Anne Tilghman Boyce Coastal Reserve

Fort Randall, Little River Neck
Horry County, South Carolina

Located on the eastern end of Little River Neck on property currently know n as Tilghman Point are the remains of a Confederate battery/fort built during the War Between the States by the Confederate government.  The Confederate battery, or fort, as it became to be called, served a dual purpose of protecting the village of Little River and the surrounding countryside from invasion and of providing a safe haven for blockade runners. As the Union’s naval blockade was tightened around Charleston, SC and Wilmington, NC, Little River Inlet served as an alternative port for the blockade runners which were bringing in valuable supplies for the besieged Confederacy. 

Fort Randall was in existence by March, 1861, for at that time Captain Thomas West Daggett, who was in command of the Waccamaw Light Artillery, was trying to lodge his men in Fort Randall and in Fort Ward.  Captain Daggett, a native of Massachusetts, was an engineer who had moved to South Carolina.  He used his skills to build and operate rice mills on the Waccamaw Neck.  When war broke out, he joined the Confederate forces and was put in charge of the coastal defenses from Winyah Bay to Little River Inlet.  Like Battery White, which is located on Belle Isle on Winyah Bay just outside of Georgetown, Battery Randall used earthen works for fortification.  Records indicate that the battery consisted of an approximately 10’ broad x 5’ deep ditch with parapet and a blockhouse pierced so that the defenders might fire without being exposed.  Captain Daggett armed Fort Randall with two 6-pounder cannons and inquired about whether he should also add the 12-pounders which were in the mill yard at Laurel Hill Plantation.  In addition to the blockhouse he also built a magazine in which to store ammunition and arms.

The fort received its name from Capt. Thomas Randall who owned the plantation on which the battery was built.  Thomas Randall, also a native of Massachusetts, was born in Rochester on 25 Nov 1791.  He became a large landowner in the community and owned 85 slaves in 1860.  He is buried at Cedar Creek Cemetery. The Randall plantation home was located several hundred feet from the fort.

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A report in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies tells us of how Lt. William Barker Cushing, USN, attempted to capture some harbor pilots at Little River.  This venture resulted in an attack on Fort Randall.  On January 8, 1863 Lt. Cushing reported on his failed venture to capture the pilots and of his encounter with Confederate forces at Fort Randal.  He stated, “ About a mile from the mouth the enemy gave us a volley of musketry from a bluff on the left.  I beached the boats at once, formed my men about 200 yards from the enemy’s position, and gave the order, “forward; double quick; charge.”  Without firing a musket the men moved forward, and when we got clear of the woods I saw a fort in front and the light of the camp fires.  Knowing that the rebels were ignorant of our numbers, I charged with the bayonet and captured their works, going over one side as they escaped over the other.  I found the fort an earthwork, surrounded by a ditch about 10 feet broad by 5 deep.  Inside was a blockhouse pierced for musketry.  No guns were mounted.  I learn that it was held by one company of infantry.  The enemy left in such haste that their stores, clothing, ammunition, and a portion of their arms were captured.  I destroyed all that I could not bring away.  I went a short distance farther up the river; had another skirmish; did not see the schooners; got out of ammunition and returned with the loss of but one man shot in the leg.”

The cannons that had been mounted in 1861 had later been relocated to more strategic locations as the war worsened as per General Lee’s plan for coastal defense.  This move left Little River without the benefit of the protection of heavy artillery.

In 2008, all that remains of Fort Randall is a clearly defined footprint of the fortification.  The site has been respected and well preserved although a portion of the earthen works has begun to erode.  The site still commands a spectacular view of Little River Inlet as it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

References:

Daggett to Col. Charles Alston, Jr., March 23, 1861, Board of Ordnance Papers, S.C. Archives.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series I, Vol. 8, p. 403, 404.

1860 Slave Schedules of Horry County, South Carolina.

For more information regarding the history of the area, see Ben Burrough's web page at: http://ww2.coastal.edu/ben

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