Fort Sumter fell to the Confederates on April 13, 1861. In the summer of 1863, Fort Sumter had been bombarded by federal artillery for two years, but it still stood and protected Charleston, South Carolina. At the entrance to Charleston Harbor is Morris Island, and Union General Quincy A. Gillmore and his troops were stationed there. Gillmore wanted to build a battery on Morris Island so that he could bomb Charleston directly and force the city’s surrender, thus avoiding the troublesome Fort Sumter and other forts in the harbor.
A large gun with the range to reach Charleston would allow General Gillmore to get to the heart of the matter, which was to force the rebel stronghold of Charleston to surrender. The Swamp Angel is exactly what Gillmore needed.
This gun was huge. It was manufactured at the West Point Foundry in New York and weighed 16,700 pounds. With an 8-inch bore, its barrel had a bore depth of 11 feet. Even the construction of the battery and parapet required for the grand canyon was impressive. Simply placing this pistol in the soft swampy terrain of Morris Island (muddy sometimes twenty feet deep) in Charleston Harbor was a challenging job of engineering. Construction began on August 2, 1863 and included:
- 13,000 sandbags weighing more than 800 tons in total
- 123 pine woods, 45 to 55 feet long and 15 to 18 inches in diameter
- 5,000 1-inch thick board feet
- 9,500 feet of 3-inch thick planking
- The spikes, nails, and iron needed to hold it all together weighed 1,200 pounds.
- 75 fathoms (450 feet) of rope, 3 inches thick
All of this would allow the Swamp Angel to use a 17-pound powder charge to fire a 200-pound projectile at 7,900 yards into the heart of Charleston. To top it off, the projectiles could be filled with “Greek Fire”, an incendiary fluid, which would set Charleston ablaze. On August 17 he reached Morris Island. An amazing weapon of war was about to go live.
Gillmore sent a message on August 21 to Confederate General PGT Beauregard, the commander in Charleston, demanding the evacuation of Confederate posts on Morris Island and Fort Sumter, or else the bombardment of Charleston would begin. The Yankees had spotted the Marsh Angel on the steeple of St. Michael’s Church.
Beauregard did not respond to Gillmore’s demands. At 1:30 a.m. on August 22, the Swamp Angel began to roar with its first shot in Charleston. After the first shot, bells, whistles and alarms were heard from Charleston on Morris Island. Before dawn, fifteen more shots fell on Charleston from the Grand Canyon, 12 of the shots filled with Greek fire.
Charleston was receiving the wrath of the Union in the form of huge hideous projectiles filled with fire, fired by a huge monster from a cannon 7,900 yards away. On August 23, Swamp Angel dropped 20 more projectiles at Charleston. It seemed that the Confederacy would lose Charleston to surrender as the terrible weapon launched its infernal fire-filled projectiles on the city.
But when the Swamp Angel fired its 36th round on August 23, it did something for which cast-iron Parrott pistols were known, despite their distinctive wrought-iron reinforcing bands wrapped around his pants. On shot 36, the breech of the Swamp Angel exploded and the barrel of the gun flew over the parapet of the sandbag.
Although it had suffered some damage and the Swamp Angel started some fires, Charleston was now safe. The big gun was dead. No more huge weapons like the Swamp Angel were placed at the Union’s Morris Island Battery.
The Swamp Angel’s military career was over, the grand cannon’s fate was to be sold for scrap. However, instead of being scrapped and physically lost to history, the citizens of Trenton, New Jersey bought the Swamp Angel and turned it into a monument.
If you visit Trenton today, you will find Swamp Angel on Perry and Clinton streets. Even if he could still shoot, and despite his power, the Civil War Marsh Angel could not reach Charleston from Trenton. Charleston folks, rest assured that Swamp Angel is no longer a threat to you.