Note the Shell-Hole

On the left, the northwest corner of Broad and Meeting Streets, is the Charleston District Court House, also known as the State House. Two stone fenders stand at the street corner, to protect the building from wayward freight wagons. But there was no protection against wayward Yankee shells. Behind the Union sailor is the hole knocked in the State House wall by a Northern projectile. Its relatively small size shows that the shell perforated the brick but did not explode—a common occurrence during the bombardment. At the end of the bombardment, hundreds if not thousands of these undetonated projectiles had to be dug out and removed. There is also projectile damage on the window above the soldiers on the bench. The length of the shadow from the right across Broad Street allowed Jack Thomson to date this photograph as taken around 11 a.m. on or about March 27, 1865.

This is the caption as printed in 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War. It has not yet been through this site’s research and fact-checking pass.