The King Street Battery

Located at White Point Garden on the southern portion of Battery Ramsay was mounted a 10-inch Columbiad smoothbore and a rifled and banded 42-pounder. The guns, bearing on the inner harbor and on the Ashley River, were protected by a traverse shown in this photograph, taken looking south across 32 South Battery Street at King and out into the harbor. The guns’ earthen protection shielded crew members from anything other than a head-on shot, should a Union vessel get close enough. Confederates had also built magazines and bombproofs into the mounds. The photographer took this view looking through the iron fencing of James Spear’s residence.

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.