Floating Battery

Moored off of the west end of Sullivan's Island was a floating battery. This battery consisted of two 42-pounders and two 32-pounders which were mounted on a raft and protected with iron shielding.
Colonel Joseph A. Yates, who was a lieutenant in the attack on Fort Sumter, said of the battery: "The battery was substantially built, flat, heavily timbered on her shield, with railroad iron laid on it-two courses of rails turned inward and outward, so as to form a pretty smooth surface. The bags of sand on the deck were to counterweigh the guns, which were 32 and 42 pounders. She was struck many times, several shot going entirely through the shield."

Captain James Chester, U.S.A. wrote of the floating battery in Inside Sumter in '61, saying: "The guns in the lower tier (of Fort Sumter), which were the only ones used during the bombardment,-except surreptitiously without orders,-were 32 and 42-pounders, and some curiosity was felt as to the effect of such shot on the iron-clad battery. The gunners made excellent practice, but the shot were seen to bounce off its sides like pease. After battering it for about an hour and a half, no visable effect had been produced, although it had perceptibly slackened its fire, perhaps to save ammunition. But it was evident that throwing 32-pounder shot at it, at a mile range, was a waste of iron, and the attention of the gunners was transferred to Fort Moultrie."

Back to map