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Currier & Ives The Siege of Charleston

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02881.37 Author/Creator: Currier & Ives Place Written: New York, New York Type: Print Date: circa 1863 Pagination: 1 lithograph : col. ; 33 x 41.6 cm. Order a Copy

Hand colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives at 152 Nassau Street, New York. Caption under title says: "Bombardment of Fort Sumter, and batteries Wagner and Gregg, by the Union Batteries on Morris Island, under the command of General Gilmore. August 1863." Panoramic view of Charleston Harbor. Notes : Charleston, Fort Johnson, Swamp Angel, Castle Pinckney, Fort Ripley, Fort Sumter, Fort Gregg, Fort Wagner, and Fort Moultrie. Harbor is dominated by Union ironclads. Shows Union siege trenches being dug near Fort Wagner, where the 54th Massachusetts made their famous, but unsuccessful, charge in July 1863. The siege was ordered after the 54th's assault. Print is mounted.

During the night of 6-7 September 1863, Confederate forces evacuated Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg pressured by advancing Federal siegeworks. Federal troops then occupied all of Morris Island. On September 8, a storming party of about 400 marines and sailors attempted to surprise Fort Sumter. The attack was repulsed.

Gillmore, Quincy Adams, 1825-1888
Currier & Ives, fl. 1857-1907

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