NHD PAPER

Thesis: ​In November, 1861, there was a battle, known as The Battle of Port Royal. During the

battle of Port Royal the Union took over Port Royal to shut it down. This created a problem for

the confederate that they lost a place of resources that they got from Britain.

Port Royal Gets Shut Down

In November 1861, there was a battle, known as The Battle of Port Royal. During the battle of

Port Royal, the Union took over Port Royal to shut it down. This created a problem for the

confederate that they lost a place of resources that they got from Britain. The Conflict from Port

Royal eventually led to the compromise of the Union winning and the Confederate losing Port

Royal. The effect of the Confederate losing Port Royal led to the British losing the ability to send

over imports.

On April 14, 1861, the Confederate won the battle of Fort Sumter. After this lose for the Union,

Abraham Lincoln ordered the confederate to close their ports. The confederate did not take these

orders so on November 1, 1861, Abraham Lincoln declared battle against the confederate. At this

point in time, there were steam-powered boats that were iron instead of the old fashion wood

boats without an engine. “At the start of the Civil War, the U.S. Navy stood in the doorway

between two maritime eras–that of wood and sail, and that of iron and steam.” (Battle of Port

Royal January 2001). Now the Union can test out the new advanced technology including better

weapons and steam-powered boats. “The upcoming operation would allow him to test modern

naval tactics that took advantage of advanced weaponry and the increased maneuverability
provided by steam power” (Battle of Port Royal January 2001).This gave the Union a quick

sturdy easy way of getting to Port Royal. The Union took advantage of these advancements in

the Civil War and especially this battle, because of how much power they could put per boat.

“The threshold was symbolized by Du Pont’s flagship, Wabash, whose combination of wooden

sides, steam engine and 44-gun battery consisting of the most powerful rifled ordnance in history

represented both the advantages and the weaknesses facing the Navy” (Battle of Port Royal

January 2001). Abraham Lincoln declared battle against the Confederate wanted to capture Port

Royal because of geographical and strategic reasons. Some geographical reasons were that Port

Royal was surrounded by lots of water. Also with the Port being captured that means that is one

less port allowing Great Britain to send goods to the confederate.

When the Confederate disobeyed Abraham Lincoln they also caused a battle to start, this started

a great big conflict between the Confederate and the Union. On November 1, 1861, the battle of

Port Royal was official, The Union needed to claim and shut down Port Royal. So Abraham

Lincoln declared to set up a blockade around every southern port. “Three days after the fall of

Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of all Southern

ports.” (Battle of Port Royal January 2001). This was called Scott’s Snake, The general Winfield

Scott was actually the one who came up with this genius plan. “The blockade proposed by

Lincoln was part of an overall strategy championed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott that was

derisively given the nickname ‘Anaconda’ by the press and political opponents of the

administration. “ (Battle of Port Royal January 2001). Later after the battle was official, General

Winfield Scott gave the Confederate a challenge. “Scott’s insightful strategy took advantage of

the North’s strengths” (Battle of Port Royal January 2001). The one problem with this strategy.
The one problem is that the boats are steam-powered which requires coal, so to get around this

problem the Union had to set up coal stations along the coast. “Among its many duties, the

Blockade Strategy Board was charged with finding suitable coaling stations along the Southern

coast.” (Battle of Port Royal January 2001). This battle started on November 3, 1861.

The Union started out with 60,000 soldiers supported by gun boats to head down the Mississippi

River towards New Orleans to divide the Confederacy in half. “a 60,000-man army supported by

gunboats would be sent down the Mississippi River to New Orleans in order to split the

Confederacy in half and cut off the shipment of resources from the west to the east.” (Battle of

Port Royal January 2001). General Winfield Scott used this strategy to prevent any resources to

head over to the Confederacy from the west or east. Later Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont

ordered the Union to send 12,000 soldiers to take a hold of Port Royal’s points of land until the

two other forts, Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard reduce naval gunfire. “Port Royal harbor was

defended by two forts, Walker and Beauregard, the former on Hilton Head island, and the latter

on Bay point opposite.” (The Capture of Port Royal, November 1861, January 27, 2008). This

was where the two Ports are located. ”Thomas W. Sherman was ordered to work with Du Pont

and organize a 12,000-man infantry force that would take and hold the harbor’s points of land

once its protecting forts had been reduced by naval gunfire.” (Battle of Port Royal January

2001). After this, The Confederacy sent over many troops to Fort Walker, but it was still not

enough to take down the U.S. Navy. By November 7th, 9:17 the ships fell back to the Sound to

get ready for action. The Forts Opened fire, so the ships engaged and maintained a magnificent

fire on the forts to take them down. ”Ten minutes later the forts opened fire, answered

immediately by the bow swivel gun of Wabash, commanded by Lieutenant Roswell Lamson.
Once engaged, the ship maintained a terrific and well-directed fire on the forts.” (Battle of Port

Royal January 2001). After all of this, the Union had the higher end of the battle.

On the morning of November 7, 1861, the last day the Union made a great push to win the battle.

In this morning the Union had to take out Fort Walker which would have brought the Union to a

victory against the Confederate. Also in that morning, the Union had sent over a fleet to attack

and within it, there were 13 guns, supported by 622 men. “The fighting force of Fort Walker

then, on the morning of the 7th of November, preparing to cope with the great fleet about to

attack, was represented by thirteen guns, manned and supported by 622 men.” (The Capture of

Port Royal, November 1861, January 27, 2008). After all of what happened the Union took out

Fort Walker, and the battle went to an end. This battle was very historical for the Union and the

Civil War in general.

After the battle of Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln ordered the Confederate to close their ports.

The confederate did not listen so this started another conflict between the Union and the

Confederate and it started another battle under the name of, Battle of Port Royal. The battle

started on November 3, 1861, and General Winfield Scott started the battle by creating a

blockade to stop all trade. Then if the Union were to win they needed to take out the two forts,

Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard. Eventually, by the third day the Union took out the two forts

and the battle ended. This battle was a very important and historical battle for the Union, this was

important and historical because the Union made a blockade that prevented the Confederate form

receiving imports from Britain and even if the blockade stopped working the Union still had

captured Port Royal, which gave the Union the geographical upper hand.
On November 7th, 1861, the battle of Port Royal was officially over. The Union won the battle

and captured Port Royal to shut it down. This was the Compromise of this battle, but not the

compromise of the civil war. Now that the Confederate’s main Port was shut down, the

Confederate stopped receiving as many resources and goods from Britain. This weakened the

Confederate states now that they were not being strengthened by Britain. In the battle of Port

Royal, the Union had about 12,600 soldiers engaged in battle, but the Confederate had about

3,000 soldiers engaged in battle. There was 31 Union Soldiers that died in the battle and there

were 63 Confederate Soldiers that died too. The Confederate lost a lot more soldiers in

proportion to how much soldiers engaged in battle compared to the union. This ended to be a

horrid battle for the Confederate, they lost a good harbor, soldiers, and two additional forts. This

was also the first battle the Union had won in the Civil war.

The Compromise of the Battle of Port Royal had multiple effects. The first effect was the

Confederate losing a very effective harbor and the second effect was the Union claiming a great

geological standpoint. These effects were big for the Union giving them the higher edge, and it

was also big for the Confederate, but in a different way. This did not lead to another big battle

until a few years later. It was mostly peaceful until March 9, 1862, there was the Battle of

Hampton Roads. “The Battle of Hampton Roads, aka the Battle of the Ironclads (Monitor and

Merrimack), was fought March 8-9, 1862 near Hampton Roads, Virginia” (Battle of Hampton

Roads). Another effect from the Union claiming Port Royal is that now they have schools In the

Port Royal for former slaves. This was also the start of black political history. “The aftermath of

the Union victory led to the first black recruits for a Union regiment, the first schools exclusively

established for former slaves and the start of a black political history.” (Battle of Port Royal
January 2001). The Compromise had a lengthy effect on both sides and the compromise was the

just the start of the Union’s wins.

On November 3, 1861, this was when the Conflict between the Union and the Confederate

started which was when the Battle of Port Royal started. During the battle, the Union needed to

take down Port Royal for valuable important reasons. There were many obstacles including

multiple forts and an outstanding amount of Confederate soldiers replenishing the two forts. By

November 7, 1861, the Union won the battle and captured the port. This compromise led to the

Confederate losing Port Royal, which gave the Confederates supplies and goods from Britain.

This compromise also led to the Union shutting down the port and this gave the Union the upper

edge in geological aspect. Another Effect of this win for the Union was that now the Union had a

permanent and plentiful working base. “The effect of this Union victory was to give the fleet and

army of the United States a permanent and abundant base of operations against the whole coast

of South Carolina” (The Capture of Port Royal, November 1861, January 27, 2008). Overall this

battle was caused by the Confederate not listening to Lincoln and this battle was ended by the

Union.