From the Reconstruction Era "27th USCT: A Black regiment from Ohio & Miscarriage of Justice" by Patrick Young.
The 27th USCT was the second black infantry regiment formed in Ohio. Earlier Ohio Blacks had joined the 54th Massachusetts earlier in the war. The first regiment of black troops in Ohio was the 5th Ohio USCT.
Patrick Young took much of his article from the book "For Their Own Cause:: The United States Colored Troops" by Kelly Mezurek. Looks like an interesting read, especially concerning their actions at Fort Fisher, the Wilmington and North Carolina Campaigns, which also included their advance and occupation of the town where I was born, Goldsboro, North Carolina.
--Old B-Runner
That spring and summer of 1865, seven companies of the 21st USCT regiment, formed the garrison at Fort Johnson. On July 31, , the men of the 54th Massachusetts dismounted the fort's guns and the fort was abandoned.
In 1872 a quarantine station was established there. Thus began its association with public health. In 1948, the station was closed and the 90 acre site was transferred to the state. Six years later, the College of Charleston devised a plan to establish a marine biology research center there, and the Medical College set up an animal research facility.
The old quarantine officer's residence was occupied by the president of the Medical College.
In 1970, much of the Fort Johnson tract was transferred to the DNR's forerunner, the South Carolina Department of Wildlife and Marine Resources.
In the years since, the condition of the MUSC buildings has deteriorated, posing safety hazards.
--Old B-Runner
By 1829, the Fort Johnson property had become a depot for the construction of Fort Sumter. In 1860, engineers were scrambling to finish Fort Sumter as war clouds gathered. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union.
On December 26, 1861, Major Robert Anderson of the U.S. First Artillery ordered the families and troops at Fort Moultrie to shift from Sullivan's Island to Fort Johnson, but the schooner carrying them stopped just short of the point, anchoring in the harbor.
When S.C. Governor Francis W. Pickens, learned that the forts, except Sumter, were essentially unoccupied, he ordered them seized. General Pierre G.T. Beauregard decided a mortar to be fired from Fort Johnson would serve as a signal for all batteries tom open fire on Sumter.
At the time, there were two batteries at Fort Johnson, one on the beach and one on the hill.
During the war, Fort Johnson and at Union-held Battery Gregg on Morris Island often exchanged artillery fire. On July 3, 1864, Union troops attempted an amphibious landing at Fort Johnson, but failed.
In early 1865, with General Sherman's Army marching through the state, Confederates evacuated Fort Johnson and the rest of the massive Charleston defenses on February 17.
Troops with the 54th Massachusetts, a black regiment famous for he attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor and the 52nd Pennsylvania, a white regiment, rowed form Morris Island to Fort Johnson, taking control of 26 abandoned cannons.
--Old B-Runner
From the January 12, 2022, WRAL News (Raleigh, North Carolina) "Tar Heel Traveler."
What really made this story interesting was that the interview was taking place at about the spot where Private Anderson and the others rushed up to cut down the palisade fence.
One of the heroes of Fort Fisher was a black man named Bruce Anderson who saved lives by rising his own and for his actions received the Medal of Honor. January 13th marks the 157th anniversary of the start of the Second battle of Fort Fisher.
Private Bruce Anderson was a member of the 142nd New York Infantry and one of the few Blacks to enlist in an all-white regiment. Most were in all-black regiments like the 54th Massachusetts or one of the many U.S. Colored Troops regiments.
The naval huge bombardment had opened some holes in the wooden palisade fence in front of the fort, but not all of it. The Union troops would be impeded in their attack by that pert that remained. So Bruce Anderson and fifteen other men volunteered to put their rifles down, grab axes and rush up to the fence to chop the rest of it down. All this of course would be under heavy fire from the fort's Confederate defenders.
And, Bruce Anderson was but a teenager when he did this.
Years later, he received the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor. There were not many black Medal of Honor recipients during the war.
He lived to be 77 and died in 1922. He was buried in New York.
Quite the Hero. --Old Secesh
From Wikipedia.
The first ship to bear the name Nantucket in the U.S. Navy was a Passaic-class coastal monitor launched 6 December 1862 by Atlantic Iron Works, Boston, Massachusetts. It was commissioned 26 February 1863, Commander Donald McNeil Fairfax in command.
Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, the Nantucket participated in the attack on the Confederate forts in Charleston Harbor 7 April 1863. Struck 51 times during the valiant but unsuccessful assault, the ship was repaired at Port Royal and returned to Charleston to support the Union Army on Morris Island.
She engaged Fort Wagner on 16, 17, 18 and 24 July. The famed attack of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry regiment took place on July 18. That would be the black regiment made famous in the movie "Glory."
--Old B-Runner
From the November 20, 2013, Orangeburg (S.C.) Times & Democrat "Ex-slave, Medal of Honor Recipient, remembered with naming of DMV" by Richard Walker.
When a Confederate shell during the Civil War hit his ship, Robert Blake helped man a gun and return fire even though he didn't have to do so.
The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) dedicated its Orangeburg field office to this South Carolinian. Blake was the first Black to be recognized with the Medal of Honor (out of just 26) and receive it during the war. William Carney of the 54th Massachusetts received his at the attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina on July 18, 1863, but didn't get his medal until the 1890s.
I have already covered Mr. Blake's previous life which led him to be in the Navy in the last four posts (December 2020).
On Christmas Day, 1863, Blake's ship, the USS Marblehead and the USS Pawnee came under attack by a hidden Confederate battery on John's Island in the Stono River. A shell exploded on the Marblehead's deck bear where Blake was, knocking him to the deck and killing a nearby powder boy.
Without a supply of gunpowder, one of the ship's five guns would be out of action. Without orders, Blake jumped into action and began retrieving powder from the ship's magazine over and over.
The Marblehead sustained twenty hits in the action, but silenced the battery.
--Old B-Runner
