The Battle of Secessionville (or the First Battle of James Island) was fought on June 16, 1862, during the American Civil War. Confederate forces defeated the Union's only attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina, by land. It is noted for the court martial of the Union brigadier general Henry Benham for trying to take James Island, which was against the orders given.
The importance of Charleston to the Confederate cause, after the Union implemented their Anaconda Plan, can be summarized in the words of Gen. Robert E. Lee, "The loss of Charleston would cut us off almost entirely from communications with the rest of the world and close the only channel through which we can expect to get supplies from abroad, now almost our only dependence." After the Battle of Port Royal, the Union planned an expedition against Charleston, capturing Edisto and John's Island, and by June 2, they had 20 vessels in the Stono Inlet. Union troops on Edisto moved to Seabrook's Island, then across John's Island to Legareville and onto James Island at the Thomas Grimball plantation.
The defenders of Charleston had laid breastworks across the 125-yard-wide peninsula separating Folly Island from Morris Island. This Seccessionville work was referred to as the Tower Battery, because of its reconnaissance platform. Thomas G. Lamar was in command of the battery, while Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist was in overall command of James Island. The battery included a Columbiad, two 24 lb rifled artillery pieces, and several 18 lb guns, all manned by 500 men. Secessionville itself consisted of a few summer homes belonging to the James Island planters.
James Island defenses consisted of Fort Pemberton on the west along the Stono River south of Wappoo Creek, extending southwards to the Tower Battery, and back up to Fort Johnson to the east along the Charleston Harbor. Confederate troops manning the defenses included the 24th South Carolina Infantry Regiment under the command of Col. Clement H. Stevens, the Charleston Battalion (1st South Carolina Battalion) under the command of Lt. Col. Peter Charles Gaillard, Thomas Lamar's 1st Battalion of South Carolina Artillery, the Eutaw Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Simonton, the Palmetto Battalion under the command of Maj. E. B. White, the 2nd Battalion of South Carolina Artillery under the command of Maj. J. W. Brown, Co. D of the 3rd Battalion South Carolina Cavalry, and the Macbeth Light Artillery. They were joined by the 4th Louisiana Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. John McEnery, the Pee Dee Battalion (9th South Carolina Battalion) under the command of Lt. Col. Alexander D. Smith, the 47th Georgia Volunteer Infantry and the 22nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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