The Morning After the Attack on Sullivan's Island, June 29, 1776

Lieutenant Gray, a member of the Second South Carolina Regiment was an eyewitness to the battle between the British fleet and the men defending Charleston harbor and was wounded in the encounter. He recorded his experiences in two paintings which he presented to his colleague in battle, Lt. Richard Bohun Baker. No other work by Gray is known. The viewpoint is the same in both paintings: the British fleet on the right, the fort on Sullivan's Island to the left. In "The Morning After" the British ship the "Actaeon" is shown aground in the right foreground. Approaching the fort are foraging parties who stripped the Actaeon of her colors and some of her supplies. After they left she exploded. The inscription in pencil below reads: 'The morning after the engagement on Sullivan's Island. The ships of war having retired a few miles below the fort are on a . . . repairing damages and particularly stopping shot holes between . . . and . . . dispatch boats and other vessels are seen a few miles off, passing and repassing between the fleet and Sr. H. Clinton's army on Long Island to the east of Sullivan's Island."