Diary Background Notes

Monday, 06 Feb 12


I'm breaking with the usual diary entries in order to catch everyone up on certain things. Some time ago, I had said that there was a reason why the Union Navy took Hilton Head Island as opposed to somewhere else along the Atlantic coast. With such a large force, they could have landed anywhere but chose Hilton Head Island specifically. There were two reasons.


The  South entered the war with an agricultural economic base. The North was much more industrial than the South. The Confederacy needed to create a wartime industrial base quickly if it were to fight a war of independence. Even quickly takes time. Although the Confederacy did rather well in building factories to supply war material, it started from behind and stayed there for the duration of the war. All the cards in Richmond's hand needed to be played.


These cards would include supplies from foreign sources in Europe. During the war, dozens of ships would bring war supplies from Europe to Southern ports to support the Confederate war effort. Of course, the Union wanted to intercept such shipping. The blockade runners were steam-powered and could outrun any sailing ship the North had. Also, many of the blockade runners were of shallower draft than the Union warships and could go where the Union ships could not follow. The Union had to figure out a way around these problems.


The solution was to build steam-powered ships that could run down the blockaders. A massive ship-building program was begun. Hundreds of steamers were built. But keeping a Union ship on station under steam 24 hours a day requires a great deal of coal, spare parts, heavy machinery and lots of laborers  and facilities somewhere to provide repairs and maintenance. This require a great deal of space and deep water. 


The deepest water south of New York City is at Hilton Head. Hilton Head would serve as the headquarters of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the duration of the war. The Union would base attacks in South Carolina and Florida from Hilton Head. Since Charleston was where the war began, the Union had a special interest in taking it back. Several major expeditions against Charleston originated at Hilton Head.


The movie, "Glory", with Matthew Broderick, told the story of the 54th Massachusetts, a black regiment led by white officers. The climactic ending had the 54th attacking Battery Wagner, an earthen fort guarding Charleston. The real campaign, including a great deal of activity not shown in the movie, began at Hilton Head. 


The second reason involved my new home, Beaufort, more directly. The Charleston and Savannah Railroad ran between those cities. Having rail connections between these two major cities was a boon to the Confederacy. If the Union threatened one city, the Confederacy could use the railroad to bring reinforcements from the other. As long as the railroad remained intact, the Union's goal of capturing Charleston would be that much more costly.


Raids would be mounted from Beaufort to capture and destroy the C & S to cut reinforcements to Charleston. More on this later. Can't give everything away.