They Retreated to Bluffton


They Retreated To Bluffton 

by Kelly Logan Graham


When the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, the move for South Carolina to secede from the Union had already been simmering for many years. As early as 1844, sixteen years before the start of the war, the seeds of discord were being sown by the SC “fire-eaters” who spoke loudly of secession from the United States. That early defeat at Fort Sumter, when confederates retook the harbor fort, had stung the Union badly, and a retaliatory move was soon made.

As part of President Lincoln’s plan to blockade and strangle the southern states, Union strategists chose a location to stage the first naval battle of the war where they could make a statement, and be assured of a victory by using their heavy naval guns. This location was to be Fort Walker on the north end of Hilton Head Island, on the strategically located Port Royal Sound. In a story of brother-against-brother, Fort Walker was commanded by General Thomas Drayton, whose brother, Captain Percival Drayton commanded the Pocahontas, one of the attacking Union ships. When the shells began to rain down from the “ring of fire”, a strategic circle of 25 gunboats, in the Port Royal Sound, the confederates soon realized that they could not hold the fort and fled for their lives. A group of five large boats moved confederate troops off of Hilton Head throughout the night, where they were brought ashore at Buckingham and retreated into and around Bluffton.

It was here in Bluffton, on the easily-defended 40-foot high bluff, that 300 confederate soldiers would remain, to spy, and fire small arms upon Union gunboats and steamers that came up the May and the Colleton Rivers. Just 17 months later, after many small skirmishes with the confederates in Bluffton, the commanding general at Savannah’s Fort Pulaski received orders to bring men and arms to burn Bluffton, in order to eradicate the troublesome rebels. On June 4th, 1863 several boatloads of Union soldiers moved into the Calibogue Sound and brought troops ashore to march west toward Bluffton. Gunboats, then proceeded up the May River and began shelling the town, sending the remaining townfolk scurrying for their lives. When the troops arrived on foot they proceeded with orders to burn the town, and two-thirds of the town’s homes and businesses were burned to the ground in a torch-fueled raid through historic Bluffton’s heart-pine buildings. Some of the homes that survived the fires were later robbed of their fine furnishings to be used in the officers’ quarters back at Fort Pulaski.

Today, The Heyward House is one of eight remaining houses that survived that hellish day in 1863. The reason that is was spared is unknown, but its value as a part of our past is clear. Built by the experienced hands of slaves in 1841, the Heyward House now serves as both a Museum and Welcome Center for the town of Bluffton. Tours of the house and walking tours of historic downtown Bluffton are offered daily to learn more about this area’s rich history and diverse culture.

Kelly Logan Graham is Executive Director of the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society, the non-profit group who own and operate the Heyward House Museum and Welcome Center. Call 843-757-6293 or visit HeywardHouse.org.

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