The Union bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charlestown, South Carolina relentlessly continued through January 1864. Since August, for approximately five months, Union batteries assaulted Confederate held, Fort Sumter, firing thousands of shells at the fortification and reducing its outer walls to rubble, with a surprising, small loss of life among her defenders.
As her Confederate garrison continued to resist, the Union shelling became part of the accepted, daily routine for Charlestown’s people. In fact, the Courier noted on Monday, January 25, 1864 that “the whizzing of shells overhead has become a matter of so little interest as to excite scarcely any attention from passers-by.”
Many of the citizenry of Charlestown steadfastly refused to believe that the Stars and Bars defiantly flying over Fort Sumter would ever be struck.