Charles R. Woods - Civil War Service

Civil War Service

In early 1861, Woods was ordered by the U.S. Army to lead reinforcements to Fort Sumter, located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. On January 5 his command of 200 officers and men left from Governors Island in New York Harbor aboard the steamer SS Star of the West, escorted by the sloop USS Brooklyn, for Fort Sumter.

On January 8 at dark Woods arrived off Charleston Harbor, and when it was light enough on January 9 they entered the bay. Woods and the steamer weren't fired upon until they arrived within one and three-quarter miles (about half a kilometer) of both Sumter and Fort Moultrie, when they were fired on by an artillery battery near the northern end of Morris Island. Woods described in his report what occurred next:

We kept on, still under the fire of the battery, most of the balls passing over us, one just missing the machinery, another striking but a few feet from the rudder, while a ricochet shot struck us in the fore-chains, about two feet above the water line... The American flag Was flying at Fort Sumter, but we saw no flag at Fort Moultrie, and there were no guns fired from either of these fortifications. Finding it impossible to take my command to Fort Sumter, I was obliged most reluctantly to turn about, and try to make my way out of the harbor before my retreat should be cut off by vessels then in sight...

Woods and the Star of the West returned to New York Harbor on January 12, 1861, and he filed his full report the next day from Fort Columbus. On April 1 he was promoted to the rank of captain, and on October 13 he was given command of the 76th Ohio Infantry Regiment with the rank of colonel. Woods' first assignment with his regiment was briefly in what is now West Virginia in the fall of 1861.

In 1862, Woods began his Western Theater service. His regiment participated in the capture of Fort Donelson in Tennessee on February 16, 1862, as well as the Battle of Shiloh on April 6. Woods was promoted to brigade command in the Army of the Tennessee shortly before the Siege of Corinth on April 29, which lasted until June 10. He then took charge of his prior regiment during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou that December. Woods fought well during rest of the Vicksburg Campaign and the Siege of Vicksburg, and for his performance during the siege Woods was appointed a brevet lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army as of July 4, 1863.

Woods fought with distinction at the Third Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863, and was made a brevet colonel in the Regular Army as of November 24 for his efforts there. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Union Army on August 4, and by January 1864 was given divisional command. He was promoted to major in the Regular Army in the 18th U.S. Infantry on April 20, 1864, and was appointed a brevet major general in the Union Army for his actions during the Battle of Griswoldville on November 22, the first engagement of Sherman's March to the Sea. Woods was then appointed a regular brevet brigadier general and quickly then to brevet major general on March 13, 1865, both in the Regular Army.