Fort Wagner Research Paper

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Pages: 3

Fort Wagner began on July 18, 1863 and lasted through many months ending on September 7, 1863. The head commanders of Fort Wagner are Quincy A. Gillmore and P.G.T. Beauregard. The main general/commander for the Confederate force was General P.G.T Beauregard, the Union force the general/commander was General Quincy A. Gillmore. The Union had about 5,000 soldiers/troops on forces, while the confederate forces only had 1,800 troops/soldiers on their side. Fort Wagner is considered to have one of the toughest defenses. The reason why it was considered the toughest was because of its location, which was near a natural delay, that had restricted soldiers from taking the fort or made it hard for them to take over.

Fort Wagner is located on the Northern end of Morris Island in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Battery Wagner was also another name that went by Fort Wagner. Eight days before Fort Wagner started, on July 10, 1863 General
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In the afternoon, the ships advanced and shot bombs that weighed more than 400 pounds. Parts of the Confederate force, led by General William B. Taliaferro had covered the fort's firearms with sandbags in order for them to protect them from the firing and they had hid inside the fort. As they were hiding, Fort Wagner had more soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and African-American Infantry getting ready for another attack. The attack from both infantries was led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. As the Union force was about 150 yards away from the fort, General William B. Taliaferro had commanded his men to attack them. This had led to letting more soldiers pass through, 48th New York troops had followed the Connecticut soldiers up towards the South and East of the fortification. As General George C. Strong’s men were able to keep up, about three of the Confederate type cannons had shot towards the