PLEnlist

18 July in military history: Assault on Fort Wagner, 1863

Military history · 18 July · American Civil WarFull calendar

By

Color lithograph: Black Union soldiers in dark blue coats storm up the sand slope of Fort Wagner with fixed bayonets, an officer at the crest raising the Stars and Stripes, Confederate defenders in gray firing from the parapet and fighting hand to hand among the fallen, and ironclads firing from the sea in the background.
Storming Fort Wagner: the charge of the 54th Massachusetts on 18 July 1863, a chromolithograph published by Kurz and Allison in Chicago in 1890. Public domain. Missouri History Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.
Quick answer

On the evening of 18 July 1863 Union troops led by the 54th Massachusetts, a Black regiment under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, stormed Fort Wagner at the entrance to Charleston harbor. The Confederate garrison threw them back, Shaw was killed, and the Union lost 1,515 men. In 1918 the Allied counteroffensive opened near Soissons.

The Second Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863: the 54th Massachusetts

18 July 1863 · 163 years ago

In the summer of 1863 Union forces under Brigadier General Quincy Gillmore tried to take Charleston, where the war had begun at Fort Sumter. The key to the harbor entrance was Fort Wagner, a massive earth and sand fort on Morris Island. A first assault on 11 July had failed.

Read the full story of The Second Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863: the 54th Massachusetts ›

Also on this day

Battle of Vučji Do

18 July 1876 · 150 years ago

At Vučji Do near Nikšić, Montenegrin and Herzegovinian forces attacked an Ottoman army in the war between Montenegro and the Ottomans that began in 1876. The Ottomans were heavily defeated, losing their guns, and Osman Pasha was taken prisoner while Selim Pasha was killed.

1861: Irvin McDowell's Union army, advancing on Manassas, was repulsed at Blackburn's Ford on Bull Run. The action showed McDowell that the Confederates were too strong at the fords, and he turned to the flanking march he made on 21 July. See our article on the First Battle of Bull Run.1

Frequently asked questions

Who won the Second Battle of Fort Wagner?

The Confederates. The garrison repulsed the Union assault of 18 July 1863, and the official Union return lists 1,515 casualties for that day. The Union then besieged the fort, and the Confederates abandoned it on the night of 6 September 1863.

Why is the 54th Massachusetts famous?

It was a regiment of Black soldiers that led the assault on Fort Wagner and lost its colonel, Robert Gould Shaw; the official return lists 272 casualties in the regiment. The assault proved to many skeptics that Black troops would fight and opened the way for other Black units.

What did William Carney do at Fort Wagner?

Sergeant William H. Carney took up the 54th's national flag when its bearer fell, planted it on the parapet and brought it back to the Union lines though wounded twice. He later received the Medal of Honor.

How long was Fort Wagner bombarded on 18 July 1863?

The Union land batteries opened at 8.15 a.m. and the fleet joined in; the bombardment went on until the assault that evening, eleven hours by the Confederate commander's count.

What happened on 18 July 1918?

The Allied counteroffensive against the German salient on the Marne began near Soissons. The US 1st and 2nd Divisions and the French 1st Moroccan Division spearheaded it, attacking at 4:35 a.m. without a preliminary bombardment.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. U.S. War Department, “The War of the Rebellion”; National Park Service, “Battle Detail”. ↩

Sources

Battle honors of your homeland

The turning points of history

Marathon, Gaugamela, Cannae, Constantinople, Waterloo, Stalingrad: the days the world changed course.

The Battle of Marathon, 490 BCThe Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BCThe Battle of Cannae, 216 BCThe Fall of Constantinople, 1453The Battle of Waterloo, 1815The Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943

Based on your country, which we do not store · why? ·

Relive the great battles

Echoes of Battle brings the great battles of history to life, scene by scene on the real map. Enlist below and we will send word to your inbox the day it launches.

Or supply the campaign on Ko-fi ›