1   Bucks County Intelligencer, Pitiful Island Broken Puzzle  August 30, 1961 Page B-TEN  Col. 4-5-6    1

 

Pitiful Island

Broken Puzzle

Morris Island, in a pitiful state,

had to be rebuilt and remodeled.

The soldiers settled down to

arduous duty.  The enemy had left

it behind like a puzzle with a

million, broken pieces.  The men

had little respite from fatigue.

The project occupied the fall

and some of the winter.  Torpe-

does and other contrivances had

been planted about the slopes and

great care was required to avoid

stepping on and exploding them.

Several men were killed.  Sev-

eral men were wounded.

Defenses Built

Half a mile above the inlet, a

fort was built on the sand hills

and a battery was constructed

there.  Defenses were erected on

the north and south ends of the

island.

“With the aid of iron-clads these

works rendered Morris Island im-

pregnable to any force the enemy

could send against us,” Davis

said.

Duties performed by the sold-

iers were enormous.

“No other troops worked any

harder anytime during the war,”

noted Davis.  “My own brigade

may be instanced as a fair aver-

age.”

The 104th did its full share of

duties.  The records for the per-

iod give the regiment a credit of

6,445 days of fatigue on the bat-

teries and forts and 14, 285 days

in the trenches and other mili-

tary duty at the front of the is-

land.

“A tour of duty was always

twenty-four hours in the

trenches,” Davis recalled.  “The

greater part of the time the regi-

ment numbered less than four

hundred men for duty.

“The trenches, parrallels,

splinter proofs and batteries con-

structed during our operations

measured nearly eight miles in

length.”

Patters Of Fire

For several weeks the enemy

kept up a staccato pattern of

fire on the working parties.  Men

were killed and wounded daily

and nightly.

“They worked cheerfully,” Da-

vis explained, “under the sever-

est conditions.”

In December, wintry weather

belted the island in full force. 

Wind-swept rains continued for

many days and nights.  Storms

swept into the island and the

men were vexed by three enem-

ies; the rebels, the weather and

fatigue.

It was near the new year and

the men did not know that they

had an ally.  The ally was time. 

They did not know that the con-

flict was coming to an end.

“Two hundred and fifty soldiers

advanced to within firing distance

of Charleston, S.C., before the

turn of the New Year,” Davis said. 

“Of these the 104th furnished

more than fifty men.

Shelling

“Batteries were erected quick-

ly.  And they started throwing

shells into that city just as quick-

ly.

At periods a shell was dropped

into the city every five minutes

for five consecutive nights.  The

firing was principally done with

two cannons, one of which had

been used throughout every op-

eration of the 104th.”

“It had been fired so many

times,” Davis noted, “that its

muzzle was worn down smooth

on one side.”

Deserters kept the union force

informed, from time to time, of

the injury its shells did to the

city.

A number of public and private

buildings were destroyed and

others damaged.  On Christmas

night a large cotton press was

set on fired and burned to the

ground.  The debris from the ruin-

ed buildings obstructed the

streets.  The beautiful city of Char-

leston wore a dilapidated appear-

ance.

“We didn’t move into the city,

just kept firing,” Davis explained.

The Union Navy met with the

enemy on Christmas, too.  The reb-

els brought down four cannons to

Legareville, on the Stono River,

near Morris Island.

At daylight, they opened on the

gunsboats Pawnee and Marble-

head, lying at anchor in the riv-

er.  There was brisk cannonade

for a couple of hours.

The enemy was driven off —

but a few men were killed and

wounded and the vessels suffered

slight damages.

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society, 84 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pa. 18901, (215)345-0210


Return To The 104th Pa. Volunteer Infantry, Home Page. (NOFRAMES)
Return To The 104th Pa. Volunteer Infantry, Home Page. (FRAMES)


104th Pa. Volunteer Infantry, [email protected]