Episode 37: CH Frederic Denison and the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery at the Second Battle of Charleston Harbor

At the Second Battle of Charleston Harbor, July – September 1863, CH Denison and the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery supported the X Army Corps as it occupied Morris Island at the mouth of the Harbor and assaulted Fort Wagner in July. In the wake of these failed assaults, BG Gillmore, the Union Army commander, ordered the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery and several other units to dig gun emplacements for siege artillery. On 17 August, the Rhode Islanders fired the first shots of a bombardment that eventually reduced Fort Sumter to rubble.

Sources used for this episode:

Denison, Frederick. Shot and Shell: The Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment in the Rebellion, 1861-1865. Providence: J. A. & R. A. Reid, 1879. https://www.loc.gov/item/07038069/.

Denison, Frederick. A Chaplain’s Experience in the Union Army. Providence: Providence Historical Society, 1893. https://archive.org/details/05590038.3497.emory.edu/page/n3/mode/2up.

Scott, Robert N. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederates Armies. ser. 1, vol. 28, pt. 1: Reports. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924077699779&view=1up&seq=3.