Additional information
by Charles D. IV Webster (Author)
In August 1863, a massive experimental cannon rose out of the marshes outside Charleston, South Carolina, and hurled incendiary shells into one of the Confederacy's most symbolically important cities. The weapon became known as the Swamp Angel.
Swamp Angel: A Bad Eminence in History tells the story of that bombardment and the remarkable chain of people, ideas, rivalries, and innovations that made it possible. Far more than the story of a single gun, this book reconstructs an overlooked Civil War episode in which engineers, inventors, artillerists, officers, journalists, and civilians all became part of the same deadly web. Drawing on official records, archival correspondence, patents, newspapers, military reports, and other primary sources, Charles Webster follows the path that led from experimental fire weapons and wartime ambition to the shelling of Charleston in the summer of 1863. Along the way, he restores to view the forgotten figures, strange technologies, and contested decisions that converged in one of the war's most dramatic and unsettling moments. Both deeply researched and vividly told, Swamp Angel challenges the idea that this was merely a historical curiosity or footnote. It was an episode-violent, consequential, and revealing-that exposed the expanding reach of modern war and the human cost borne by those caught beneath it.
Number of Pages: 312
Dimensions: 0.78 x 9 x 6 IN
Publication Date: August 21, 2026
