Louis a Robertella

The "Swamp Angel" Louis a Robertella

The construction of the "Marsh Battery" and the mounting of the cannon that became known as the "Swamp Angel" was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the Civil War. At the start of the hostilities between the North and the South, Confederate forts surrounding the ports of Charleston, South Carolina bombarded the Union held Garrison of Fort Sumpter which was located near the entrance to the bay. Fort Sumpter was forced to surrender as its supplies were cut off. In 1863 General Quincy A. Gillmore of the U. S. Army conceived a plan to construct an artillery battery in the marshes south of the city and to fire directly on the City of Charleston, forcing it to open its port to Union forces. How do you construct an artillery battery on a marsh surface that has an average depth of 20 feet of mud below it? As a result of General Gillmore's "Marsh Battery" plan the story of the famed cannon known as "The Swamp Angel" began. This book explains the engineering involved in the construction of the marsh battery using detailed step-by-step illustrations of its construction and original photographs to show what became of the famous cannon after the hostilities ended.