[CIVIL WAR] 1864 Bombardment of Charleston: Homefront Letter

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Day 2: The American Civil War

By Fleischer's Auctions

Apr 25, 2026

Set Reminder 2026-04-25 09:00:00 2026-04-25 09:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Day 2: The American Civil War https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/fleischers-auctions/day-2-the-american-civil-war-22127
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• Lot Description

  "...he shells came whistling over my head like so many Mock Birds..."

   

  Autograph letter signed by S. S. Roberts, a merchant in Charleston, South Carolina, addressed to William Birnie, a fellow merchant and President of the Bank of South Carolina. Summerville, South Carolina, 17 January 1864. 2 pages, 7 3/4 x 10 in.

   

  With his correspondent, Roberts shares a graphic account of the bombardment of Charleston, the 587-day siege that reduced much of the historic city to ruin. He writes that Birnie will find the city greatly changed, noting that Broad Street, formerly a bustling commercial center, is "completely deserted by everybody else." Additionally, the "banks & portions of the Government departments [were] removed by daylight Saturday morning." 

   

  The mass evacuation or relocation of the city's merchants and bankers was due to the heavy and persistent shelling inflicted upon Charleston by the Union artillery forces, the damage of which Roberts also describes, As he relates, "On Thursday last the enemy put a shell thought the shed of our old store which did not stop until he reached the second floor...[it] made sad havoc all around...not many panes of glass to be seen over the building...I notice several holes in the alls so I suppose the fragments [of shells] have hid themselves in them." Of the shelling at the local bank, Roberts writes that "the shells came whistling over my head like so many Mock Birds."

   

  Having failed captured Charleston by amphibious means many times over, Federal forces adopted a new strategy, wherein the city was repeatedly shelled from James and Morris Islands. Though there were few civilian casualties, many historic churches, houses, and graveyards were damaged or destroyed by the Union cannonade. Commercially, too, the city suffered, as business shuttered or at least temporarily halted and relocated, resulting in widespread shortages and the destruction of infrastructure. 

   

  [Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]

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