CHARLESTON AT WAR: Our city falls

Confederates abandon battered Charleston

On the 514th day of the siege, Charleston was quiet. No shells would be hurled at the city that day -- Monday, Dec. 5, 1864 -- as Confederate and Union troops had called a temporary truce to exchange prisoners. Read More

Charleston at War: Summer of 1864 hard on Charleston

The Confederate flag was falling -- a slow-motion, seemingly endless cascade into the smoking rubble below. On that day, June 20, 1864, it appeared the flag would be just another casualty in the continued bombardment of Fort Sumter, another fallen soldier. Read More

Charleston at War: Hunley creates history ... and a mystery

A military escort led the casket deep into Magnolia Cemetery, where a sizable crowd of onlookers waited quietly at the grave. It was Sunday, Nov. 8, 1863, and the occasion was becoming all too common in Charleston. Read More

Charleston at War: The David takes on the Ironsides

The little boat slipped out of Charleston Harbor just after dark, hugging the edge of the channel as it made for the blockade. Read More

Charleston at War: Fort Sumter shelled mercilessly by Union

A tropical storm blew through the Lowcountry on Monday night, Aug. 24, 1863, forcing a brief cease-fire in the siege of Charleston. When the sun rose the next morning, locals finally had a chance to survey the damage from the weekend's bombardment. Read More

Charleston at War: Union's barrage on Charleston begins

Civil War: 150 years, part fifteen of twenty

The bodies were scattered over the dunes and scrub, contorted in unnatural positions, their faces frozen by the onset of rigor mortis. Read More

Charleston at War: Union troops set sights on Morris Is.

CIVIL WAR: 150 YEARS - Part FOURTEEN OF TWENTY

Something about Folly Island didn't look quite right. As the night faded to a dull gray on Friday morning, July 10, 1863, the Confederate troops guarding the southern tip of Morris Island stared across the inlet, trying to figure out how Folly had changed. They soon realized that,... Read More

Charleston at War: Wave after wave of gunboats descend on coast

The gunboats sailed into the Stono a little farther every day, shooting at troops on James Island before slipping back out to sea. It began in the fall of 1862 and continued into the winter of 1863, the Yankees growing more brazen each week. Read More

Charleston at War: City turns out to welcome its own ship

It was unlike anything that had ever sailed into Charleston Harbor. The ship was 150 feet long with a low, flat deck that quickly gave way to a steep, sloping, ironclad casemate. Peeking out of this floating fortress were the barrels of four considerable guns. Read More

Charleston at War: Greater Charleston becomes a battleground

The blockade runner was hugging the shore of Dewees Island, trying to sneak into Charleston Harbor before first light. But the Nellie wouldn't make it. The steamer had sailed from Nassau with hopes of slipping past the gunboats and selling its cargo. Read More

Repeating history: Battle of Secessionville draws a crowd

Vivian and Eric Carter aren't Southerners. Heck, they're not even Americans. But the Manchester, England, retirees were in history heaven Saturday as they blended with hundreds of re-enactors and spectators during the 21st annual Battle of Secessionville event at Boone Hall Plantation. Read More

Tour to highlight Battery Pringle's role

At first glance, it is little more than a massive mound of dirt -- a quiet spot on the banks of the Stono River, home to snakes and other critters. Read More

Number of Civil War dead recalculated

Research says more died than thought — 752,000

They died on the battlefield at the hands of their countrymen or they succumbed to disease and untreated wounds -- at a rate of several hundred men a day. When the Civil War ended in 1865, no one was sure exactly how many lives had been lost as a result. Read More

Tour follows history of the Hunley

A local historian and a water tour company are now running harbor tours that visit sites important to the history of the Civil War-era submarine H.L. Hunley. Michael Coker, an author, tour guide and assistant to the director at the Old Exchange, will narrate the 90-minute trip offered by Sandlapper Water Tours. Read More

Civil War event chefs named

Local critics and writers have spoken -- actually by ballot -- and chosen the roster of chefs and others who will put on an unusual Civil War-theme dinner Aug. 24 at Fort Sumter. Read More

Collectors beware: Many Civil War relics are fakes, valuable only to con artists

Most curators and experts in the field of War Between the States artifacts say the proliferation of counterfeit pieces says as much about the economy as the 150th anniversary of the conflict. Read More

Rare Civil War art on Web: Museum of Confederacy exhibit shows Conrad Chapman's Charleston scenes

Rarely displayed paintings of Charleston during the Civil War by a Confederate soldier, including an iconic rendering of the submarine H.L. Hunley, are being made available today on the Internet by The Museum of the Confederacy. Read More

Rarely displayed Confederate paintings on website

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., goes live on its website Tuesday with all 31 paintings by Conrad Wise Chapman, an American who grew up in Italy and served with Confederates. Read More

PHOTOS: Black Union soldiers honored on Folly

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Salute to black Union soldiers

Graves found years ago inspire Folly marker, busts of 2 men

They emerged in 1987 for the first time in 124 years as bare bones in an archaeological dig. The faces of two 55th Massachusetts Regiment Union soldiers whose remains were recovered at a Civil War grave site on Folly Island can now be seen. Read More