The Burning of Bluffton

Front inscription

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 inscription

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.”