unable to do so, and suspecting the enemy to be large in numbers, Smith withdrew his men. Haskell had observed that one of the Federal launches mounted a boat howitzer and recognized his own boats might be thus attacked. He withdrew his men as well, to Capers Island across the channel.
Now any further combat on Bull Island was trumped by events elsewhere. Unbeknownst to any in the vicinity of the island, in the pre-dawn hours of this same 31 January morning, the Confederate ironclad rams PALMETTO STATE and CHICORA launched an attack on the Union blockade off the mouth of Charleston Harbor, then took up position off Sullivan’s Island under the guns of Fort Moultrie. This attack temporarily scurried Bull Island’s Yankees. Then on the morning of February 1st Haskell’s force was recalled to the garrison at Fort Moultrie. FLAMBEAU got underway as well, ordered to help re-establish Yankee control of Charleston’s approaches.
LT Sheldon and Assistant Engineer Pemble continued to be held at Fort Moultrie. Union POWs from the Charleston area were usually sent to Columbia, South Carolina, and from there to one of several Confederate prison camps distributed throughout the South. Facing such a fate, Assistant Engineer Pemble favored discretion over valor–he swore an oath to the Confederacy and joined the enemy. LT Sheldon was exchanged later that summer and returned to the Union Navy.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 6 FEB 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
“Abstract log of the U.S. bark Restless, Acting Master Browne, U.S. Navy, Commanding.” IN: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron (May 14, 1862-April 7, 1863). Washington, DC: GPO, 1901, p. 491.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 410-11.
“Report of Acting Master Sheldon, U.S. Navy, regarding his capture.” IN: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron (May 14, 1862-April 7, 1863). Washington, DC: GPO, 1901, p. 575.
“Report of Capt. Charles T. Haskell, jr., C.S. Army, commanding post.” IN: The War of Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XIV. Washington, DC: GPO, 1885, pp. 210-11.
“Report of Lieutenant-Commander Upshur, U.S. Navy, commanding U.S.S. Flambeau.” IN: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron (May 14, 1862-April 7, 1863). Washington, DC: GPO, 1901, p. 573-74.
Silverstone, Paul H. Warships of the Civil War Navies. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1989, pp. 90-91.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: The formidable defenses of Charleston Harbor proved quite difficult for Union forces to overcome. At several times during the long siege of this city, Federal commanders considered flanking approaches from the north or south. Bull’s Bay was one landing point scouted for a potential northern flanking option. From here the Yankees would have proceeded inland to take Goose Creek, Monck’s Corner, and Summerville to encircle Charleston from the rear. Such possibilities were not lost on the Confederate defenders, after all the British had flanked the city from the south via the Stono River in 1780. Earthwork defenses were thrown up surrounding Charleston, some of which can still be seen today, in modern Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, northeast of the city, near the intersection of US 17 and Long Point Road.
