The Battle of James Island (also known as the Skirmish at James Island) was a minor skirmish near the end of the American Civil War. It was known as the "Last fight for Charleston".
Since the fall of Morris Island in 1863, no major offensive had been carried out against Charleston. Several small skirmishes and expeditions were carried out against James Island and Johns Island. On February 10, 1865, Union troops from the Northern District of the Department of the South under Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig made one final expedition to James Island. Confederate Major Edward Manigault of the South Carolina Siege Train (Manigault's Battalion) commanded a small force manning rifle pits on the southern edge of James Island at Grimball's Causeway.
Early on the morning of February 10, four Union gunboats shelled the Confederate rifle pits while General Schimmelfennig's troops began their landing. The 144th New York Infantry led the main attack against the center of the Confederate line along the causeway. At the same time, the 54th New York Infantry made a charge against the right flank of the Confederate line. Manigault detached a small force from the 2nd South Carolina Artillery along the causeway to reinforce the right. The attack of the 144th New York began to falter but the flank attack succeeded and the Confederates began to give way. Major Manigault was severely wounded and taken prisoner during the fighting. The official records reported that his leg required amputation and he died as a result, although in fact the major survived. The Union forces occupied the Confederate rifle pits following the skirmish.
The battle proved to be inconclusive when both sides eventually withdrew after making no significant gains. As Union General William T. Sherman’s army moved through South Carolina, the Confederate forces evacuated Charleston. Then on February 18, Schimmelfennig accepted the city's surrender from the mayor.
1st Separate Brigade: Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig
32nd U.S. Colored Infantry: Colonel George W. Baird
33rd U.S. Colored Infantry (1st South Carolina Infantry): Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson
55th Massachusetts Colored Infantry: Colonel Alfred S. Hartwell
2nd South Carolina Heavy Artillery: Major Edward Manigault
1st South Carolina Cavalry, dismounted detachment: Lieutenant William G. Roberts
Charleston, South Carolina in the American Civil War
Battle of James Island (1862), a.k.a. Battle of Secessionville
Bostick, Douglas W. Charleston Under Siege: The Impregnable City (2010)
Coffey, Walter. The Civil War Months: A Month-By-Month Compendium of the War Between the States (2012)
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.
This page covers Confederate Evacuation of Morris Island — September 6 1863. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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