ARMY OPERATIONS. 



53 



all that part of Florida north and cast of a line extend- 

 ing from Cape Canaveral northwest to the Gulf coast, 

 just north of Cedar Keys and its dependencies, and 

 thence north to the Georgia line. The headquarters 

 of this district will be at Port Royal, South Carolina, 

 and Brig.-Gen. H. W. Benham (who will relieve Brig.- 

 Gen. Sherman) is appointed to command this distnct 

 and the troops therein, which troops will constitute a 

 division, to be called the First Division of the Depart- 

 ment of the South. 



2. The second, to be called the Southern District, will 

 comprise all of Florida and the islands adjacent, south 

 of the said line from Cape Canaveral, extending north- 

 west to the Gulf coast, just north of Cedar Keys. The 

 headquarters of this district and the troops will remain, 

 as at present, under command of Brig.-Gen. J. M. 

 Brannan. 



S. The third, to be called the Western District, will 

 comprise that part of Florida west of the line before 

 described as running north from Cedar Keys to the 

 Georgia line. The headquarters of this district will 

 remain at Fort Pickens, as at present, with Brig.-Gen. 

 L. G. Arnold commanding. 



The preparations, commenced by Gen. Sher- 

 man for the capture of Fort Pulaski. were 

 pushed forward by Gen. Hunter, until the fort 

 surrendered in April, as has been above de- 

 scribed. The subsequent movements under 

 Gen. Hunter consisted in reconnoissances in 

 force toward Charleston. The southern boun- 

 dary of the harbor of Charleston is formed by 

 James Island. This island is bounded on the 

 north by the harbor of Charleston and the 

 Ashley river, on the northwest by Wappoo 

 Creek, on the south and southwest by Stono 

 river, and on the east are a few small islands 

 and the ocean. "Wappoo Creek connects with 

 the Ashley river in the immediate rear of 

 Charleston, and by entering Stono river aod 

 into Wappoo Creek, gunboats can reach Charles- 

 ton. The next island south of importance is 

 John's Island, and the next Edisto Island. Be- 

 tween these and Hilton Head is a number of 

 islands of much less size. Early in May Com. 

 Dupont ordered the Channel of Stono river to 

 be sounded out and buoys to be placed. This 

 was completed on the 20th of May, and the 

 gunboats Uuadilla, Pembina, and Ottawa crossed 

 the bar and entered the river. Along the 

 river, owing to its great importance as a means 

 of access to the city, a vast number of earth- 

 work fortifications had been erected. All of 



these were abandoned as the gunboats pro- 

 ceeded. The distance from the mouth of the 

 Stono to Wappoo Creek is about eight miles. 

 Little was done in the river by the fleet for 

 many days, except silencing some of the Confed- 

 erate batteries, and preventing the erection of 

 others in commanding points likely to be need- 

 ed on the march toward Charleston, of which 

 this was designed as a preliminary movement. 

 No signs of the approaching army appeared for 

 two weeks, during which several reconnois- 

 sances were made by the fleet. The fire of the 

 forts at the entrance to Wappoo Creek was 

 drawn from two large rifled cannon at the 

 lower battery of seven guns. The Huron and 

 Pembina were anchored within range of these 

 guns and within three miles of Charleston. 

 From their mastheads could be seen a dozen 

 spires, cupolas and observatories, the top masts 

 of two or three large ships, and nearly all the 

 northwestern part of the city. On the 2d of 

 June the military advance with Gens. Hunter 

 and Benham arrived and were landed on James 

 Island, to await the coming of Gen. Wright with 

 cavalry, artillery, and additional infantry from 

 the Edisto. An important fortification which 

 had been vacated was occupied on James Island. 

 On the 5th the additional forces arrived, and a 

 series of skirmishes ensued for the next ten 

 day? both on James and John's islands. On 

 the 13th a sharp contest occurred between sev- 

 eral New York and Pennsylvania regiments 

 and the 47th Georgia. 



Meanwhile a diversion was made by a small 

 Confederate force against Hilton Head, which 

 caused much consternation there, but effected 

 nothing further. 



It was soon manifest that the Confederate 

 force had been increased, and nothing of im- 

 portance could be further effected by Gen. 

 Hunter without reinforcements. As the Gov- 

 ernment had none at this time to send, not 

 being able to reenforce the more important 

 army in Virginia, military operations were 

 comparatively suspended. 



Up to this time movements of some im- 

 portance had taken place in Missouri and Ar- 

 kansas. Two sharp skirmishes for the num- 

 bers engaged took place, the one at Mt. 

 Zion, eighteen miles southwest of Sturgeon, 

 on the 28th of December, 1861, and the 

 other near Fayette, on the 8th of January 

 of the year 1862. In the former, Brig.- 

 Gen. Prentiss commanded, and in the lat- 

 ter Major Torneru. They produced no 

 special influence on the campaign in that 

 department. On the 29th of January, Gen. 

 Earl Van Dorn took command of the Con- 

 federate forces in the trans-Mississippi dis- 

 trict, which comprised a considerable por- 

 tion of the State of Missouri, with his 

 headquarters at Little Rock. On the 

 preceding day, the division of the Union 

 army under the command of Col. Jeff. 

 C. Davis left Marseilles for Springfield. 

 It consisted of four regiments the 8th 



