This two-gun Confederate artillery battery and magazine is all that remains of Battery Haskell, a large fortification built on the southern shore of James Island at Legare’s Point in 1863 to help defend James and Morris Islands. The surviving portion of the battery was located just behind the left flank.

 

The battery was “a massive open work,” and constructed to fire on Federal positions on Morris Island, Black Island and Union ships in Lighthouse Inlet. The design allowed for 12 guns in circular chambers with a parapet 18 feet thick and 15 feet high. Battery Haskell contained a powder magazine, rifle pits and a separate detached 2-mortar battery. In early 1865, its armament was one 8-inch smoothbore cannon, one 32-pounder smoothbore cannon, and two 10-inch mortars. Battery Haskell and the rest of Charleston’s defenses were evacuated February 17, 1865.

 

Battery Haskell was named for Captain Charles T. Haskell Jr. of the 1st S.C. Infantry, mortally wounded on Morris Island, July 10, 1863. The site was gradually demolished from the 1920s to the 1960s for farm use and, later, residential development. The surviving portion, near present day Seaward Drive in Lighthouse Point Subdivision, was deeded to the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust in 2002.