Nov. 7, 1861

Nov. 7, 1861:

BATTLE OF PORT ROYAL - Port Royal and Hilton Head, South Carolina. 18 Union warships, led by Flag Officer Du Pont in the USS Wabash, steam into the 3-mile wide mouth of Port Royal Sound, to do battle with the small Confederate flotilla there, and Forts Walker and Beauregard, which stand on either side of the entrance. Until this day, modern steam vessels equipped with large-bore shell cannons have never engaged in battle with masonry forts. Du Pont innovates a new tactic of having his ships sail in a circle–a merry-go-round--so that all of them were in motion, and yet firing on the forts was constant. After a while, ships move out of the formation and take up positions whereby they can enfilade the Confederate batteries. After 2 ½ hours, at 12 Noon, the USS Pocahontas, delayed by storms, sailed into position to shell Ft. Walker. The Pocahontas is commanded by Commander Percival Drayton, USN, and fires upon the fort commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton, his brother, CSA, and whose boyhood home Fish Hall Plantation stands less than a mile from the fort on Hilton Head Island. By 12:30, Gen. Drayton left the fort to find reinforcements, and as he returned around 2:00 PM, he found his men abandoning the fort. A US Navy shore party lands and takes possession of Fort Walker. Across the strait, Fort Beauregard holds out longer, but so many of its guns have been put out of action, that Col. Dunovant, its commandant, orders an evacuation toward the end of the day, and US Navy landing parties take possession also. Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall, CSN, and his flotilla, make no attempt all day to enter the fight, and the Rebel ships retreat upriver. Gen. Thomas Sherman’s 13,000 Union troops land on Hilton Head and later occupy the city of Beaufort most of the surrounding plantation country. Port Royal Sound becomes a major base for the Union blockade, located as it is midway between Chesapeake Bay and Key West.

BATTLE OF BELMONT, Missouri. A little-known Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, in command of Union troops at Cairo, Illnois, is ordered to cross with a reinforced brigade to the west bank of the Mississippi and conduct a "demonstration", reconnaissance-in-force of the Rebel positions at Columbus, Kentucky, where Gen. Leonidas Polk, CSA, has installed 140 large siege guns at a strong position on 150-foot-high bluffs. Grant’s force of 3,000 includes the 27^st, 30^th, and 31^st Illinois Inf. Regiments under Brig. Gen. John A. McClernand, and the 22^nd Illinois and 7^th Iowa Inf. under Col. Dougherty, plus a squadron of cavalry and a battery of artillery. Advancing south down the river road to Belmont, a Missouri hamlet opposite Columbus, Grant’s force is accompanied by the gunboats USS Tyler and USS Lexington. He reaches the town by 9:00 AM, and launches an immediate attack on the Confederates, under the command of Gen. Gideon Pillow, a Mexican War veteran. Pillow had about 2,700 men, from Tennessee and Arkansas regiments. Grant’s assault threw the Rebels back on their heels, and by 2:00 PM, their line broke, and the victorious Yankees pursued. At this point, the Yankees became "demoralized from their victory." As they capture the Rebel camp, all order and discipline disappears, and looting ensues. Grant tries to rally his troops. Meanwhile, Pillow, aided by reinforcements under Benjamin F. Cheatham and a Louisiana regiments, return and counterattack, pushing the Union troops back. Grant tells his officers "Well, we must cut our way out as we cut our way in." Grant’s men fight their way north to the landings where the transports are, and hold off Confederate advances as the troops board. Although the South claims it as a victory, it is a marginal Union strategic victory, since this battle is what convinces the Confederates to abandon their position at Columbus and retreat south.

Losses: U.S. 120 dead, 383 wounded, 104 captured or missing 607 total

C.S. 105 dead, 419 wounded, 106 captured 11 missing 641 total