At Charlestown, South Carolina, on Tuesday, September 8, 1863 Union naval vessels continued their bombardment of Confederate forts in and around Charlestown Harbor as Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren prepared for a small-boat operation by night against Fort Sumter. Independently, Union General Quincy Adams Gillmore prepared a similar, infantry assault against Sumter.
On September 9, 1863 at approximately 1 am in the morning several small boats from the Union fleet moved toward Fort Sumter but were quickly repelled by heavy, small arms fire; the attacking Union force suffered approximately 125 killed or wounded.
The planned infantry attack against Sumter, not coordinated with the naval effort, never occurred. Following this failure, Union activity against Sumter ceased for approximately two weeks while Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet conferred about the Charlestown situation.