Charleston Light - 1864

Although the naval assault on Charleston failed, the blockade of Southern coasts began to strangle the Confederacy. Increasingly desperate, the Southerners made a variety of innovative attempts to break the blockade. One of the most dramatic of these efforts took place within sight of the Charleston Lighthouse tower when, on February 17, 1864, the Confederates staged the world's first successful torpedo attack with a submarine. That night, a thirty-five-foot submersible with six men on board sailed out of Charleston Harbor to take on the Union fleet.