Nearly forgotten amid the Union victories of 1863 was the Union attempt to bring the war back to where it started: Charleston, South Carolina. The siege of Charleston became the site of numerous engineering innovations that presaged warfare of the next 60 years, as the North tried to take the city and fort that symbolized the birth of secession.
On November 13, 1833 the night became as bright as daylight, the heavens fell, and people feared that it was the end of times. The event was so dramatic that it sparked both a new religion and a new science.