Qualla: Battle of Secessionville https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/z/4/battle-of-secessionville-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Secessionville https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville Battle of Secessionville: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville/ Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. The attack lasted less than forty-five minutes. At 4:30 on the morning of June 16, 1862, Union soldiers advanced through predawn darkness toward a Confederate earthwork on a narrow peninsula of James Island, south of Charleston. The fort they were assaulting -- a crude battery of heavy guns manned by 500 men on a spit of land barely 125 yards wide, flanked by impassable marsh on both sides -- would become the graveyard of the Union's only attempt to take Charleston, South Carolina, by land during the entire Civil War.

Read more: Battle of Secessionville on Qualla

Image: Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/z/4/battle-of-secessionville-wp/djz4-battle-of-secessionville-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Secessionville: Charleston's Lifeline https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville/ Photo credit User:SouthernSquirrel, CC BY-SA 3.0. General Robert E. Lee himself had spelled out the stakes. "The loss of Charleston would cut us off almost entirely from communications with the rest of the world," he wrote, "and close the only channel through which we can expect to get supplies from abroad, now almost our only d...

Read more: Battle of Secessionville on Qualla

Image: User:SouthernSquirrel | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/z/4/battle-of-secessionville-wp/djz4-battle-of-secessionville-charlestons-lifeline.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Secessionville: Into the Marsh and Fire https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville/ Photo credit User:SouthernSquirrel, CC BY-SA 3.0. The 8th Michigan led the charge. Behind them came the 7th Connecticut and the 28th Massachusetts, advancing through a killing ground that offered no cover and no room to maneuver. Confederate gunners opened fire with grape and canister, and the Michigan men were, as one Union off...

Read more: Battle of Secessionville on Qualla

Image: User:SouthernSquirrel | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/z/4/battle-of-secessionville-wp/djz4-battle-of-secessionville-into-the-marsh-and-fire.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Secessionville: A General Disobeys https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville/ Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. The battle produced roughly 683 Union casualties, including 107 killed, against approximately 204 Confederate losses with 52 dead. But the most consequential casualty was a career. Brigadier General Henry Benham had launched the assault against explicit orders. On June 10, his su...

Read more: Battle of Secessionville on Qualla

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/z/4/battle-of-secessionville-wp/djz4-battle-of-secessionville-a-general-disobeys.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Secessionville: What Remains on James Island https://qualla.com/battle-of-secessionville/ Photo credit Brian Stansberry (photographer), CC BY 3.0. Thomas Lamar, the Confederate colonel who held Tower Battery with his 500 men against waves of Union infantry, was hailed as "The Hero of Secessionville." The village itself -- those few summer cottages of James Island planters -- gave its name to a battle that kept Charleston in...

Read more: Battle of Secessionville on Qualla

Image: Brian Stansberry (photographer) | CC BY 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/z/4/battle-of-secessionville-wp/djz4-battle-of-secessionville-what-remains-on-james-island.mp3 0:06 5 full