#32nd usct

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Potter’s Raid, April 10-14, 1865: Railroad and rolling stock laid to waste between Sumter and Manchester

Having reached Sumter on April 9, 1865, Brigadier-General Edward Potter turned his assigned mission once reaching that objective – destruction of railroads and materials.   Potter later recalled in his overall report of the expedition:

On the 10th detachments were sent up and down the railroad to destroy the bridges and trestle-work. At Sumterville there were destroyed 4 locomotives, 8 cars,…

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Potter's Raid, April 1-4, 1865: The last offensive in South Carolina gets organized

At the s2,59ame time as the Confederate withdrawal from Richmond and Petersburg, a small expedition was organizing on the coast of South Carolina.  This effort, aimed at knocking out the few remaining rail lines in the state, would become the last Federal offensive in South Carolina and among the last of the war.

Recall that in mid-March, while idle at Fayetteville, North Carolina, Major-General…

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February 12-17, 1865: Federal attempts at Bull's Bay.... foiled by shallow water and storms

February 12-17, 1865: Federal attempts at Bull’s Bay…. foiled by shallow water and storms

Often in the study of amphibious operations, we read about the difficulties gaining the last thousand yards or so where the ocean transitions to the land.  Natural obstacles often pose more problems than anything man can devise.  And thus much of the complication to simply landing a military force on a hostile shore.  In February 1865, there were no “how to land on a barrier island” texts to…

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Operations against Charleston, February 9-13, 1865, Part 2: The Last Battles about Charleston

Operations against Charleston, February 9-13, 1865, Part 2: The Last Battles about Charleston

While Major-General William T. Sherman’s forces in the interior of South Carolina were working across the South Fork of the Edisto River on February 10, 1865, outside Charleston, a small Federal force was mounting one of the many demonstrations directed to keep Confederate forces pinned to the coast.  The demonstration was, to say the least, uninspired.

Almost like a thread that keeps being…

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While the Overland and Atlanta Campaigns ground on, demonstrations and presentations at Charleston

While the Overland and Atlanta Campaigns ground on, demonstrations and presentations at Charleston #charlestonsiege150

I’m not trying to “over hype” the activity around Charleston, South Carolina in 1864.  Truly, Virginia and Georgia were the important theaters of war 150 years ago.  But I’ve grown to enjoy explaining the role played by forces – both Confederate and Federal – in the “sideshow” theater played in the larger efforts.   One example came on May 22, 1864, when Major-General Samuel Jones passed some…

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