Historically, the island has been referred to as Cole Island, Cole's Island, and Coles Island. The island is also known as the location of the historic Fort Palmetto believed to have been constructed on the island during the War of 1812, if not earlier, and was occupied during the War Between the States by both Confederate and Union troops.  Charlestonians prefer to refer to the "Civil War" as “The War Between the States” from a frontline perspective; there was nothing “civil” about the war.

Charleston’s vulnerability was exposed during the American Revolutionary War when the British Navy sailed up the Stono River past the unfortified Cole Island and on to seize Charleston.  During the war of 1812, Fort Palmetto was built on Cole Island in a successful effort to prevent history from repeating itself by defending against the British from attacking and seizing Charleston again.  Fort Palmetto was a circular fortress constructed out of a form of concrete used in the early 1800s called “tabby.”  Tabby is composed of lime from burned oyster shells mixed with sand, water, ash, and other shells.  When the War Between the States began in 1861, Confederate troops inhabited the barrier island utilizing its strategic location on the Stono River and the existing Fort Palmetto to defend against the Union attacking Charleston's coastal area.  The Confederates would establish several batteries on Cole Island, numbered Battery 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. [1] Fort Palmetto was identified as Battery 7. [2]  The Confederates would improve the batteries by using palmetto trees from the island and bales of cotton to not only support the heavy artillery, but to withstand the impact from cannons.  It was discovered during the American Revolutionary War that cannons bounce off palmetto trees as if they were made of rubber.  This would be one of the reasons the palmetto tree would later become South Carolina's official state tree on March 17, 1939. 

In March 1862, a fleet of Union gunboats were in the Atlantic Ocean threatening the Carolina coast outside of Charleston.  In a controversial move, Confederate General Pemberton chose to abandon Cole Island and Fort Palmetto by moving the Confederate's artillery out of the Union gunboats' range to more defensible positions further inland towards Charleston. [3]  It would be the C.S.S. Planter with the enslaved crewman Robert Smalls on board who would be part of the Confederate’s removal of the artillery from Cole Island leaving the island defenseless and an open gate for the Union to attack. [4] 

In June 1862, the Union would take the abandoned Cole Island claiming the advantage of the island’s strategic offensive location for storing artillery, camping troops, and launching assaults on Charleston's coastal area. The Union would continue on to attack the Confederates in the Battle at Secessionville located on what is now known as James Island.  Although the Union forces retreated in this battle, the Union would later return to continue its assault on Charleston by land and sea until the city surrendered on February 18, 1865.  One of the most historically famous troops to have been on Cole Island would be the Union’s 54th Massachusetts Regiment that camped out on the island before its attack on Fort Wagner located on Morris Island as depicted in the movie Glory.

Today, Fort Palmetto's remains are only occupied by nature and solitude surrounded by a fortress of marsh grass and a moat of pluff mud.  For two centuries now, its only battle is with the Atlantic Ocean as it surrenders to the ocean's advancing high tide invasion and victoriously resurfaces during its low tide retreat.  

1. “Fort-Palmetto Cole's Island, SC.” South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust. https://scbattlegroundtrust.com/fort-palmetto.html. Retrieved: May 14, 2022.

2. “Fort-Palmetto Cole's Island, SC.”

3. “Fort-Palmetto Cole's Island, SC.”

4. "Robert Smalls Pt. 2: Steering the CSS Planter." Welcome to Beaufort, South Carolina. https://www.beaufort.com/robert-smalls-pt-2-steering-the-css-planter/. Retrieved: June 20, 2023.