In June of 1863, Major General 
Gillmore took command of Union 
forces outside of Charleston, 
South Carolina.  shortly 
thereafter, having decided to 
assault Charleston from the 
southeast via Morris Island, 
Gilmore first had to seize Fort 
Wagner.  Defended by artillery 
and 1,200 troops, the 
Confederate fort was a 
formidable obstacle.

On July 10th, Union forces 
easily secured a beachhead on 
Morris Island a mere 1,300 yards
from Fort Wagner.  Gillmore 
launched his first assault the 
next day - though his men 
reached the fort, the assault 
was repulsed.  Determined to 
take the fort, Gilmore spent the 
next week placing artillery to 
bombard the fort.  Content by 
the 18th that he had softened 
the fort, he ordered a second 
assault.

The famous 54th Massachussetts
led the assault.  Though some of
the troops of the African-
American division entered the 
fort, this assault was no more 
successful than the first 
attempt.  All who entered were 
either killed, captured, or 
repulsed.  A journalist 
describing the battle scene 
for his readers stated that 
"probably no battlefield in the 
country has ever presented such 
an array of mangled bodies in a 
small compass."

Stunned by heavy Union losses, 
Gillmore fell back and spent 
the next several weeks 
bombarding the fort.  Finally 
on the 6th of September, almost 
two months after the ill-fated 
assault of the 54th, Gillmore 
ordered a third assault of the 
fort.  They arrived to an empty 
position - the Confederates 
stationed at Fort Wagner had 
successfully stalled Gillmore's 
forces and had slipped out 
unnoticed.

An observer described Gillmore's
attacks on Fort Wagner as "the 
most fatal and fruitless 
campaign of the entire war."