Under darkness, the last Confederates slip off Morris Island

For nearly two months, Battery Wagner had absorbed Union shells almost without pause, its sand walls breached and its bomb-proofs collapsing. On the night of September 6, 1863, Colonel Keitt led the garrison's remaining men, fewer than 400 of the original 1,700, off Morris Island under cover of darkness, hauling out every operable cannon before Union troops could close in. The withdrawal followed a council of war in Charleston on September 4 that had already concluded the fort could not survive another assault. By morning, the fort and nearby Fort Gregg stood empty. Union troops occupied Morris Island by daylight…