The Burning of Bluffton

Front: Bluffton, an antebellum planters’ summer village, was virtually abandoned by its seasonal and year-round inhabitants when Federal forces captured Beaufort and Port Royal in November 1861. Confederate forces used it as an outpost to watch Port Royal Sound and the Charleston & Savannah RR. Early on June 4, 1863, an expedition of some 1,000 Federals landed at Hunting Island Plantation, then marched to Bluffton. Reverse: Confederate pickets raised the alarm but could not offer immediate resistance and the Federals surprised a small Confederate force camped on the May River. A brief skirmish ended when shells from a Federal gunboat drove the Confederates away. Federal infantry then burned some 40 houses and other outbuildings, about two-thirds of the village. The Charleston Mercury called the Federal raid on Bluffton “an outrage.”