Here’s a pretty forlorn South Carolina scene that may be a little tough to identify. Hint: It’s in the Charleston area. Send your guess to feedback@statehousereport.com — and remember to include your name, home city and contact information.
Last week’s mystery, “A look into the past,” shows the “Swamp Angel” near Morris Island during the Civil War.
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, shared that the photo, now in the National Archives, “depicts the earth and sandbag fortification from where the rifled artillery piece named ‘The Swamp Angel”’ was operated. Built upon marshy ground, the Swamp Angel was able to fire upon the city of Charleston almost five miles away using the enormous 200-pounder Parrott Rifle, the largest artillery piece used during the war. It had successfully fired 36 rounds on Charleston before exploding on Aug. 22, 1863. The precise date of when the photo was taken is unknown, but it would have been sometime after the Parrott Rifle exploded.”
Elizabeth Jones of Columbia added, “Finished by mid August 1863, this floating battery was considered to be one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the Civil War. It was designed by Col. Edward Wellman Jerrell of the 1st New York Engineers Regiment.”
Others who correctly identified the picture or its general location were: Jacie Godfrey of Florence; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Steve Willis of Lancaster; Penny Forrester of Tallahassee, Fla.; Wayne Beam of Clemson; and Pat Keadle of Wagener.
- Send us a mystery. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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