The batteries on Folly island were then under cover and still unknown. The only certain indication of the impending attack was reported by Capt. C. T. Haskell early on the morning of the 9th. That gallant and energetic officer had made a reconnoissance to the west of Folly island, by boat, and had plainly discovered the flotilla of barges and small boats in Folly Island creek, "moored and ready for crossing." This reconnoissance by Captain Haskell, and the landing of Strong's brigade on Folly island, persuaded General Beauregard to look for the attack on the south end of Morris island. How was he prepared to meet it? Eleven guns were in position, in unconnected, detached batteries, three 8-inch navy shell guns, two 8-inch howitzers, one 24 and one 30 pounder rifled Parrott, one 12-pounder Whitworth, and three 10-inch mortars. Rifle-pits were dug in front, covering Oyster point. The guns were manned by 200 artillerists from the First regulars, under Capts. John C. Mitchel and J. R. Macbeth, and Lieut. H. W. Frost. The infantry supports were 400 men of the Twenty-first, under Maj. G. W. McIver, and one company of the First South Carolina infantry, commanded by Capt. Charles T. Haskell. The whole force amounted to 650 men!
Against this defense General Gillmore was to make his attack with forty-seven guns from his masked batteries, the guns of four of the monitors, and a brigade of infantry 3,000 strong, composed of four regiments and two battalions of four companies each. Just at daylight on the morning of the 10th, the guns on Folly island were unmasked and opened their fire on the Confederate detached batteries. The surprise was complete. The gallant men and officers on duty were expecting an attack, but such a volume and weight of metal was overwhelming. But Mitchel and Macbeth ordered their guns opened in reply, and McIver and Haskell manned the rifle-pits.
After the unequal combat of artillery had lasted about two hours, General Strong advanced from the northwest end of the island against McIver and Haskell. The few guns left mounted were turned upon the flotilla of boats, sinking a barge and killing and wounding many in the boats, but the advance was unchecked, and the brigade landed, stormed and carried the pits, and drove off the little force remaining unhurt by the assault. The gallant Haskell fell, cheering his men, sword in hand; Macbeth, badly wounded, was taken prisoner; Lieut. John S. Bee had fallen at his gun, and Lieut. T. H. Dalrymple on the infantry line. Fighting yet the last guns, the contest was ended by the charge of the Sixth Connecticut on the rear and sea flank, met by the advance of General Strong from the west side. The Connecticut regiment had passed by the entire front and landed under cover of the sand-hills, and took the batteries in reverse. It was an unequal contest, but continued for hours. Seeing its hopelessness, Colonel Graham ordered retreat upon Wagner, covered by Nelson's South Carolina battalion, under Maj. James H. Rion, which arrived just as the retreat was ordered. Four monitors followed along, pelting the retreating and almost exhausted Confederates with their 15-inch shell and showers of grape. Colonel Graham reported a total loss in killed, wounded and missing, of 295; 183 in the Twenty-first, 12 in Captain Haskell's company, and 100 in the artillery.
The south end of Morris island was lost, and General Gillmore immediately reinforced Strong, and General Seymour took command of the division on Morris island, now in a position to assault Battery Wagner. On the 9th, General Terry, with about 4,000 men, had sailed up the Stono, supported by gunboats, and made such a demonstration of landing on James island as to keep all the troops there, under Colonel Simonton, under arms, and to turn others, arriving from Charleston, in that direction. Reports from James island, coming to the commanding general on the morning of the 9th, made it doubtful, for a time, where the most formidable attack was to be made, but the concentration of force on Morris island, and the action of the squadron, soon settled all doubts as to General Gillmore's designs.
Wagner was reinforced as soon as the troops could be sent over, and during the night of the 10th the garrison was increased to 1,000 infantry and 200 artillerists. A gallant band of Georgians, under Col. C. H. Olmstead, came to stand on the ramparts by the side of their Carolina brethren. There were thus assembled, for the defense of the fort, the following commands:
Infantry: Twenty-first South Carolina, Major McIver; Seventh South Carolina battalion, Maj. J. H. Rion; Company D, First South Carolina regular infantry, Lieut. J. M. Horlbeck; four companies First Georgia, Col. C. H. Olmstead; four companies Twelfth Georgia battalion, Lieut.-Col. H. D. Capers; three companies Eighteenth Georgia battalion, Maj. W. L. Basinger. Artillery: Detachments of Companies E, I and H, First South Carolina regular artillery, Capt. John C. Mitchel; Gist Guard, Capt. C. E. Chichester, and the Mathewes artillery, Capt. J. R. Mathewes. Lieut.-Col. Joseph Yates commanded the batteries, and Colonel Graham the fort. Colonel Graham kept his force in the fort under arms and on watch, all night, while Major Rion covered the front with 150 skirmishers. The infantry was stationed, in support of the guns, from right to left, in the following order: Seventh South Carolina battalion, Twelfth Georgia battalion, Twenty-first South Carolina, First South Carolina infantry, Eighteenth Georgia battalion, First Georgia volunteers.
At dawn on the 11th the assault came and the pickets were driven in. The attacking column was led by four companies of the Seventh Connecticut, Lieutenant-Colonel Rodman, followed by the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania and the Ninth Maine. The Third and Seventh New Hampshire formed the reserve. The Connecticut detachment charged gallantly and followed Rion's pickets so closely that they were nearly at the left salient of the fort before the fire opened, the light being so imperfect that it was difficult to distinguish an object 100 yards in advance. The Georgians on the left opened the fire of the infantry, and then in rolling succession every gun was fired. The ranks of the Seventh Connecticut were broken and swept away, and the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania was so stunned by the fire as to halt and lie down. Recovering, they arose and made for the center of the fort, while the Ninth Maine charged gallantly at the right salient. It was all in vain. The withering fire of canister and musketry broke up the ranks, and the whole column retreated in wild confusion. General Strong blamed the Seventy-sixth for his failure to carry the fort, because they halted and fell on the ground under "the sudden, tremendous and simultaneous fire" which they met. But that same fire would have had an identical effect upon them if they had not lain down, as it had when they rose and rushed to the charge. No regiment can preserve its line of assault under the fire of canister from a dozen guns and the continued discharge of 1,000 rifles. If the two New Hampshire regiments had followed this first assault, and they, in turn, had been followed by still a third column of attack, they might have carried the fort; but to attempt its assault with two regiments and a battalion of four companies was to presume upon the character of its defenders and the strength of its defense.
General Strong reported his loss at 8 officers and 322 non-commissioned officers and soldiers. Colonel Graham lost 1 officer and 5 soldiers killed, and 1 officer and 5 soldiers wounded. Capt. C. Werner, of the First Georgia, was the officer killed, and all the casualties in the fort were among the Georgia troops.
Four monitors, lying a mile off, bombarded Wagner on the 10th, and on the morning of that day, Capt. Langdon Cheves, the engineer of Fort Wagner, just after receiving the intelligence of the death of his gallant kinsman, was killed in the fort by a fragment of shell, fired from one of the monitors, the first shot fired at the fort that day. Captain Cheves was an accomplished engineer, a devoted patriot and a gallant soldier. Battery Wagner was built under his direction, and his name, with those of others hereafter to be mentioned, who gave their lives in its defense, will be forever commemorated in its history.