Actions of July 6, 1864
On the morning of the 6th, the Confederates opened fire on the Union camps from James Island. The following is an eye-wittness account by Colonel W.W.H. Davis of the 104th Pennslyvania Regiment:
"The Confederate Batteries began to shell our camp at breakfast, on the morning of the 6th. It would be an unfortunate morning for me. I was requested to assist in making a reconnoissance of the enemy on James Island. When we reached the front, we found a field battery within a half-mile of us, which was firing quite briskly. I was examining the battery with a field glass. One piece was directly in front of me, and I was looking into the muzzle while the gunners were loading it. I was standing, at the time, with my left hand resting against a small tree. The enemy saw me very distinctly and trained this particular gun on me.
I did not notice them in the act of firing, but hearing a soldier near me call out "cover." I drew myself up near the tree just as the piece fired. It was fortunate that I did, otherwise I would have been killed. The shell exploded a few feet in front, the largest piece burying itself in the tree, and another fragment passing through my right hand carrying away the fingers and lacerating the limb. I was immediately carried on a stretcher to the head-quarters house where the fragments of the fingers were cut off with a dull knife in cold blood. I was then taken down the Stono that afternoon for the necessary amputations made by the surgeon of the Navy. The next day I was sent to the hospital in Beaufort."
The Union troops had marched up on the Stono side of Johns Island. They were just opposite Confederate Battery Pringle on James Island, and had occupied a strong position on Burden's Causeway at a small bridge on the main road that crossed the marsh. That small bridge would be forever known as "Bloody Bridge." The Confederates in the meantime had positioned themselves on the higher ground at the Waterloo Plantation, which was just up the road from the Union position on Johns Island. Confederate forces consisted of the 1st Georgia Regulars, the Stono Scouts and the Washington Artillery. They were soon reinforced by two companies of South Carolina Cavalry and the Marion Artillery from Charleston.
Action of July 7
On the 7th of July, The Union sharpshooters opened fire from some small houses on the left, but the Confederate artillery quickly routed them. All was quiet until about 4:00 p.m. when Gen. Saxon and the Twenty-Sixth U.S. Colored Troops, about 1,000 strong, attacked the Confederate rifle-pits. They advanced under cover of woods until they were about 200 yards from the Confederate line, where they entered the open field, charging and taking the works, killing and wounding a number of Confederates. Another eye-wittness account of battle was by a soldier of the 1st Georgia Regulars:
"I was on the extreme right of the line with one line of the enemy in front of me. We saw the 26th U.S. Colored Troops when they mounted our works and saw them as they jumped down (horror of horrors) and put the bayonet to the wounded of the Stono Scouts. It certainly caused my blood to run cold. I had faced death on many hard-fought fields, but never like this. It certainly was enough to cause the heart of the bravest to quake with fear."
The 26th carried the works, still advancing pouring volley after volley into the scattering Confederate lines. When all was thought lost, reinforcements of the Thirty-second Georgia Regiment were moving at double-quick, passing the broken lines and with the Rebel yell, charged to the front. The Twenty-sixth stopped still. Their lines begin to break and they ran in retreat. The fighting was heavy. The Confederates soon recaptured their works, driving the 26th over them, the day was won by the Confederates.
Actions of July 9
The next morning on the 8th, the guns at Battery Pringle opened fire on the Union camps. Gen. Hatch reported "no casualties" from the shelling and there was no fighting this day. On the night of the 8th the Union received more reinforcements, joining them were the Eighth and Thirty-Fourth Colored Regiments under Colonel Montgomery from James Island. Gen Hatch then felt he had an overwhelming superiority over the Confederate forces. However, during the night of the 8th, the Confederates were reinforced by the Forty-Seventh Georgia Cavalry, the Thirty-Second and Forty-Seventh Georgia Regiments and the Twenty-Eighth Georgia Battalion. All troops were on Johns Island and ready to fight at a moments notice.
On the early morning of the 9th, at about 5:45 a.m., the Confederates formed lines of battle. A skirmish line was deployed in front of the Confederate works and the line of battle was in the works. The skirmish line was then ordered forward, advancing in the cover of darkness. The advancing skirmish line drove the Union pickets back and the battle lines advanced over the works into the open field. The Confederates attacked the Union line with great spirit and force, only to be repulsed in about fifteen minutes. The Confederates reformed and attacked again. Their advance was bloodily contested and they had over 100 casualties. At one point they could not see twenty feet in front of them, there was no wind that morning and the dense smoke from the Union lines firing artillery and rifles made it very hard to see. When the Union forces began to be pushed back from the open field, the reserves of some of the Georgia troops were sent into action. The Union artillery had no effect on the Confederate line.
The Confederates forced the Union troops to fall back over the bridge to their entrenchments on the other side. Orders were given not to continue the assault, but to hold the ground they had already taken.
