Military
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In July, 1863, Union troops landed on Morris Island and advanced two-thirds of the way up the island to the Confederate stronghold Battery Wagner. Unable to capture the battery by direct assault, they brought up heavy guns and after two months drove the defenders out. Union artillerists then established powerful siege batteries at Cummings Point and shelled Fort Sumter at point-blank range, reducing its once proud walls to rubble. Ironically, the more the walls were damaged, the stronger they became, as slaves piled the debris into huge breastworks twenty feet thick and reinforced them with cotton bales, sandbags, and other material, making the fort impregnable to artillery.
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South Carolina · United States
