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Second Battle of Fort Sumter | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Photograph taken September 8, 1863, shows the breach compromised at Fort Sumter's wall facing Morris Island during the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The naval party attempted to enter the fort here. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Confederate States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Quincy Gillmore | P. G. T. Beauregard | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
413[1] | 320 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
117[1] | 9 |
The Second Battle of Fort Sumter was fought on September 8, 1863, in Charleston Harbor. Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard, who had commanded the defenses of Charleston and captured Fort Sumter in the first battle of the war, was in overall command of the defenders. In the battle, Union forces under Major General Quincy Gillmore attempted to retake the fort at the mouth of the harbor. Union gunners pummeled the fort from their batteries on Morris Island. After a severe bombing of the fort, Beauregard, suspecting an attack, replaced the artillerymen and all but one of the fort's guns with 320 infantrymen, who repulsed the naval landing party. Gillmore had reduced Fort Sumter to a pile of rubble, but the Confederate flag still waved over the ruins.