In November, 1861, Union ships sailed toward Port Royal Sound in South Carolina. Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont, eventually promoted to Rear Admiral, and Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman planned an amphibious attack against Fort Walker, on Hilton Head Island, and Fort Beauregard, on Phillip’s Island. Both forts protected Port Royal Sound near Charleston, South Carolina. The people in the North wanted a short war. They hoped that a Union blockade along the Southern shoreline could eliminate, or limit, the movement of supplies moving in or out of the Confederacy. As part of this “Anaconda Plan,” a blockade could only be sustained if Union boats had a safe place to refuel, restock, and repair their ships along the Southern coastline. Port Royal Sound would be an excellent safe harbor.
Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard were not the only structures on the island, however, nor were the Confederate soldiers who manned them the only inhabitants. Hilton Head and Phillip’s Island were part of a chain of islands off South Carolina’s coast called the Sea Islands. With rich soil, easy access to fresh? water, and plenty of sunlight, these islands were well suited for agriculture. Southern planters bought large swaths of this land and established plantations that grew cash crops such as rice, indigo, and cotton. Because of the remoteness and the humid, hot summers, most planters spent little time on the islands. They lived in the nearby capital at Charleston and left their plantation in the hands of white overseers. Some 10,000 African American slaves lived and worked on the Sea Islands. Few slaves were transported off the islands as the Civil War began.