Fort Welles

Fort Welles (1861-1865, 1897-1902) - A U.S. Civil War Coastal Fort on Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. First established as Fort Walker in May 1861 by Confederate forces and named for Confederate Secretary of War, L.P. Walker. Captured by invading Union forces on 7 Nov 1861. Renamed as Fort Welles in G.O. 29, Headquarters, Expeditionary Corps, Hilton Head, South Carolina, 15 Nov 1861 after the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. Abandoned in 1865. Fort Welles Captured Cannon 1862 Captured Fort Walker from the Back, November 1861 Fort Walker Plan & View 1861 U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) Part of the Harbor Defense of Port Royal Sound. Port Royal Union Attack 3-7 Nov 1861 Fort Walker (1861) Initially built in 1861 as Fort Walker, a Confederate earthworks fortification, with 16 guns, on the strategic entrance to Port Royal Sound in South Carolina. Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard on the other side of the entrance to the sound were attacked and overwhelmed by a large Union fleet of over fifty ships on 7 Nov 1861. Fort Walker was subdued by heavy bombardment from the fleet followed by the landing of 13,000 Union troops who surrounded and laid siege to the fort. Work on the fort began in July 1861 using slave labor provided by island planters. Construction continued through the summer with the slaves hauling palmetto logs, digging trenches, erecting a powder magazine, and constructing gun emplacements. Confederate Major Francis D. Lee was in charge of planning and constructing the defenses while Colonel John A. Wegener was in charge of the fort with 220 men of the First Artillery, South Carolina Militia. Later reinforcements brought the total defender complement to about 1,450 men (inside and outside the fort). The fort was incomplete and had mounted only 24 guns At 9:26 am on 7 Nov 1861 a gun at Fort Walker fired a shot at the head of the Union column of ships and the battle began. It did not last long. The Union line of gunboats circled in an oval pattern in the channel between Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard and poured continuous fire into both until the gun crews sought refuge in the bombproofs and the gun positions were reduced. Just after 2 pm, the Confederate defenders decided to evacuate Fort Walker. Union Commander John Rodgers, came ashore with a flag of truce and hoisted the Union colors. Union forces occupied the fort for the remainder of the war and significantly expanded it into a system of earthworks almost two miles long. Further reading Merrill, James M., The Rebel Shore, pp31 ff. Endicott Period (1890-1910) In 1897 Congress appropriated monies for the purchase of additional experimental compressed air Dynamite guns for emplacement at four coastal fortifications. Hilton Head was chosen to have a single gun emplaced and a concrete battery was built near the location of old Fort Welles. Battery Dynamite (2) was tested and inspected during 1901-1902 but was deactivated and scrapped when the experimental program was discontinued. Current Status On Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Hilton Head, Beaufort County, South Carolina. Map point is the Fort Walker marker location. Maps & Images Lat: 32.23275 Long: -80.67715 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 16' See Also: Fort Beauregard (3) Sources: Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 725 USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1237202 Links: North American Forts - Hilton Head Military Reservation Historical Marker Database - Fort Walker New York Times 9 Dec 1901 Heritage Library - Fort Walker CDSG Visited: 7 Mar 2018