The defense of Charleston
Although there was an occasional Marine presence at the port of Charleston, SC, during the first 18 months of the war, the first substantial activity appears to have begun during February 1863. In anticipation of a Federal naval offensive, the Confederate Navy Department sent Cos B and C of the Marine Bn from Drewry's Bluff to Charleston, to play a key role in countering the threat posed to the harbor by the Federal monitors. Under cover of darkness, specially trained sailors, plus Marines from...
Index
Figures in bold refer to illustrations. sinking of 16 17 amphibious landings first by US Marines 7,7-8 Anderson, General Richard H. 43 Appomattox campaign 53-4 Ariel, USS steamer 12, 13 Atlanta, CSS ironclad 46-7, 48, 51 Baltic, CSS 46 Baltimore 5 Beall, Camp 45,46 Beall, Colonel Lloyd j. 30, 50 Benthuysen, Captain Alfred C. Van 8, 32, 43, 45, 52, 55 Binder, Sergeant Richard 23, 25 Bradford, Lieutenant David 47, 52 Broad River expedition 23-4 Brooklyn, USS 18, 19, 20, 21 Brother, Private...
The braggart sergeantmajor
The First and only sergeant-major of the CS Marine Corps was appointed at Mobile, Alabama, after being recruited by Capt Meiere on February , 1864. Born in Scotland, a mart calling himself Edwin Wallace claimed that he had served in the British Royal Marines, and that his father had also been a sergeant-major in that corps. However, no record of such service has been found, despite a careful search of R i records for enlisted men. Wallace was transferred on February 8 to Drewry's Bluff, where...
The Plates
A US MARINES AT FIRST MANASSAS BULL RUN , JULY 21, 1861 Major John G.Reynolds rallies his Marine battalion at the crossroads near Henry Hill during the latter stages of the battle. Despite the heat the Marines wore full uniforms and carried their Army-issue canteens, although they had dropped off their gray blanket rolls and haversacks at the Sudley Road Church. Major Reynolds right wears the officer's fatigue cap with black ribbed silk braid, and double-breasted undress coat with gold shoulder...
Port Royal
Captain George Holmes arrived at Savannah, Georgia, with Co A of the CS Marines on September 18, 1861, following which he probably supplied ships' guards for the so-called Mosquito Fleet commanded by Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall, which consisted of the converted river steamboat Savannah, the converted tug boat Sampson, the screw steamer Lady Davis, and the transport Resolute. With the approach of the Federal fleet to the bar of Port Royal, SC, on November 4, these four tiny vessels steamed out...
Defense of Fort Fisher
The US Army and Navy planned several assaults on Fort Fisher and the port of Wilmington, NC, but made no attempt until December 24, 1864. After two days of fierce fighting with little result, Federal commanders concluded that the fort was too strong and withdrew their forces. The garrison was reinforced by a number of CS Marines during this action. A detachment under Lt Francis M.Roby served two 7in Brooke rifled guns until they both burst, following which they were assigned to other guns,...
The outbreak of the Civil War
Like the other military services, the small US Marine Coips was crippled by resignations as men went south to join Confederate forces at the beginning of the Civil War. Although few enlisted men quit, 20 officers out of a total of 63 either resigned or were dismissed from the service. To make up for these losses and meet the demands of wartime, on July 27, 1861, Congress authorized that the Corps be increased to 93 officers and 3,077 enlisted men, thus nearly doubling its pre-war strength of...
Introduction
Col John Harris, Commandant of the US Marine Corps 1859-1864. He wears the 1859 full dress uniform for a field officer the dark blue double-breasted frock coat, trimmed on collar and cuff flaps with gold lace loops and scarlet piping. United States Army Military History Institute n the night of Sunday, October 16, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown and his 22 followers seized the US Arsenal at Harper's W Ferry, Virginia, in a vain attempt to incite an armed slave rebellion in the Southern...
The Port Royal expedition
During the fall of 1861 it was proposed to capture Port Royal and thereby gain a foothold on the coast of South Carolina and Capt Samuel F.DuPont, USN, requested that a battalion of 300 Marines be attached to his fleet. Nineteen officers and 330 enlisted men were organized under the command of Maj John Reynolds by mid-October taken mainly from the Washington headquarters, plus die Boston and Brooklyn navy yards, these Marines left Hampton Roads in the chartered steamer Governor with the rest of...
The surrender of the Ariel
At the end of that year the battalion of 136 Marines under Maj Addison Garland were not so successful. Embarking at New York on the mail steamer Ariel on December 1, they were assigned as a permanent garrison for the new naval base at Mare Island, California. Six days into her voyage the Ariel was off Cape Maysi, on the eastern tip of Cuba, when she was intercepted by the Confederate commerce raider Alabama, commanded by Capt Raphael Semmes. Initially forming his Marines to repel boarders,...
Hatteras Inlet
The first amphibious landing by Marines in the Civil War occurred on August 28, 1861, when Flag Officer Silas H.Stringham sent a combined battalion of soldiers and Marines ashore in surfboats to capture Forts Hatteras and Clark in Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina. The action began at 6am when Marines from the screw frigate Minnesota, led by Capt William L.Shuttleworth, arrived aboard the steamship Monticello, to be joined shortly afterwards by the Marines from the frigate Wabash. At 11.45am this...
Organization and recruitment
Seventeen days after its establishment on February 4, 1861, the provisional government of the Confederate States of America passed an act to create a Navy Department, with Stephen R.Mallory as Secretary of the Navy. Working closely with Congress, by March 12 Mallory had prepared a budget that provided for the creation of a Navy and Marine Corps. Four days later ail Act of the Congress established the Confederate States Marine Corps, and authorized the creation of a headquarters consisting of a...
The capture of the Underwriter
Like their Federal counterparts, Confederate Marines were occasionally detailed for special service to cut-out and capture enemy vessels. In February 1864 men from Co C, under Capt Thomas S.Wilson, took part in the capture of the side-wheel gunboat USS Underwriter va the Neuse River near New Berne, North Carolina. About 2.30am on February 2, a force consisting of 250 seamen and 25 Marines aboard ten small boats glided up to the Underwriter as she lay at anchor. Discovered too late, the first...
Bull Run First Manassas
The first significant action by the Marine Corps took place during the battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. When MajGen Irwin McDowell's hastily prepared 35,000-man Federal army marched south to attack Confederate forces gathered around Manassas Junction in northern Virginia on July 16, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles volunteered the Marine battalion at the Washington Navy Barracks for service during the campaign. The unit was a product of the call to arms and the expansion of the Corps,...
Uniforms Arms Equipment
It was hoped by the South that a peaceful separation of the slave states from the Union would be achieved in 1861 hence, the original uniforms chosen by the Confederate States Marine Corps were probably intended to be similar to those adopted by the US Marine Corps in 1859. Some evidence in support of this is to be found in General Order No.2, General Headquarters, Navy Department of the State of Virginia , Richmond, Virginia, April 25, 1861, which stated The uniform of the Officers, Seamen and...
Officers
The uniform worn by the US Marine Corps in the Civil War was adopted on January 24, 1859, although it was mid-1861 before all Marines were supplied with the new outfit. William H. Parker wears the full dress for U5MC lieutenants. His rank is indicated by two gold loops on each cuff flap, and bullion fringing one-eighth Inch In diameter on his epaulettes. The red feather fountain plume on his cap indicates that this is a late-war image. National Archives 127-N-517102 OPPOSITE Excellent study of...
The Ship Island expedition
In June 1861 the whole crew of the CSS McRae, plus its Marine Guard, were involved in the successful action on Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico, about 12 miles south of Biloxi, Mississippi. This island was the site of the construction of a Federal fort begun in 1859, but little had been completed of what became known as Fort Massachusetts by the beginning of the Civil War. A plan to occupy and fortify Ship Island for the Confederacy was conceived by MajGen David F.Twiggs during May 1861. In...
Expedition against the Judah
On the night of September 13-14 the Marines attached to the Gulf Blockading Squadron saw action. Moored in the Pensacola Navy Yard in Florida, the schooner Judah was believed to be fitting out as a privateer, and it was decided to destroy bodr her, and a 10in Columbiad gun manned by Confederate Marines under Capt Van Benthuysen at the southeast end of the yard. The expedition consisted of about 100 sailors and Marines from the US flagship, the screw frigate Colorado. Commanded by Navy Lt .I...
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RON FIELD was born in Hertford, England, in 1943 and was educated in Cheltenham where he gained a Bachelor of Education Hons degree. He is presently Head of History at the Cotswold School in Bourton-on-the-Water. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship in 1982 and taught history at Piedmont High School in California from 1982-83 as part of the UK US Teacher Exchange Program.
The siege of Charleston
During July 1863, Maj Zeilen, by then post commander at Brooklyn Marine Barracks, was ordered to recruit a Marine battalion to assist Rear Adm John A.Dahlgren and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the siege operations against Charleston, South Carolina. The 276-strong battalion arrived at Morris Island, SC, on August 6. With those already taken from the vessels of his squadron Dahlgren now had at his disposal about 540 Marines, who were formed into 1 a four-company battalion. By...