The loss of the forts had demonstrated the power of the Federal fleet, and the impossibility of defending the island coast with the guns which the State and the Confederacy could furnish. The 32 and 42 pounders were no match for the 11-inch batteries of the fleet, and gunboats of light draught, carrying such heavy guns, could enter the numerous rivers and creeks and cut off forts or batteries at exposed points, while larger vessels attacked them, as at Port Royal, in front. It was evident that the rich islands of the coast were at the mercy of the Federal fleet, whose numerous gunboats and armed steamers, unopposed by forts or batteries, could cover the landing of troops at any point or on any island selected.
On the capture of Port Royal, it was uncertain, of course, what General Sherman's plans would be, or what force he had with which to move on the railroad between Charleston and Savannah. The fleet was ample for all aggressive purposes along the coast, but it was not known at the time that the army numbered less than 15,000 men, all told. But it was well known how easily a landing could be effected within a few miles of the railroad bridges crossing the three upper branches of the Broad river, the Coosawhatchie, Tulifinny and Pocotaligo, and the rivers nearer to Charleston, the Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto. Bluffton, easily reached by gunboats, afforded a good landing and base for operations against the railroad at Hardeeville, only 4 miles from the Savannah river, and 15 from the city of Savannah. On this account, General Ripley, assisted by the planters, caused the upper branches of the Broad, and the other rivers toward Charleston to be obstructed, and meanwhile stationed the troops at his command at points covering the landings.
General Drayton, with a part of Martin's regiment of cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Colcock, and Heyward's and De Saussure's regiments, was watching Bluffton and the roads to Hendersonville. Clingman's and Radcliffe's North Carolina regiments, with artillery under Col. A. J. Gonzales, Captain Trezevant's company of cavalry, and the Charleston Light Dragoons and the Rutledge Riflemen, were stationed in front of Grahamville, to watch the landings from the Broad. Colonel Edwards' regiment and Moore's light battery were at Coosawhatchie, Colonel Dunovant's at Pocotaligo, and Colonel Jones', with Tripp's company of cavalry, in front of the important landing at Port Royal ferry. Colonel Martin, with part of his regiment of cavalry, was in observation at the landings on Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto rivers. The idea of this disposition, made by Ripley immediately upon the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, was to guard the railroad bridges, and keep the troops in hand to be moved for concentration in case any definite point was attacked.
On the 8th of November, the day after Port Royal was taken, Gen. Robert E. Lee took command of the department of South Carolina and Georgia, by order of the President of the Confederacy. It was evident to him that the mouths of the rivers and the sea islands, except those immediately surrounding the harbor of Charleston, could not be defended with the guns and troops at his command, and, disappointing and distressing as such a view was to the governor and especially to the island planters, whose homes and estates must be abandoned and ruined, General Lee prepared for the inevitable. He wrote to General Ripley, in Charleston, to review the whole subject and suggest what changes should be made. "I am in favor," he wrote, "of abandoning all exposed points as far as possible within reach of the enemy's fleet of gunboats, and of taking interior positions, where all can meet on more equal terms. All our resources should be applied to those positions." Subsequently the government at Richmond ordered General Lee, by telegraph, to withdraw all his forces from the islands to the mainland. When the order was carried out, it was done at a terrible sacrifice, to which the planters and citizens yielded in patient and noble submission, turning their backs upon their homes and their property with self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of Southern independence. Never were men and women subjected to a greater test of the depth and strength of their sentiments, or put to a severer trial of their patriotism, than were the planters and their families, who abandoned their houses and estates along the coast of South Carolina, and retired as refugees into the interior, all the men who were able entering the army.
At the time of the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, Charleston harbor was defended by Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Castle Pinckney and Fort Johnson, and by batteries on Sullivan's and Morris islands. All these were to be strengthened, and the harbor made secure against any attack in front. To prevent the occupation of James island, the mouth of Stono river was defended by forts built on Cole's and Battery islands, and a line of defensive works built across the island. No attempt had been made to erect forts or batteries in defense of the inlets of Worth or South Edisto, but the harbor of Georgetown was protected by works unfinished on Cat and South islands, for twenty guns, the heaviest of which were 32-pounders.
When General Lee took command, November 8th, he established his headquarters at Coosawhatchie, and divided the line of defense into five military districts, from east to west, as follows: The First, from the North Carolina line to the South Santee, under Col. A. M. Manigault, Tenth volunteers, with headquarters at Georgetown; the Second, from the South Santee to the Stono, under Gen. R. S. Ripley, with headquarters at Charleston; the Third, from the Stono to the Ashepoo, under Gen. N. G. Evans, with headquarters at Adams' run; the Fourth, from Ashepoo to Port Royal entrance, under Gen. J. C. Pemberton, with headquarters at Coosawhatchie; the Fifth, the remainder of the line to the Savannah river, under Gen. T. F. Drayton, with headquarters at Hardeeville.
On the 27th of December, General Lee wrote to Governor Pickens that his movable force for the defense of the State, not including the garrisons of the forts at Georgetown and those of Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson, Castle Pinckney and the works for the defense of the approaches through Stono, Wappoo, etc., which could not be removed from their posts, amounted to 10,036 Confederate troops—the Fourth brigade, South Carolina militia, 1,531 strong; Colonel Martin's mounted regiment, 567 strong; two regiments from North Carolina, Clingman's and Radcliffe's; two regiments from Tennessee, the Eighth and Sixteenth, and Colonel Starke's Virginia regiment; the Tennesseeans and Virginians making a brigade under Brigadier-General Donelson. The above, with four field batteries, made up the force scattered from Charleston to the Savannah river, and stationed along the line, on the mainland, in front of the headquarters above named.
Nothing of great importance occurred for the remainder of the year 1861 along the coast of South Carolina, except the sinking of a "stone fleet" of some twenty vessels across the main ship channel on December 20th, in Charleston harbor. This was done by the order of the United States government to assist the blockade of the port, and was pronounced by General Lee as an "achievement unworthy of any nation."
On January 1, 1862, at Port Royal ferry, was demonstrated the ease with which a large force could be placed on the mainland under the protection of the fleet batteries. Brig.-Gen. Isaac Stevens landed a brigade of 3,000 men for the purpose of capturing a supposed battery of heavy guns, which, it was believed, the Confederates had built at the head of the causeway leading to Port Royal ferry. Landing from Chisolm's island, some distance east of the small earthwork, Col. James Jones, Fourteenth volunteers, had promptly withdrawn the guns in the earthwork, except a 12-pounder, which was overturned in a ditch. Believing the movement to be an attack in force upon the railroad, Colonel Jones disposed his regiment and a part of the Twelfth, under Lieut.-Col. Dixon Barnes, with a section of Leake's battery, and 42 mounted men, under Major Oswald, for resisting the attack, forming his line about a mile from the ferry. But there was no engagement. The deserted earthwork was easily captured, and the 12-pounder gun righted on its carriage and hauled off, under the constant bombardment of the vessels in the Coosaw river. The opposing troops caught glimpses of each other, and fired accordingly, but not much harm was done on either side. Colonel Jones lost Lieut. J. A. Powers and 6 men killed and 20 wounded by the fire of the gunboats, and Colonel Barnes, 1 man killed and 4 wounded; 32 casualties. The Federal general reported 2 men killed, 12 wounded and 1 captured. During the winter and early spring the fleet was busy exploring the rivers, sounding the channels, and landing reconnoitering parties on the various islands.