ABOUT THE BOOK

The fierce June 16, 1862, fighting on the bloody and smoking ramparts of the tower battery on James Island, South Carolina, took place on the very doorstep of the city of Charleston - "the Cradle of the Confederacy." Unfortunately, the first battle to capture one of the Confederacy's most critical seaports has long been overshadowed by other events in distant theaters of the war. Author Pat Brennan's skillful pen strokes brush away the obscuring shadows in this full length treatment of this important and long neglected early war battle.

Against the advice of his subordinates and in direct violation of orders Brig. Gen. Henry Benham set out with a combined Federal army-navy column to attack a powerful Confederate fort - the key to opening the door that held Charleston. The target of the attack was one of a string of entrenchments that ringed the city, but was manned by only a thin line of Southern defenders. Its importance was obvious to all, for it protected the city from direct attack.

Benham's pre-dawn thrust against the high earthen cannon-studded walls quickly escalated into a pitched battle, a vicious engagement that included numerous Union attacks, the reinforcements of the garrison at the "eleventh hour," and hand-to-hand fighting. The battle's political ramifications were felt as far away as Washington DC and the outcome forever altered Federal strategy along the Carolina coastline.

Author Pat Brennan spent years digging for original material and tramping the fields around Charleston, to produce what many advance reviewers are hailing as a "model battle study."

Secessionville: Assault on Charleston, firmly re-establishes this early clash of arms to its proper place in the annals of Civil War History. ."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Brennan, a graduate of Loyola University, is a nationally known music producer and composer. Active in the advertising industry, he is the owner of to Chicago-based businesses, Hubbard Street Productions and Hubbard Street Studios. A life-long student of the Civil War, Brennan and his wife Sheila reside in Skokie, Ill., with their daughter Dylan, who was born on June 16, the anniversary of the Battle of Secessionville.