The Burning Of Bluffton - Historic Marker

Oyster Factory Park, Bluffton, SC

The Burning of Bluffton. Bluffton an antebellum Planters, summer Village was virtually abandoned by its seasonal and year-round inhabitants when Federal forces captured, Buford in Port, Royal in November of 1861. Confederate forces used it as an outpost to watch the Port Royal sound and Charleston and Savannah area. Early on June 4th 1863, an expedition of some 1,000 federals landed at Hunting Island Plantation, then marched into Bluffton.

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 the shells from a federal gunboat drove the Confederates away. Federal infantry then burned some 40 homes and other outbuildings about two-thirds of the village. The Charleston Mercury called the federal raid on Bluffton an “outrage.”