Port_Royal_Bl.3

=**Port Royal:** = by: Nicki Seybert


 * 1) The name of the battle is Port Royal.
 * 2) The Battle of Port Royal happened on November 7, 1861.
 * 3) The location of this battle was in Port Royal Sound, South Carolina.
 * 4) The Captain of the Federal Gunboat was Percival Drayton. His brother, General Thomas F. Drayton, was the Confederate Commander. [[image:http://www.roadshometoflorida.com/cwdrayton.jpg align="left" caption="General Thomas F. Drayton image from http://www.roadshometoflorida.com/cwdrayton.jpg"]][[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Percival_Drayton.jpg/180px-Percival_Drayton.jpg width="108" height="174" align="center" caption="Percival Drayton image from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/"]]
 * 5) The Federal forces had 12,000 men. The Confederate forces had a total of 404 men.
 * 6) The Battle of Port Royal started around 9:30am when the first shots were fired. The Federal forces were sent to attack the Confederate forces. Flag Officer Samuel du Pont had seventeen warships holding an army of 12,000 men. The Confederate forces had two forts. Fort Beauregard was on Phillips island. This fort had nineteen guns and 149 men, but only seven of the guns could fire effectively at the ships. Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island had 18 guns facing the sea and 255 men. ***The Confederate forces were majory outnumbered. The stronger threat was Fort Walker, so Du Pont focused more on that fort than Fort Beauregard. Du Pont forced his ships to form an oval with his ships. This was a major move, and worked very effectively. His ships would attack when by the shore, and become moving forces. With this strategy, the Confederate forces were soon defeated by loss of ammunition and damage to the forts. They abandoned the forts and the Federate forces won the battle around 1:15 pm.
 * 7) One major strategic move during this battle was when du Pont ordered his ships to form an oval out at sea. Each ship would fire when they were by the shore, and then continue moving in the oval. This created moving targets, which made it harder to be hit by the cannons on the Confederate sides.
 * 8) The Union Navy won the battle of Port Royal. They won by bombarding the confederate forts with fire from their gunships. They did this until the confederates abandoned their forts and until the confederates were out of gun powder. The union then raised the union flag on the confederate forts.
 * 9) The Union had 8 men killed and 23 wounded. The Confederates had 11 men dead, 48 wounded, and 7 missing.
 * 10) This battle showed how families were separated during the war. In charge of the Confederate forces was Brigadier General Thomas F. Drayton. His brother, Percival Drayton, was in charge of a ship controlled by the federate forces. This allowed the bay to be used as a supply depot and coaling station.

Sources: [|http://www.historyofwar.org] [|http://www.glswrk-auction.com/] [|http://www.historynet.com]