Combat· American Revolutionary War
Destruction of Fort Johnston, Charleston Harbor
As a powerful British expedition closed on Charleston in early 1780, the Americans moved to deny the enemy any usable strongpoint in the harbor.
Continental Marines and South Carolina state troops carried out the destruction of Fort Johnston on James Island, spiking its guns, destroying its powder, and burning its structures before pulling back across the harbor to the city. The work was done under the shadow of the advancing British army and the approaching Royal Navy squadron, a deliberate scorched-earth measure to keep the fort's batteries from being turned against Charleston. Stripping the position denied the British a ready-made gun platform during the siege that followed. The action reflected the broader Marine role in the hard-pressed southern theater, where the Corps was as likely to be demolishing defenses and manning shore batteries as fighting afloat. Charleston would nonetheless fall that May.
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Record no. 143