Department of the South: Hilton Head Island in the Civil War

x, 156 pp. Colorized engravings and black-and-white photographs. "...the fascinating yet little-known story of the great Union base on an isolated island off the South Carolina coast, which was for three-and-one-half years the headquarters of Lincoln's Department of the South. Beginning with the secret Cabinet plans for the massive amphibious operation that landed 14,000 Union soldiers on the beach of Hilton Head Island on the November afternoon in 1861, author Carse tells how Lee forged a ring of defenses around the newly-occupied territory while the Union generals saw their chances glimmer away in bickering and paper warfare. He tells of the mighty blows launched at Lee's defensive ring from the Hilton Head base over the months and years till 1865--blows which broke through at Fort Pulaski and Morris Island, but which failed to take Savannah or Charleston or the vital railway link between the two cities, in over three years of hard fighting by land and sea."