The Battle of Sullivan's Island was a major battle of the American Revolutionary War that was fought at the city of Charleston, South Carolina on 28 June 1776. A British expeditionary force from Ireland, commanded by Admiral Sir Peter Parker and General Henry Clinton, attempted to capture the major American port of Charlestown, but they failed to capture the partially-constructed Patriot fort at Sullivan's Island and withdrew to New York City.
Background[]
Loyalist support had been strong among settlers in the South, but by the spring of 1776 the Patriot cause was gaining momentum. In South Carolina, a civil war had broken out in 1775. Attacks on Loyalist recruiting centers - the "Snow Campaign" - effectively silenced local Loyalists. In February 1776, Loyalist militias in North Carolina were heavily defeated at Moore's Creek Bridge. A British fleet commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, which had arrived too late to support the Loyalist struggle at Moore's Creek Bridge, stayed in the waters off Cape Fear, awaiting the fleet of Admiral Sir Peter Parker to arrive from Ireland.
Battle[]
On the morning of 1 June 1776, lookouts in the mastheads of a Royal Navy fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Peter Parker spied the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Aboard the fleet's flagship, the 50-gun HMS Bristol, was South Carolina's exiled royal governor, Lord William Campbell, who was largely responsible for the fleet being in those waters. While in London the previous fall, Campbell had convinced the King and his ministers that a show of strength in the South would rally the settlers of the Tory backcountry and win back Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia to the Crown.
Plan of attack[]
Sent in response to Campbell's idea, Parker's convoy of warships and transports had arrived off North Carolina's Cape Fear River in May 1776, where it rendezvoused with the fleet of General Clinton, the expedition's commander. Clinton, knowing that the loyalists of North Carolina were in disarray and could not be relied upon for effective support, had wanted to turn north toward the Chesapeake Bay, but Parker and Campbell made a case for taking Charleston, the chief port of the South and the wealthiest city on the continent. Reluctantly, Clinton acquiesced.
While adverse winds kept the fleet inactive, Parker and Clinton pored over charts and squinted through spyglasses. Two low-lying coastal islands, crowned with palmetto trees, guarded the entrance to Charleston Harbor. To the south was James Island, its north shores protected by a large sandbank called the Middle Ground. That shoal forced ships to pass close to the neighboring Sullivan's Island, where men could be seen raising a large palmetto-log redoubt, dubbed Fort Sullivan. While bad weather kept the warships at anchor 3 miles from the fort, Clinton took a sloop and reconnoitered Sullivan's Island. He planned to land troops on Long Island, just to the north, where only a narrow channel called the Breach, which he believed to be fordable at low tide, separated the two islands. He assumed that his men could just splash across the Breach, brush aside whatever militia opposed them, and take the fort from its undefended rear.
However, on 16 June Clinton and 2,200 soldiers found that the Breach was not fordable. In some places it remained too deep even at low tide. To his "unspeakable mortification and disappointment," Clinton sent a note to Parker explaining his unhappy predicament. The attack would have to be made by the Navy alone.
Ready and waiting[]
Weather favored the Patriot commander of the fort, Colonel William Moultrie, and his 435 men. It bought them time to strengthen the palmetto-log walls - spaced 8 feet apart, the gap filled with sand - and position their 31 guns. Moultrie knew the odds were steep, but not to what degree: the fleet opposing him mounted 260 guns. On the morning of 28 June, the British fleet weighed anchor. Led by Parker in the Bristol, seven warships made the attack, anchoring in two lines just south of Sullivan's Island. By noon 100 guns fired at the fort. Yet most did little damage: the spongy palmetto wood absorbed the cannonballs' impact. Bad decision-making also hampered the British attack. HMS Thunder, which carried heavy 10-inch mortars, was anchored over a mile away, forcing its gunners to use extra powder to gain the necessary range. The resulting recoil cracked the ship's decks; the Thunder had put itself out of action.
Meanwhile, HMS Actaeon, Siren, and Sphinx maneuvered toward the passage between Sullivan's Island and the mainland, intending to fire on the fort from its rear. But the ships made too wide an arc and struck fast on submerged sandbars in the Middle Ground. Eventually Siren and Sphinx worked free, withdrawing to repair damage, but Actaeon remained grounded. While the British attack failed to go according to plan, Moultrie's men defending the fort had some success. They aimed their firepower primarily at the Bristol, literally shooting it to splinters. One deadly shard pierced Governor Lord Campbell's side and would eventually kill him.
The final score[]
The battle continued until twilight brought it to a close. At least 64 sailors had been killed and several hundred wounded, mostly on the Bristol. The flagship had been holed no fewer than 70 times. Conversely, the 7,000 cannonballs that hit the fort had killed only 12 men and wounded 25 others. Just before midnight the warships slipped away. Actaeon, still stuck on the Middle Ground, was burned. Moultrie and his men had won a tremendous victory - at very little cost.
Aftermath[]
The Battle of Sullivan's Island gave the Patriots control of the South, and for the next few years, the main actions took place in the North. After Moultrie's successful defense, Charleston became the principal port through which food and supplies reached the Continental Army. Meanwhile, the defeated British expedition finished its repairs, picked up Clinton's men, and sailed to New York for the Battle of Long Island.
Sullivan's Island was not the last British attack on the South. A detachment of Clinton's forces were involved in the assault on Savannah in December 1779, and in April 1780, Clinton's army besieged Charleston, confronting Moultrie again. These engagements were followed by key battles in South Carolina: notably Camden in June 1780, Kings Mountain in October 1780, and Cowpens in January 1781.