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GILLMORE, Quincy Adams (1825-1888), General, U. S. Army. ALS ("Q. A. Gillmore") to Gen. G. W. Cullum, Folly Island, S. C. 14 December 1863, 4 pp., 4to. -- GILLMORE. ALS to Gen. Henry Halleck, Near Bermuda Hundred, Va., 30 May 1864. 3 pp., 4to., on stationery of Headquarters, 10th Army Corps.
"THE CITY WHARVES ARE...COVERED WITH GUNS..." THE FAILED CHARLESTON SIEGE AND THE STALEMATE AT BERMUDA HUNDRED
Gillmore, writing from Folly Island, S. C., seems eager not to dwell on his failed attempt to recapture Charleston. "I think nothing will be done by the Monitor in Charleston Harbor. The conditions of the problem have altogether changed within three months....The enemy in the mean time have lined the shores of the inner harbor with batteries. The city wharves are also covered with guns. I doubt if the monitors would stay in the inner harbor if they once got there. At any rate, more important & valuable work can be accomplished elsewhere in this department." Namely the "recovery of the State of Florida" and "the capture of Savannah....I want no more troops," he says. "All I ask is authority to act as my judgment dictates." His letter concludes with plans to consolidate "certain fragments of colored regiments."
The May 1864 letter confidentially advising Halleck that "troops can now be spared from the dept. of the South," perhaps as many as 5,000. Yet he goes on to gripe about a dearth of troops and says how "mortified" he is by the "unsuccessful result of operations here. With a force of three men to the enemy's two we have not only failed to retain an offensive attitude at all, but are now on the defensive, with an enemy fortified on our front between us and the rail-road." Gillmore then gripes about "the tone of the public press...toward General Butler, & the manner in which they try to mix me up with it....The Battle of Drewry's Bluff was a disaster to us, the history of which will be written at no distant day. I am proud of the part my command took in that action." Together 2 items. (2)
"THE CITY WHARVES ARE...COVERED WITH GUNS..." THE FAILED CHARLESTON SIEGE AND THE STALEMATE AT BERMUDA HUNDRED
Gillmore, writing from Folly Island, S. C., seems eager not to dwell on his failed attempt to recapture Charleston. "I think nothing will be done by the Monitor in Charleston Harbor. The conditions of the problem have altogether changed within three months....The enemy in the mean time have lined the shores of the inner harbor with batteries. The city wharves are also covered with guns. I doubt if the monitors would stay in the inner harbor if they once got there. At any rate, more important & valuable work can be accomplished elsewhere in this department." Namely the "recovery of the State of Florida" and "the capture of Savannah....I want no more troops," he says. "All I ask is authority to act as my judgment dictates." His letter concludes with plans to consolidate "certain fragments of colored regiments."
The May 1864 letter confidentially advising Halleck that "troops can now be spared from the dept. of the South," perhaps as many as 5,000. Yet he goes on to gripe about a dearth of troops and says how "mortified" he is by the "unsuccessful result of operations here. With a force of three men to the enemy's two we have not only failed to retain an offensive attitude at all, but are now on the defensive, with an enemy fortified on our front between us and the rail-road." Gillmore then gripes about "the tone of the public press...toward General Butler, & the manner in which they try to mix me up with it....The Battle of Drewry's Bluff was a disaster to us, the history of which will be written at no distant day. I am proud of the part my command took in that action." Together 2 items. (2)