alternatehistory.com

10 August (11:20)

As British troops land on Morris Island, one of the sandbank islands forming the southern edge of the entrance to Charleston Harbour, the local militia commander (Dunovant) determines to attack their beachhead before they have become fully established.
In addition to his own 12th SC Infantry, he also has the 5th and the 17th - recently recruited or re-upped, these total three thousand men as disease and desertion has not yet had time to reduce their ranks.
Around four hundred of the force have had rifle training of the quality given by Cleburne, the rest are fairly typical for the quality of an average infantryman of the late American War.

Double-timing along the coast just inland, the South Carolina troops are sighted by the southern picket at about six hundred yards and the alarm goes up.
It is a relatively vulnerable time for the British landing, as only one battalion has yet landed (the 67th regiment of foot) and of these about half are facing Fort Wagner in case it turns out to still be able to fire on them, while the naval situation is confused due to the effort involved in landing one of the big 110-lbers intended to set up a British battery on Cummings Point.
However, Dunovant discovers that there is bad news as well - the 67th have reequipped with the Snider-Enfield, and they have had enough time to train with it.


The first rifle fire begins from the British pickets at 550 yards range, and it is apparent to the most experienced SC troops that something is up - in the first place, the British riflemen seem to be lying down, and in the second place there seem to be an awful lot of them.
Making a count of the shots fired over the space of thirty seconds, Dunovant assures his men there can't be more than three or four hundred of them.

In fact, this is just the 1st company. They are firing measured shots at long range to whittle down the South Carolina troops, while behind them 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th companies - the entirety of the battalion that is on the southern flank - form into four spaced company lines behind a sandy hillock.
Casualties mount as the Carolinan troops close in, with each British rifleman having the time to fire about twenty shots as the Confederates move forwards, and by the time the forces are 200 yards apart the Confederates have taken well over a hundred casualties on what - against Federal troops - would be an approach march. The Confederate sharpshooters have inflicted some casualties themselves, but firing prone has been giving the British an advantage.
At two hundred yards the Confederate infantry accelerate to a trot, preparing for their charge - at which point, to a trumpet call, the 1st company withdraws.
It is at this point Dunovant realizes something is badly wrong. He can only see perhaps ninety British troops retreating, and - far worse and more worrisome - they are retreating according to a plan.
It is at this point that four hundred British riflemen come over the hillock, in a double-thickness firing line with gaps to allow 1st company to withdraw through them. According to the doctrine subscribed to by the commander of the 67th, the rapid rate of fire of the Snider-Enfield is best used for a concentrated burst of accurate fire at short range. This is one reason why only 1st company was engaged at first - the smoke they have produced is relatively minor, while only 1st Company's rifles have been dangerously heated or jammed by repeated rapid firing.
As the Confederates close to a hundred and fifty yards, more orders go out. The first rank falls prone, the second kneels. The rifle muzzles come up, and there is a slight quiver as they pick their targets - then the 67th Regiment of Foot opens fire.

The results are devastating. All of these men have the range, most of them are veterans who have no particular psychological problem with shooting to kill, and they are able to fire ten aimed rounds per minute.

Within two minutes, eight thousand rounds have gone downrange, and the militia charge has disintegrated into knots of men falling back, or running, or trying to find cover and return fire with their relatively slow and clumsy muzzle-loaders. Or, as is quite common, simply dead or badly wounded.

Meanwhile, the first Armstrong 110 pounder lands on the beach, ready to be dragged to Cummings Point.


This engagement is often seen as the prototypical one for British rifle doctrine of the late 1860s and the 1870s, though this is a considerable simplification.