Showing posts with label Ft Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ft Johnson. Show all posts

Friday, August 30, 2024

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Friday, December 13, 1861

Batteries A and B were ordered to report near Conrad's Ferry, where we arrived before sunrise, it being only five miles from our camp. While going through the woods, orders were given not to talk loud, the distance between us and the enemy being not more than three miles at the time. The enemy's position, which was a fortified one, consisting of two forts, called Beauregard and Johnson, had already been reconnoitred from a balloon, the day before. At our arrival, we found General Stone and Colonel Tompkins, with two companies of Van Allen's cavalry, two companies of the Thirty-fourth New York, and two of the First Minnesota, already there. We opened on the two forts, without much effect. Lieutenant Perry was more successful, with his Parrott guns. The enemy could be seen standing in squads by his artillery, yet no reply was made. By four o'clock we all withdrew, except the Parrott guns of Battery B, doing picket duty. The old members will remember, when returning to camp, Lieutenant Perry rode that nigger down. Quiet up to Wednesday, December 18.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 28

Friday, April 28, 2017

Headquarters, Confederate Provisional Forces, Charleston, South Carolina: General Order No. 9, April 6, 1861


Headquarters, Prov. Forces,
Charleston, S. C, U. S. A., April 6, 1861.
General Order
No. 9.

The following general instructions are issued for the government of commanders of batteries, and will be furnished by them to captains of batteries under their command.

I. Should Fort Sumter at any time fire upon the works on Morris, James, or Sullivan's islands, or on any vessel or steamer in the service of or friendly to the Confederate States, this act of aggression will be the signal for the commencement of hostilities; the mortar, enfilade and other batteries of the harbor bearing on Fort Sumter will immediately open their fire upon it, with a view, first, to dismount as many of the guns as possible, and then to effect a breach, if practicable. Great care should be taken not to fire rapidly, but accurately.

The order to fire slowly but surely should be strictly enforced. There must be no waste of powder, shot or shells, the object being to worry out the garrison, if practicable.

II. The mortar batteries will continue their firing day and night at the rate, collectively, in the daytime, of one shell every two minutes, and at night of one every ten minutes. There being sixteen mortars in position (four at Fort Johnson, two near the Moultrie House, two near Sullivan's Island point, two at Mount Pleasant, and six at Cummings Point), each mortar will be fired every thirty-two minutes in the first case, and once every two hours and forty minutes in the second.

III. The batteries opposite to each other will endeavor to fire in succession in relative proportion to their armaments, and so as to cause their shells to explode sometimes immediately over and within Fort Sumter, and at other times on its parade or interior ground. The firing, having been commenced by the Moultrie House mortar battery (Captain Butler), will be continued in the following order: first by the Fort Johnson (Captain James), in the proportion of two shells from the latter to one from the former; then by Cummings Point mortar batteries (Major Stevens and Captain King), followed by Sullivan's Island point mortar battery (Captain Hallonquist), and then last by the Mount Pleasant mortar battery (Captain Martin), in the proportion of three shells from the Cummings Point mortar battery to one from each of the two batteries.

IV. Commanders of batteries to make application for additional ammunition.

V. Lights carefully placed, and batteries to open on Sumter at the signal.

SOURCE:  Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 464-5.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Official Reports of the Operations in Charleston Harbor, S. C., December 20, 1860 – April 14, 1861: No. 11. – Report of Lieut. Col. Roswell S. Ripley, South Carolina Army, commanding Artillery

No. 11.

Report of Lieut. Col. R. S. Ripley, South Carolina Army, commanding Artillery.

HEADQUARTERS ARTILLERY,
Sullivan's Island, Fort Moultrie, April 16, 1861.

MAJOR: I have the honor to report that on the evening of the 11th instant, at 9½ o'clock, the batteries under my command were supplied and manned, the furnace heated, and all was ready for action either against a fleet or Fort Sumter. They were the following:

The five-gun battery, east of Curlew ground, under Captain Tupper, of the Vigilant Rifles.

The Maffitt channel battery, two guns, and mortar-battery No. 2, two 10-inch mortars, under Captain Butler, of the Infantry.

Fort Moultrie, which was my headquarters, thirty guns, under Capt. W. R. Calhoun, of the Artillery assistant commandant of batteries; First Lieuts. Thomas Wagner and Alfred Rhett, Artillery, commanding Channel and Sumter batteries.

Mortar-battery No. 1, two 10-inch mortars.

The enfilade battery, four guns, under Capt. J. H. Hallonquist, Artillery, assistant commandant of batteries, and Lieutenants Flemming,  Artillery, and Valentine, Infantry.

The Point battery, one 9-inch Dahlgren gun, and the floating battery,  four guns, under Capt. J. R. Hamilton and First Lieutenant Yates, of the Artillery, and the Mount Pleasant battery, two 10-inch mortars, under Capt. Robert Martin, of the Infantry.

Of these three 8-inch columbiads, two 32-pounders, and six 24-pounders in Fort Moultrie; two 24-pounders and two 32-pounders in the enfilade battery; one 9-inch Dahlgren gun, two 32-pounders, two 42-pounders at the Point and on board the floating battery, and the six 10-inch mortars bore upon Fort Sumter.

A strict watch was kept all night, but no attempt to send re-enforcements into Fort Sumter was observed. At 4½ o'clock on the morning of the 12th a shell was seen from the batteries of Fort Johnson, and in accordance with orders the signal for general action was made at once. The commands went quickly and quietly to their posts, and very soon every battery bearing upon the fort had commenced. As it was still dark the firing was very slow, but after dawn the direct fire was quickened, until every gun which bore upon Sumter was in quick operation, and this was continued at the regular intervals presented throughout the day. The enemy at first only replied to the Cummings Point batteries, but in a short time opened a brisk fire on the Point and floating batteries of this command with great precision. Shortly afterward he commenced firing on the enfilade batteries, but did not open upon Fort Moultrie.

At about 8 o'clock I visited the batteries to the west of this fort, and noticed the admirable conduct of the officers and men. Lieutenants Blanding and Flemming, of the Artillery, at mortar battery No. 1, and Lieutenants Valentine and Burnet, of the Infantry, at the enfilade battery, were promptly and energetically performing their duties. Captain Hallonquist was directing his fire to enfilade and drive the enemy from his parapet. At the Point battery Capt. J. R. Hamilton was firing with great precision and skill, and from his battery I noticed First Lieutenants Yates and Harleston on board the floating battery working their guns with all the rapidity which the order of firing permitted. I next visited Captain Butler's mortar battery, which he was working energetically.

Fort Sumter opened upon Fort Moultrie about 8.30 o'clock in the morning, and from that time a steady and continuous fire was kept up on us from his casemate 32-pounders and 42-pounders throughout the day. This was replied to by the nine guns of the Sumter battery of this fort, under Lieutenants Rhett and Mitchell, and two guns of the oblique battery, under Lieutenant Parker, until 9 a.m., when Lieutenant Rhett's command was relieved by the detachment of Company A, under Lieutenants Wagner, Preston, and Sitgreaves.

Captain Calhoun arranged the reliefs, and the officers and men of Companies A, B, and D worked the Sumter battery of this fort alternately until evening. During this time Captain Calhoun kept his channel guns manned and ready for action against the fleet, which was confidently expected to attempt an entrance. At different times during the afternoon five hot shot were fired upon the quarters at Fort Sumter. I have learned that they were thrice set on fire. Meantime the enemy's shot had told with great effect upon the quarters of Fort Moultrie, continually perforating and breaking them up; but our defenses were strong, the merlons and traverses heavy and well secured, and no material damage was done to our defenses, although the principal fire of the enemy was directed on this fort during the whole of the afternoon. The direct fire ceased with the light, but the mortars kept up the bombardment at the prescribed intervals.

The night set in dark and rainy, and it was feared that the enemy would certainly attempt to re-enforce. All the batteries on the island were visited, and especial vigilance enjoined. The channel batteries were kept manned, the various enfilading guns were all in readiness to sweep the faces and landings at Fort Sumter, and the mortar batteries to redouble their fire upon an alarm. The night passed away with one alerte, during which the mortar practice was increased in rapidity for a short time, and a few shots were fired from the different batteries; but it becoming apparent that the alarm was groundless the vertical fire was resumed, according to orders, and kept up until the day dawned.

Believing that it was impossible that the fleet outside would permit the cannonade to proceed without an attempt to re-enforce during the day and the men of my command having been exposed to a pelting rain during the night, and feeling confident that we had perfect command of the enemy's parapet, it had been determined to fire but two or three guns from the Sumter battery of Fort Moultrie, and, while keeping up a brisk mortar practice and fire from the enfilade battery, to save the ammunition of the Point and floating batteries to repel an attempt to re-enforce. Orders were given to such effect, and the two guns were opened from the Sumter battery of this fort, the other batteries firing in order. Fort Sumter opened early and spitefully, and paid especial attention to Fort Moultrie – almost every shot grazing the crest of the parapet, and crashing through the quarters. Our defenses were still uninjured and our losses trifling.

Finding that I could spare men and still keep the channel battery manned, the fire was somewhat increased, until about 9 o'clock on the morning of the 13th smoke was seen to issue from the roof of the quarters of Fort Sumter, and it was evident that a conflagration had commenced. The entire Sumter battery of Fort Moultrie was manned at once, and worked with the utmost rapidity, officers and men vieing in their energy. Captain Calhoun, First Lieutenants Wagner, Rhett, and Preston, Second Lieutenants Sitgreaves, Mitchell, and Parker, of the Artillery, and Mr. F. D. Blake, acting engineer, all superintended the working of the guns, which were manned by detachments from Company B, relieved at times by detachments from Company A, with a skill, and precision rarely excelled. Indeed, I doubt whether an artillery fire at such a distance with ordinary guns has ever equaled it in precision. The shot, both hot and cold, crashed into the quarters of Fort Sumter and along the parapet rendering the extinction of the flames difficult, and lighting up new places to windward. It became evident soon that the enemy was worsted, but to insure the result orders were passed to each of the batteries to redouble their fire.

Captain Hamilton, Captain Hallonquist and Lieutenants Yates and Valentine had anticipated the order, and Captain Butler soon increased the rapidity of his mortar practice; nevertheless from his casemates the enemy still poured shot thick and fast upon Fort Moultrie until about 12.45 p.m., when his flagstaff was cut away, and it slackened. The thick and stifling smoke arising from the ruins of his buildings told plainly that the time for surrender had nearly come. Nevertheless he hoisted a new flag over the crest of his parapet, and our fire, which had been ordered to cease when his flagstaff fell, was reopened with all the vigor we could command. The smoke still poured out of the ruins, and the fire from Fort Sumter having slackened again the order was again given to cease, but upon his recommencing we reopened.

While the enemy's flag was still flying and he was still firing upon us, a boat was observed to leave Cummings Point and pull towards Fort Sumter. By my order a shot was sent ahead of it, but it continued on and landed.

At 1.15 p.m., a white flag having been hoisted alongside the United States ensign, the firing ceased. Brigadier-General Dunovant, who was present in Fort Moultrie, immediately sent Captain Hartstene, C. S. N., Captain Calhoun, and Surgeon Lynch, C. S. N., to ascertain whether the surrender was made, and to tender assistance. Upon their arrival they found that the staff of the commanding general had just preceded them.

It is hard to say whether any distinction can be made in the conduct of the officers and men under my command. From the senior captain to the prisoner turned out of the guard-house just before the action all did their duty. The conduct of several came under my special notice, and I mention them accordingly. Captains Calhoun and Hallonquist, assistants to commandant of batteries; Capt. J. R. Hamilton, First Lieutenants Wagner, Rhett, and Yates, and Second Lieutenant Flemming, of the Artillery, and Captain Butler and Lieutenant Valentine, of the Infantry, were all in command of batteries, and deserve especial mention. In addition to the officers whose names appear in the report above I take pleasure in mentioning the conduct of the engineer and assistants, First Lieutenant Earle, and Messrs. F. D. Blake and J. E. Nash, volunteers, acting.

No repairs being needed for the defenses, these gentlemen acted as staff and lookout officers, and were very efficient. Lieut. T. S. Fayssoux, of the Cavalry, assistant commissary of subsistence, acted well in the same capacity. Capt. C. F. Middleton, an old resident of Sullivan's Island, remained with his family during the cannonade, and was especially useful. All of these gentlemen were active and prompt in communicating orders and doing whatever duty devolved upon them.

Surg. Arthur Lynch, C. S. N., and Assist. Surg. Walter Taylor, South Carolina Volunteers, the permanent surgeons of the post, had made every preparation for the discharge of their duties, and would have been assisted by Drs. Raoul, Barnwell, and Porcher, who volunteered, but fortunately our casualties were so few that their services as surgeons were needless. They acted as staff officers. The Rev. Mr. Aldrich was present during the cannonade. Dr. Maddox acted as surgeon at mortar battery No. 1, and Drs. Daviga and Logan at the Point and on board the floating battery. Mr. John Wells, of South Carolina, acted as an ordnance officer at the Point battery under Captain Hamilton.

Our escape with only four slight casualties I conceive to be in a great measure due to the strength of our defenses, the material of which had been furnished under the direction of Maj. Walter Gwynn, chief engineer, in large quantities since the 1st of January last. Major Gwynn had also given his personal supervision to the construction of several of the works. The batteries exterior to the fort and many of the works adjacent were built under the superintendence of Captain Trapier, whose accomplishments as an engineer are well known, and certainly are appreciated by those who garrison works constructed by him.

Several times during the action I had the pleasure of meeting the brigadier-general commanding, and of receiving valuable assistance from Captain Bruns and other officers of the staff. I wish to draw particular and special attention to the valuable services of Messrs. John Henery and Charles Scanlan, acting military storekeepers, who have been on duty with my command since January last. These gentlemen have given every attention to their duty, and to them is due, in a great measure, the high state of efficiency of our guns and ordnance. They were indispensable during the action.

The Ordnance Department deserves and has my thanks for the material furnished under so many adverse circumstances since the 1st of January last.

Among other volunteers, Maj. John Dunovant, of the Infantry, came to Fort Moultrie early on the morning of the 13th, and was present during the action, doing all that lay in his power.

I was deprived of the services of the commissioned battalion staff during the cannonade. First Lieut. James Hamilton, adjutant, was absent sick on the 11th instant, but hearing of the probability of an engagement, left his bed and came to report for duty. He remained until some time after the action, when it was evident that his strength was gone. Lieutenant Yates, battalion quartermaster, preferred the command of the floating battery, and I excused him from staff duty.
Lieut. Col. Hatch, quartermaster-general, had made preparations for the extinguishment of fires. Mr. Prioleau Ravenel was present with the engines and a body of men to put them out should they occur. We were fortunate, and he did what duty he was called on to perform.

I have the honor to inclose a return of the few wounded, a statement of shot fired, and such reports from commanding officers as I have received. To them I beg to refer for the names of meritorious individuals not mentioned above.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. S. RIPLEY,
Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery, Commanding.
_______________

Return of shot and shell fired from the batteries of Fort Moultrie Sullivan's Island, and Mount Pleasant, commanded by Lieut. Col. R. S. Ripley, Artillery, South Carolina Army, during the cannonade and bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12 and 13, 1861.

 
[Click graph to enlarge.]

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 39-43; This report is quoted in Samuel Wylie Crawford’s The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 435.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Official Reports of the Operations in Charleston Harbor, S. C., December 20, 1860 – April 14, 1861: No. 21. – Reports of Capt. George B. Cuthbert, Palmetto Guard, South Carolina Infantry.

No. 21.

Reports of Capt. G. B. Cuthbert, Palmetto Guard, South Carolina Infantry.

PALMETTO GUARD ENCAMPMENT,
Morris Island, April 17, 1861.

DEAR SIR: In the report which I now make I propose to give an account of the most prominent incidents connected with the batteries manned by the Palmetto Guard, and which transpired during the engagement which took place on the 12th and 13th instant. I will also take occasion to mention the names of those who particularly distinguished themselves by their courage and efficiency. In conclusion I shall render you a statement of the number of shells and solid shot fired from the above-mentioned batteries.

The mortar battery at Cummings Point opened fire on Fort Sumter in its turn, after the signal shell from Fort Johnson, having been preceded by the mortar batteries on Sullivan's Island and the mortar battery of the Marion Artillery.

At the dawn of day the Iron battery commenced its work of demolition. The first shell from columbiad No. 1, fired by the venerable Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, burst directly upon the parapet of the southwest angle of the fort. After the first round the Iron battery continued firing at regular intervals of fifteen minutes, in accordance with the orders of General Beauregard. The mortar battery continued during the day in the order prescribed.

At 7 o'clock a.m. Major Anderson fired his first shot. This was directed at the Iron battery. The ball passed a few feet above the upper bolts of the shed. The enemy continued firing at too great an elevation until the sixth shot, which fell harmlessly upon the upper portion of the shed, between the embrasures No. 2 and No. 3. At 9 o'clock a.m. columbiad No 1 became disabled by the recoil of the piece, which broke the bolts connecting the chains with the epaulement. This damage was repaired, however, after the expiration of an hour. At 10 o'clock a.m. columbiad No. 2, being aimed at the 10-inch columbiad bearing upon the Iron battery from the parapet of the southwest angle, was fired with such precision as to dismount the grim monster. A few minutes afterwards the window of columbiad No. 2 was struck near the center by a 42-pounder shot, which shattered the bolts and scattered the fragments between the cannoneers. The proper working of this window, however, was not interfered with by this occurrence, but in a half hour after this columbiad recoiled with such violence as to break the lever-bar by which the window was lifted. This casualty prevented the use of this gun until the following morning, several engineers being engaged for the purpose of repairing it. After the second shot from the same piece on the following morning the bar became fractured again in the same place, and, until the surrender, columbiad No. 2 was fought with its shutter opened permanently. The fire of the Iron battery was directed during the first day at the guns in barbette and those in the casemates. Major Anderson directed his fire for four consecutive hours from 7 to 11 o'clock a.m., at the Iron battery, striking it seven times. He then pointed his guns at the mortar battery of Cummings Point, and making no impression upon the unbroken wall of sand he turned his attention to the 42-pounders, thrusting at successive intervals their muzzles along the sides of their palmetto embrasures. At 4 o'clock p.m. the gunners at Fort Sumter ceased firing towards Morris Island, the batteries pointing in that direction being completely silenced. The rifled cannon did great execution, two of its balls passing entirely through the walls of Fort Sumter.

On the morning of the 13th we attempted to breach with our columbiads by concentrating our fire upon a point to the right of the sally-port, intending thus to effect another object at the same time, viz., by the ricochet of the ball to beat away the traverse of granite, which had been built up for the purpose of protecting the doorway from an enfilading fire. We had fired but a few shots when a shell from the mortar battery at Cummings Point fell upon the northwestern portion of the roof of the fort. After the lapse of some minutes we perceived the smoke issuing from that quarter. Soon flames burst upward. From that moment until the flagstaff was shot down seven-second shells were fired rapidly from the Iron battery, aimed in such a manner as to scatter the flame and to increase the fury of the conflagration. I refer you, dear sir, to the marks of shot and shell upon the outer and interior walls of the fort to enable you to form an adequate idea of the accuracy with which the columbiads, the mortars, the rifled cannon, and the 42-pounders of the Cummings Point batteries were aimed and fired.

The posts of the officers of the Palmetto Guard were as' follows: Captain Cuthbert commanded and directed the fire of the Iron battery; First Lieutenant Holmes, assisted by Lieutenant Armstrong, of the Citadel Academy, commanded the mortar battery; Second Lieutenant Brownfield commanded and directed the fire of the 42-pounders; Captain Thomas, of the Citadel Academy, with a squad of the Palmetto Guard, had charge of the rifled cannon; to Major Stevens was assigned the post of superintending the working of all these batteries, and he was so recognized; Lieutenant Buist acted as gunner to No. 3 columbiad during the greater part of the engagement, aiming many of his shots very accurately.

Lieutenants Holmes, Brownfield, and Buist behaved throughout the conflict with distinguished courage and gallantry. Major Stevens, Captain Thomas, and Lieutenant Armstrong, by their coolness, bravery, and skill, gave the highest evidence of their long military training. Lieutenant Brownfield's 42-pounders were fired with great precision, and to his industry and pride in his battery is attributable the fine working condition of his guns. To Mr. Phillips and Mr. Campbell much praise is due for their untiring devotion to their particular department of the magazine stores. In the Iron battery, Orderly Sergeant Bissell aimed many a capital shot at the casemates, and the two Sergeants Webb at the parapet. Bissell crippled the gun of the left casemate, bearing directly upon the Iron battery, and Serg. L. S. Webb dismounted the 10-inch columbiad upon the parapet. Second Sergeant Bissell and Mr. Farelly also made some good shots. At the 42-pounders Sergeant Brownfield, Corporals Rhett, Wright, and Dwyer distinguished themselves as gunners. At the mortar battery Sergeant Gaillard, Corporals Robinson, Zalam, Brailijon, and Rhett did good service as gunners. Capt. Stephen Elliott, of the Beaufort Artillery, was present during the action on the 12th instant, and aimed several good shots.

On the same day when columbiad No. 2 was silenced in consequence of the serious accident referred to above, to repair the damage it became necessary to send forthwith to Charleston to procure the proper materials and implements. Privates Trouche, Craskeys, and Alrains volunteered to go in an open boat, under heavy fire from Fort Sumter and Fort Johnson. They went, and succeeded in accomplishing their errand. A sand bag on the first day of the engagement seriously interfered with the working of the window of columbiad No. 1. Private Allison volunteered to extricate the troublesome impediment. While engaged in the performance of this important service a ball from one of the casemates of Fort Sumter passed directly over him, striking the iron shed. He removed the bag and returned to his post.

The sang-froid of Mr. Lining, the judge-advocate of the Seventeenth Regiment, who served as a private during the engagement, has already received ample commendation in the public prints. I can vouch for the truth of the incident, having been an eye witness. (Please incorporate the report of the Courier in relation to the circumstance.)

The appointment of the Palmetto Guard to the occupation of Fort Sumter for one night was the highest compliment ever bestowed upon any volunteer corps in the history of our State, and that event will always be held by them in grateful remembrance. Upon reaching the stronghold, however, their labors were not yet finished. I wish to take no laurels from the brows of the members of the fire-engine companies of Charleston, but truth requires that I should state that, from the moment of their being disbanded within the walls of the fort, the Palmetto Guard worked incessantly at the engines until after midnight.

A proper respect for the memory of the dead, as well as the desire to put on record a noble act, induces me recount the following fact: Immediately before the departure of the Palmetto Guard for Fort Sumter, Sergeant Webb, Corporal Robinson, and Private Mackay placed a neat and appropriate head-piece over the grave of the unfortunate Howe, the first victim of the sad explosion which took place while Major Anderson was engaged in saluting his flag. The performance of this sacred duty did credit to their generous hearts, and proved that Carolina chivalry exists only in combination with a spirit of reverence and magnanimity. I am proud of the opportunity of stating that all of the members of the company conducted themselves nobly and bravely in the fight. Nor will those whose names have not been mentioned in this report object to the particular honorable notice of their gallant comrades.

Statement of ammunition expended upon Fort Sumter from the Iron battery: Shell, 60; solid shot, 183.

Ammunition expended from the other batteries of Cummings Point: Mortars, 197 shell; 42-pounders, 333 solid-shot, 3 grape-shot; rifled cannon, 11 shot, 19 shell.

With increased admiration for your own individual courage and efficiency on these two eventful days, I remain, dear sir, your obedient servant,

G. B. CUTHBERT,
Captain Palmetto Guard.
W. G. DE SAUSSURE,
Colonel, Commanding Battalion of Artillery.
_______________

PALMETTO GUARD ENCAMPMENT,
Morris Island, April 20, 1861.

DEAR SIR: I write to make an addition to the report which you received yesterday. Please incorporate the following:

Private Gourdin Young volunteered to accompany Colonel Wigfall in a small boat when the latter gentleman was instructed to proceed to Fort Sumter on the fall of the United States flag, for the purpose of inquiring into the cause of that circumstance and to propose a surrender of the fortification. During the passage from Morris Island, amid an incessant fire of shell and grape, he displayed that coolness and determination characteristic of a true South Carolinian. Upon his return he was borne upon the shoulders of his fellow-comrades to the Iron battery.

With great respect, I remain yours, very truly,
G. B. CUTHBERT.
Col. W. G. DE SAUSSURE.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 54-7; This report is quoted in Samuel Wylie Crawford’s The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 430.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Diary of John Hay: Saturday, January 23, 1864

Saturday night I went on board the Ben Deford with the General to visit Folly and Morris Islands. Col. J——, Major B——, Capt. R—— and F—— were in the party. In the morning we were at Pawnee Landing, Folly River. We mounted and rode to Gen’l Terry’s headquarters; saw model of Fort Wagner. Terry joined Gilmore and we went up the beach to Light House Inlet; saw the scene of the crossing by Shaw; crossed and went in ambulances to Wagner; spent some time there. From Wagner walked up to Gregg, leaving our ambulance. Saw the mortar batteries before getting there. From Gregg had a good view of Fort Sumter — silent as the grave—flag flying over it — a great flag flying over the battery on Sullivan's Island. The city, too, was spread out before us like a map; everything very silent; a ship lying silent at the wharf. No sign of life in Ripley, Johnson or Pinckney.

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 157-8; William Roscoe Thayer, John Hay: In Two Volumes, Volume 1, p. 158-9.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Memorandum of Different Plans for Re-Enforcing Fort Sumter

Memoranda read before the President and Cabinet, General Scott and Commodore Stringham, and Mr. Fox, late of the Navy, Washington, March 15, 1861, by Bvt. Brig. Gen. Joseph G. Totten, Chief of Engineers.*

The obstacles to the relief of Fort Sumter are natural or artificial obstacles to navigation, and military opposition.

The main channel in its best natural state would not admit the passage of vessels larger than sloops of war; so that, before it was obstructed, a naval attack, to be very formidable, must have consisted of many vessels of this kind.

In designing the defenses of Charleston Harbor, therefore, it was considered that Fort Sumter, with Castle Pinckney, would suffice, with some improvement of Fort Moultrie, and the erection of batteries in time of war on James Island at the position called Fort Johnson. A deeper entrance would have demanded a stronger system.

The South Carolina troops have strengthened Fort Moultrie and added batteries thereto; they possess Castle Pinckney; they have erected batteries at Fort Johnson, and, not having Fort Sumter, they have planted a number of guns (number not known) on Morris Island.

These last do not, certainly, bring their system up to that which included Fort Sumter; but they, as is represented, have also so blocked the main channel, or made its navigation so intricate, that only vessels light in draught can enter – vessels unavoidably weak to resist and impotent to assail.

If we suppose a squadron of war vessels as large as can be forced through the impediments of the main bar to have overcome that difficulty, and, under pressure of steam, to advance in daylight (as I think would be indispensable), they would suffer greatly from the fire of Morris Island, Fort Moultrie, and its adjacent batteries – but they would suffer much less than the small vessels, because much stronger and with vital parts better secured, and because their own fire would, to a certain extent, keep under, and, to a great degree, render uncertain the fire of the batteries. But whether larger or smaller, the vessels have not merely to pass the fire of the batteries – they must remain exposed to it. Because, before getting beyond the fire of Fort Moultrie, they come within scope of Fort Johnson, and while yet under the guns of these batteries they will be reached by Castle Pinckney. There is no point of shelter within these waters; and although the squadron of heavy sloops might survive the dangers of the passage, they could not long endure the cannonade that would be concentrated on any anchorage. In these very waters, this problem was settled in the Revolutionary War by the contest between the squadron of Sir Peter Parker and the single work of Fort Moultrie – then certainly not more powerful than now.

To enable the supposed squadron to remain, it is indispensable that a military force should capture the batteries from the land, and be strong enough, besides, to hold possession against the troops now assembled in and around them, and those that would rapidly come from the interior.

Should small vessels attempt this entrance by daylight, their destruction would be inevitable; at any rate, the chances of getting through would be too slender to justify any such enterprise. We have certain information that there is much practice with these guns, and that the practice now is good. If this risk were to be run by daylight, the vessels might have a draught of about eight feet, and could use the “Swash Channel,” or a passage between this and the main channel, or, finally, the latter. But I must repeat that unless we were to find a degree of inaptness and imbecility, and a want of vigilance and courage that we have no right to assume, this attempt by daylight with small vessels, even of great speed, must fail.

There remains another project, namely, to enter at night by the “Swash” Channel with a few (two or three) fast steam-tugs, having a draught of only (or about)five feet. To do this it will be necessary to take position before dark off this channel, so as to get upon the proper leading line to be followed after dark by the ascertained course, or, possibly, by the bearing of the lights of Fort Sumter. With proper precautions in screening the lights and fires of the boats, &c., I think the risk would not be so great, considering only the batteries, as to deter from this attempt, provided the object were of very great importance. I should expect one or two, perhaps all, of these vessels to reach Fort Sumter, and the shoal upon which they must be grounded – provided no other impediments awaited them.

But, in the first place, it is a necessary condition that the boats arrive off the harbor before night. If they can see to take these bearings, they can be seen from the shore. In the next place, it seems impossible to fit out any expedition, however small and unobtrusive, without arousing inquiry, and causing the intelligence to be transmitted by telegraph. We may be certain, therefore, that these tugs will be waited for by steamers lying in the channelway, full of men.

This mode of relieving Fort Sumter, or another by men in rowboats passing up the same channel, is so obvious that it is unreasonable to suppose it has not been duly considered and provided for, where so much intelligence and resource in military means have been displayed in the scheme of defense, and so much earnestness and energy in execution. We know that guard rowboats and steamers are active during the night; and that they have all the means of intercepting with certainty this little expedition, and overpowering it, by boarding – a commencement of war.

This attempt, like any other, will inevitably involve a collision.

This raises a question that I am not called on to discuss, but as to which I may say that if the General Government adopts a course that must be attended with this result, its first measure should not be one so likely to meet disaster and defeat; nor one, I may add, which, even if successful, would give but momentary relief, while it would open all the powers of attack upon the fort, certainly reducing it before the means of recovering Charleston Harbor, with all its forts and batteries and environs, can possibly be concentrated there.

Respectfully submitted.
J. G. T.
_______________

* See also General Totten to Secretary of War, April 3, 1861, post.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 198-200

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Major Robert Anderson to Colonel Samuel Cooper, March 9, 1861

fort Sumter, March 9, 1861.
(Received A. G. O., March 12.)
Colonel S. Cooper,
Adjutant-General. United States Army.

Colonel: I have the honor to report that we can see the South Carolinians engaged this morning strengthening and extending considerably what we supposed to have been intended for a mortar battery at Fort Johnson. Small parties are also working at Nos. 9 and 10, and a very heavy force at the bend of the island, this side of No. 1. Whether they are constructing another battery there or strengthening one that is already there I cannot tell. One of my officers reports that he has counted nine 24-pounders which have been landed at Cummings Point within a week. Yesterday he saw several shot or shells which appeared to be about eight inches in diameter. They are certainly busy strengthening the batteries already constructed, and probably adding others. It appears to me that vessels will, even now, from the time they cross the bar, be under fire from the batteries on Morris Island until they get under the walls of this work. I do not speak of the batteries which have been constructed on Sullivan's Island, as I am not certain of their positions. Fort Moultrie will, of course, be a very formidable enemy.

I am, Colonel, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Robert Anderson,
Major First Artillery, Commanding.

colonel S. Cooper, Adjutant-General United States Army.

SOURCES: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 281; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 192.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Captain John G. Foster to Brevet Brigadier-General Joseph G. Totten, March 6, 1861

Fort Sumter, S. C,
March 6, 1861.

General: I have the honor to report that during the day, and especially towards night, unusual activity was observed among the South Carolinians around us; several steamer loads of men were landed on Cummings Point. The number was greater than the arrangements for shelter, apparently, for I observe quite a large number grouped about their bivouac fires this morning. Their suffering must have been considerable during the night, for the weather suddenly changed from the warm temperature of the preceding days to a high degree of cold, for this climate, the wind blowing fresh from the north.

I learn that portable hot shot furnaces have been furnished to several, and probably all, of the batteries. The mortar battery on James Island, south of Fort Johnson, is armed, but the number of mortars is not ascertained. The magazine in the flank of this battery is also finished. The mortar battery on Sullivan's Island, west of Fort Moultrie, is also armed. All the batteries on Morris Island are armed. The guns range from 32pounders down, with the exception of the iron bomb-proof, which is (I think, from all reports and observations) armed with 8-inch Columbiads — three of them.

The raft does not meet expectations. It is being covered with railroad strap iron instead of the T rail. This has a crosssection of about three-fourths or one inch by two inches or two and a half inches.

They are now ironing the top portion, the front not being yet commenced. Two 8-inch Columbiads are lying on the wharf ready to be put on board. I do not think this floating battery will prove very formidable.

We have not yet received the inaugural address of President Lincoln, although it is reported from town that it is coercive in its character, and that much excitement prevails.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. G. Foster,
Captain Engineers.
General Jos. G. Totten,
Chief Engineer U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 280-1

Monday, October 12, 2015

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Monday, December 26, 1864

Everything is quiet this morning, though for a while last night there was quite an excitement in town when a fire broke out. We are still lying in camp, with no particular duty to perform, though we are expecting orders every day to move down the river to Ft. Johnson, below Savannah. We are on half rations now, but today got large quantities of fresh oysters, all we can make use of. They were in the shell and were hauled into our camps by the wagon load, and sold to the boys by the peck or bushel. Governor Stone of Iowa arrived in camp today from Morehead City, North Carolina. He came to issue commissions to the officers of veteran regiments, and also to see that the sick and wounded Iowa soldiers in the field hospitals of the South were receiving good care.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 241

Monday, October 5, 2015

Letter from a South Carolina Mother to Charlotte Cross Wigfall, December 15, 1863

Dec. 15th, 1863.

I have passed many anxious months lately, in this siege of Charleston. My only child and son was at Fort Sumter, a First Lieutenant in the 1st Regular Artillery Regiment. He passed through the first attack in April safely — though occupying a post of danger, but, on the 17th of August, in the attack upon Sumter from the enemy's land batteries, on Morris Island, my poor boy was wounded by a fragment of a 200-pound parrott shell: he was slightly cut in the back of the head and wounded in two places in the shoulder; and picked up insensible. I went to him as soon as the news reached us of his being wounded, but was but two days in Charleston, when we were roused from our slumbers, at two hours past midnight, by the enemy shelling the town filled with sleeping, helpless women and children. The next day I left with my wounded boy to return to my quiet home in Georgia. He was with me but ten days, when he returned to Charleston, though he had not then recovered the use of his right hand and arm, which had been, from the severe contusions on the shoulder, entirely paralyzed. He had been in command of his company, at Sumter, since the first of the attack, his captain being absent on sick leave, so that he was anxious to return to duty and has been ever since, for the last three months, at a battery on James Island, near Fort Johnson, where I am again anxious about him. He is a devoted son, and the trial to me of having the boy so constantly exposed to danger is almost more than I can bear. ... I had hoped you were spared the anxiety of having an only son in the service, so young as he is, I can truly feel for you, but then he is not your only child. You have daughters at home to cheer and comfort you. I never wished until this cruel war that my son had been a daughter, but we must believe it is ordered for the best. I was made very happy last week by my son's return to us on a short leave — he makes everything bright and joyous for me and I miss him sadly when away. If we had only had a navy to fight for us, as the army has done, this war would have ended in a few months, I imagine; and now, who can see the end of it? With the coming spring instead of peace and joy, when the earth is all beautiful and smiling, we are told to prepare for another fierce attack of our cruel foe and more carnage and blood and slaughter await us. My heart sickens at the thought. I heard from Aunt N. from New York, December 6th. She seems very miserable about us all, and wishes I were in New York to share some of the many comforts they enjoy. Much as I once liked New York, I never desire to see it again and would rather starve and die here than live and grow fat under Lincoln! They have no idea, even our Southern friends there, of the feelings aroused in our hearts by this war. I am busy getting John ready to return to his post on James Island. As it breaks my heart to think of the poor boy being on picket all night in the rain and having only dry hominy and cold water for breakfast, I am scouring the country to buy syrup and eggs and a few comforts to keep him from starving.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 162-5

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Diary of William Howard Russell: April 17, 1861

There was a large crowd around the pier staring at the men in uniform on the boat, which was filled with bales of goods, commissariat stores, trusses of hay, and hampers, supplies for the volunteer army on Morris' Island. I was amused by the names of the various corps, “Tigers,” “Lions,” “Scorpions,” “Palmetto Eagles,” “Guards,” of Pickens, Sumter, Marion, and of various other denominations, painted on the boxes. The original formation of these volunteers is in companies, and they know nothing of battalions or regiments. The tendency in volunteer outbursts is sometimes to gratify the greatest vanity of the greatest number. These companies do not muster more than fifty or sixty strong. Some were “dandies,” and “swells,” and affected to look down on their neighbors and comrades. Major Whiting told me there was difficulty in getting them to obey orders at first, as each man had an idea that he was as good an engineer as anybody else, “and a good deal better, if it came to that.” It was easy to perceive it was the old story of volunteer and regular in this little army.

As we got on deck, the Major saw a number of rough, longhaired-looking fellows in coarse gray tunics, with pewter buttons and worsted braid lying on the hay-bales smoking their cigars. “Gentlemen,” quoth he, very courteously, “you'll oblige me by not smoking over the hay. There's powder below.” “I don't believe we're going to burn the hay this time, kernel,” was the reply, “and anyway, we'll put it out afore it reaches the ’bustibles,” and they went on smoking. The Major grumbled, and worse, and drew off.

Among the passengers were some brethren of mine belonging to the New York and local papers. I saw a short time afterwards a description of the trip by one of these gentlemen, in which he described it as an affair got up specially for himself, probably in order to avenge himself on his military persecutors, for he had complained to me the evening before, that the chief of General Beauregard's staff told him to go to ----, when he applied at head-quarters for some information. I found from the tone and looks of my friends, that these literary gentlemen were received with great disfavor, and Major Whiting, who is a bibliomaniac, and has a very great liking for the best English writers, could not conceal his repugnance and antipathy to my unfortunate confreres. “If I had my way, I would fling them into the water; but the General has given them orders to come on board. It is these fellows who have brought all this trouble on our country.”

The traces of dislike of the freedom of the press, which I, to my astonishment, discovered in the North, are broader and deeper in the South, and they are not accompanied by the signs of dread of its power which exist in New York, where men speak of the chiefs of the most notorious journals very much as people in Italian cities of past time might have talked of the most infamous bravo or the chief of some band of assassins. Whiting comforted himself by the reflection that they would soon have their fingers in a vice, and then pulling out a ragged little sheet, turned suddenly on the representative thereof, and proceeded to give the most unqualified contradiction to most of the statements contained in “the full and accurate particulars of the Bombardment and Fall of Fort Sumter,” in the said journal, which the person in question listened to with becoming meekness and contrition. “If I knew who wrote it,” said the Major, “I'd make him eat it.”

I was presented to many judges, colonels, and others of the mass of society on board, and, “after compliments,” as the Orientals say, I was generally asked, in the first place, what I thought of the capture of Sumter, and in the second, what England would do when the news reached the other side. Already the Carolinians regard the Northern States as an alien and detested enemy, and entertain, or profess, an immense affection for Great Britain.

When we had shipped all our passengers, nine tenths of them in uniform, and a larger proportion engaged in chewing, the whistle blew, and the steamer sidled off from the quay into the yellowish muddy water of the Ashley River, which is a creek from the sea, with a streamlet running into the head waters some distance up.

The shore opposite Charleston is more than a mile distant and is low and sandy, covered here and there with patches of brilliant vegetation, and long lines of trees. It is cut up with creeks, which divide it into islands, so that passages out to sea exist between some of them for light craft, though the navigation is perplexed and difficult. The city lies on a spur or promontory between the Ashley and the Cooper rivers, and the land behind it is divided in the same manner by similar creeks, and is sandy and light, bearing, nevertheless, very fine crops, and trees of magnificent vegetation. The steeples, the domes of public buildings, the rows of massive warehouses and cotton stores on the wharves, and the bright colors of the houses, render the appearance of Charleston, as seen from the river front, rather imposing. From the mastheads of the few large vessels in harbor floated the Confederate flag. Looking to our right, the same standard was visible, waving on the low, white parapets of the earthworks which had been engaged in reducing Sumter.

That much-talked-of fortress lay some two miles ahead of us now, rising up out of the water near the middle of the passage out to sea between James' Island and Sullivan's Island. It struck me at first as being like one of the smaller forts off Cronstadt, but a closer inspection very much diminished its importance; the material is brick, not stone, and the size of the place is exaggerated by the low background, and by contrast with the sea-line. The land contracts on both sides opposite the fort, a projection of Morris' Island, called “Cumming's Point,” running out on the left. There is a similar promontory from Sullivan's Island, on which is erected Fort Moultrie, on the right from the sea entrance. Castle Pinckney, which stands on a small island at the exit of the Cooper River, is a place of no importance, and it was too far from Sumter to take any share in the bombardment: the same remarks apply to Fort Johnson on James' Island, on the right bank of the Ashley River below Charleston. The works which did the mischief were the batteries of sand on Morris' Island, at Cumming's Point, and Fort Moultrie. The floating battery, covered with railroad-iron, lay a long way off, and could not have contributed much to the result.

As we approached Morris' Island, which is an accumulation of sand covered with mounds of the same material, on which there is a scanty vegetation alternating with salt-water marshes, we could perceive a few tents in the distance among the sandhills. The sand-bag batteries, and an ugly black parpapet, with guns peering through port-holes as if from a ship's side, lay before us. Around them men were swarming like ants, and a crowd in uniform were gathered on the beach to receive us as we landed from the boat of the steamer, all eager for news and provisions and newspapers, of which an immense flight immediately fell upon them. A guard with bayonets crossed in a very odd sort of manner, prevented any unauthorized persons from landing. They wore the universal coarse gray jacket and trousers, with worsted braid and yellow facings, uncouth caps, lead buttons stamped with the palmetto-tree. Their unbronzed firelocks were covered with rust. The soldiers lounging about were mostly tall, well-grown men, young and old, some with the air of gentlemen; others coarse, longhaired fellows, without any semblance of military bearing, but full of fight, and burning with enthusiasm, not unaided, in some instances, by coarser stimulus.

The day was exceedingly warm and unpleasant, the hot wind blew the fine white sand into our faces, and wafted it in minute clouds inside eyelids, nostrils, and clothing; but it was necessary to visit the batteries, so on we trudged into one and out of another, walked up parapets, examined profiles, looked along guns, and did everything that could be required of us. The result of the examination was to establish in my mind the conviction, that if the commander of Sumter had been allowed to open his guns on the island, the first time he saw an indication of throwing up a battery against him, he could have saved his fort. Moultrie, in its original state, on the opposite side, could have been readily demolished by Sumter. The design of the works was better than their execution — the sand-bags were rotten, the sand not properly revetted or banked up, and the traverses imperfectly constructed. The barbette guns of the fort looked into many of the embrasures, and commanded them.

The whole of the island was full of life and excitement. Officers were galloping about as if on a field-day or in action. Commissariat carts were toiling to and fro between the beach and the camps, and sounds of laughter and revelling came from the tents. These were pitched without order, and were of all shapes, hues, and sizes, many being disfigured by rude charcoal drawings outside, and inscriptions such as “Live Tigers,” “Rattlesnake's-hole,” “Yankee Smashers,” &c. The vicinity of the camps was in an intolerable state, and on calling the attention of the medical officer who was with me, to the danger arising from such a condition of things, he said with a sigh, “I know it all. But we can do nothing. Remember they're all volunteers, and do just as they please.”

In every tent was hospitality, and a hearty welcome to all comers. Cases of champagne and claret, French pâtés, and the like, were piled outside the canvas walls, when there was no room for them inside. In the middle of these excited gatherings I felt like a man in the full possession of his senses coming in late to a wine party. “Won't you drink with me, sir, to the — (something awful) — of Lincoln and all Yankees?” “No! if you'll be good enough to excuse me.” “Well, I think you're the only Englishman who won't.” Our Carolinians are very fine fellows, but a little given to the Bobadil style — hectoring after a cavalier fashion, which they fondly believe to be theirs by hereditary right. They assume that the British crown rests on a cotton bale, as the Lord Chancellor sits on a pack of wool.

In one long tent there was a party of roystering young men, opening claret, and mixing “cup” in large buckets; whilst others were helping the servants to set out a table for a banquet to one of their generals. Such heat, tobacco-smoke, clamor, toasts, drinking, hand-shaking, vows of friendship! Many were the excuses made for the more demonstrative of the Edonian youths by their friends. “Tom is a little cut, sir; but he's a splendid fellow — he's worth half-a-million of dollars.” This reference to a money standard of value was not unusual or perhaps unnatural, but it was made repeatedly; and I was told wonderful tales of the riches of men who were lounging round, dressed as privates, some of whom at that season, in years gone by, were looked for at the watering places as the great lions of American fashion. But Secession is the fashion here. Young ladies sing for it; old ladies pray for it; young men are dying to fight for it; old men are ready to demonstrate it. The founder of the school was St. Calhoun. Here his pupils carry out their teaching in thunder and fire. States' Rights are displayed after its legitimate teaching, and the Palmetto flag and the red bars of the Confederacy are its exposition. The utter contempt and loathing for the venerated Stars and Stripes, the abhorrence of the very words United States, the intense hatred of the Yankee on the part of these people, cannot be conceived by any one who has not seen them. I am more satisfied than ever that the Union can never be restored as it was, and that it has gone to pieces, never to be put together again, in the old shape, at all events, by any power on earth.

After a long and tiresome promenade in the dust, heat, and fine sand, through the tents, our party returned to the beach, where we took boat, and pushed off for Fort Sumter. The Confederate flag rose above the walls. On near approach the marks of the shot against the pain coupé, and the embrasures near the salient were visible enough; but the damage done to the hard brickwork was trifling, except at the angles: the edges of the parapets were ragged and pock-marked, and the quay wall was rifted here and there by shot; but no injury of a kind to render the work untenable could be made out. The greatest damage inflicted was, no doubt, the burning of the barracks, which were culpably erected inside the fort, close to the flank wall facing Cumming's Point.

As the boat touched the quay of the fort, a tall, powerful-looking man came through the shattered gateway, and with uneven steps strode over the rubbish towards a skiff which was waiting to receive him, and into which he jumped and rowed off. Recognizing one of my companions as he passed our boat he suddenly stood up, and with a leap and a scramble tumbled in among us, to the imminent danger of upsetting the party. Our new friend was dressed in the blue frock-coat of a civilian, round which he had tied a red silk sash — his waistbelt supported a straight sword, something like those worn with Court dress. His muscular neck was surrounded with a loosely-fastened silk handkerchief; and wild masses of black hair, tinged with gray, fell from under a civilian's hat over his collar; his unstrapped trousers were gathered up high on his legs, displaying ample boots, garnished with formidable brass spurs. But his face was one not to be forgotten — a straight, broad brow, from which the hair rose up like the vegetation on a river bank, beetling black eyebrows — a mouth coarse and grim, yet full of power, a square jaw —a thick argumentative nose — a new growth of scrubby beard and mustache — these were relieved by eyes of wonderful depth and light, such as I never saw before but in the head of a wild beast. If you look some day when the sun is not too bright into the eye of the Bengal tiger, in the Regent's Park, as the keeper is coming round, you will form some notion of the expression I mean. It was flashing, fierce, yet calm — with a well of fire burning behind and spouting through it, an eye pitiless in anger, which now and then sought to conceal its expression beneath half-closed lids, and then burst out with an angry glare, as if disdaining concealment.

This was none other than Louis T. Wigfall, Colonel (then of his own creation) in the Confederate army, and Senator from Texas in the United States — a good type of the men whom the institutions of the country produce or throw off — a remarkable man, noted for his ready, natural eloquence; his exceeding ability as a quick, bitter debater; the acerbity of his taunts; and his readiness for personal encounter. To the last he stood in his place in the Senate at Washington, when nearly every other Southern man had seceded, lashing with a venomous and instant tongue, and covering with insults, ridicule, and abuse, such men as Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, and other Republicans: never missing a sitting of the House, and seeking out adversaries in the bar-rooms or at gambling tables. The other day, when the fire against Sumter was at its height, and the fort, in flames, was reduced almost to silence, a small boat put off from the shore, and steered through the shot and the splashing waters right for the walls. It bore the Colonel and a negro oarsman. Holding up a white handkerchief on the end of his sword, Wigfall landed on the quay, clambered through an embrasure, and presented himself before the astonished Federals with a proposal to surrender, quite unauthorized, and “on his own hook,” which led to the final capitulation of Major Anderson.

I am sorry to say, our distinguished friend had just been paying his respects sans bornes to Bacchus or Bourbon, for he was decidedly unsteady in his gait and thick in speech; but his head was quite clear, and he was determined 1 should know all about his exploit. Major Whiting desired to show me round the work, but he had no chance. “Here is where I got in,” quoth Colonel Wigfall. “I found a Yankee standing here by the traverse, out of the way of our shot. He was pretty well scared when he saw me, but I told him not to be alarmed, but to take me to the officers. There they were, huddled up in that corner behind the brickwork, for our shells were tumbling into the yard, and bursting like —” &c. (The Colonel used strong illustrations and strange expletives in narrative.) Major Whiting shook his military head, and said something uncivil to me, in private, in reference to volunteer colonels and the like, which gave him relief; whilst the martial Senator — I forgot to say that he has the name, particularly in the North, of having killed more than half a dozen men in duels — (I had an escape of being another) —conducted me through the casemates with uneven steps, stopping at every traverse to expatiate on some phase of his personal experiences, with his sword dangling between his legs, and spurs involved in rubbish and soldiers' blankets.

In my letter I described the real extent of the damage inflicted, and the state of the fort as I found it. At first the batteries thrown up by the Carolinians were so poor, that the United States officers in the fort were mightily amused at them, and anticipated easy work in enfilading, ricocheting, and battering them to pieces, if they ever dared to open fire. One morning, however, Capt. Foster, to whom really belongs the credit of putting Sumter into a tolerable condition of defence with the most limited means, was unpleasantly surprised by seeing through his glass a new work in the best possible situation for attacking the place, growing up under the strenuous labors of a band of negroes. “I knew at once,” he said, “the rascals had got an engineer at last.” In fact, the Carolinians were actually talking of an escalade when the officers of the regular army, who had “seceded,” came down and took the direction of affairs, which otherwise might have had very different results.

There was a working party of volunteers clearing away the rubbish in the place. It was evident they were not accustomed to labor. And on asking why negroes were not employed, I was informed: “The niggers would blow us all up, they're so stupid; and the State would have to pay the owners for any of them who were killed and injured.” “In one respect, then, white men are not so valuable as negroes?” “Yes, sir, — that's a fact.”

Very few shell craters were visible in the terreplein; the military mischief, such as it was, showed most conspicuously on the parapet platforms, over which shells had been burst as heavily as could be, to prevent the manning of the barbette guns. A very small affair, indeed, that shelling of Fort Sumter. And yet who can tell what may arise from it? “Well, sir,” exclaimed one of my companions, “I thank God for it, if it's only because we are beginning to have a history for Europe. The universal Yankee nation swallowed us up.”

Never did men plunge into unknown depth of peril and trouble more recklessly than these Carolinians. They fling themselves against the grim, black future, as the Cavaliers under Rupert may have rushed against the grim, black Ironsides. Will they carry the image farther? Well! The exploration of Sumter was finished at last, not till we had visited the officers of the garrison, who lived in a windowless, shattered room, reached by a crumbling staircase, and who produced whiskey and crackers, many pleasant stories and boundless welcome. One young fellow grumbled about pay. He said: “I have not received a cent since I came to Charleston for this business.” But Major Whiting, some days afterwards, told me he had not got a dollar on account of his pay, though on leaving the United States army he had abandoned nearly all his means of subsistence. These gentlemen were quite satisfied it would all be right eventually; and no one questioned the power or inclination of the Government, which had just been inaugurated under such strange auspices, to perpetuate its principles and reward its servants.

After a time our party went down to the boats, in which we were rowed to the steamer that lay waiting for us at Morris' Island. The original intention of the officers was to carry us over to Fort Moultrie, on the opposite side of the Channel, and to examine it and the floating iron battery; but it was too late to do so when we got off, and the steamer only ran across and swept around homewards by the other shore. Below, in the cabin, there was spread a lunch or quasi dinner; and the party of Senators, past and present, aides-de-camp, journalists, and flaneurs, were not indisposed to join it. For me there was only one circumstance which marred the pleasure of that agreeable reunion. Colonel and Senator Wigfall, who had not sobered himself by drinking deeply, in the plenitude of his exultation alluded to the assault on Senator Sumner as a type of the manner in which the Southerners would deal with the Northerners generally, and cited it as a good exemplification of the fashion in which they would bear their “whipping.” Thence, by a natural digression, he adverted to the inevitable consequences of the magnificent outburst of Southern indignation against the Yankees on all the nations of the world, and to the immediate action of England in the matter as soon as the news came. Suddenly reverting to Mr. Sumner, whose name he loaded with obloquy, he spoke of Lord Lyons in terms so coarse, that, forgetting the condition of the speaker, I resented the language applied to the English Minister, in a very unmistakable manner; and then rose and left the cabin. In a moment I was followed on deck by Senator Wigfall: his manner much calmer, his hair brushed back, his eye sparkling. There was nothing left to be desired in his apologies, which were repeated and energetic. We were joined by Mr. Manning, Major Whiting, and Senator Chestnut, and others, to whom I expressed my complete contentment with Mr. Wigfall's explanations. And so we returned to Charleston. The Colonel and Senator, however, did not desist from his attentions to the good — or bad — things below. It was a strange scene — these men, hot and red-handed in rebellion, with their lives on the cast, trifling and jesting, and carousing as if they had no care on earth — all excepting the gentlemen of the local press, who were assiduous in note and food-taking. It was near nightfall before we set foot on the quay of Charleston. The city was indicated by the blaze of lights, and by the continual roll of drums, and the noisy music, and the yelling cheers which rose above its streets. As I walked towards the hotel, the evening drove of negroes, male and female, shuffling through the streets in all haste, in order to escape the patrol and the last peal of the curfew bell, swept by me; and as I passed the guard-house of the police, one of my friends pointed out the armed sentries pacing up and down before the porch, and the gleam of arms in the room inside. Further on, a squad of mounted horsemen, heavily armed, turned up a bystreet, and with jingling spurs and sabres disappeared in the dust and darkness. That is the horse patrol. They scour the country around the city, and meet at certain places during the night to see if the niggers are all quiet. Ah, Fuscus! these are signs of trouble.

“Integer vitÓ•, scelerisque purus
Non eget Mauri jaculis neque arcu,
Nec venenatis gravida, sagittis,
Fusce, pharetra”

But Fuscus is going to his club; a kindly, pleasant, chatty, card-playing, cocktail-consuming place. He nods proudly to an old white-woolled negro steward or head-waiter — a slave — as a proof which I cannot accept, with the curfew tolling in my ears, of the excellencies of the domestic institution. The club was filled with officers; one of them, Mr. Ransome Calhoun,* asked me what was the object which most struck me at Morris' Island; I tell him — as was indeed the case — that it was a letter-copying machine, a case of official stationery, and a box of Red Tape, lying on the beach, just landed and ready to grow with the strength of the young independence.

But listen! There is a great tumult, as of many voices coming up the street, heralded by blasts of music. It is a speech-making from the front of the hotel. Such an agitated, lively multitude! How they cheer the pale, frantic man, limber and dark-haired, with uplifted arms and clinched fists, who is perorating on the balcony! “What did he say?” “Who is he?” “Why it's he again!” “That's Roger Pryor — he says that if them Yankee trash don't listen to reason, and stand from under, we'll march to the North and dictate the terms of peace in Faneuil Hall! Yes, sir — and so we will certa-i-n su-re!” “No matter, for all that; we have shown we can whip the Yankees whenever we meet them — at Washington or down here.” How much I heard of all this to-day — how much more this evening! The hotel as noisy as ever — more men in uniform arriving every few minutes, and the hall and passages crowded with tall, good-looking Carolinians.
_______________

* Since killed in a duel by Mr. Rhett.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 101-11

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Major Robert Anderson to Robert N. Gourdin, December 29, 1860

Fort Sumter, South Carolina, December 29, 1860.

My dear Sir: No one will regret more deeply than I shall, should it prove true that the movement I have made has complicated rather than disembarrassed affairs. There is an unaccountable mystery in reference to this affair. I was asked by a gentleman within a day or two, if I had been notified by your Government that I would not be molested at Fort Moultrie, and when I replied that I had not been so notified, he remarked that he was glad to hear it, as it convinced him that I had acted in good faith, having just told him that I had not received such an intimation from my own Government. Now if there was such an understanding, I certainly ought to have been informed of it.

But why, if your Government thought that I knew of this agreement, was everything done which indicated an intention to attack? Why were armed steamers kept constantly on the watch for my movements? The papers say that I was under a panic. That is a mistake; the moment I inspected my position I saw that the work was not defensible with my small command, and recommended, weeks ago, that we ought to be withdrawn. I remained, then, as long as I could under the fearful responsibility I felt for the safety of my command, and finally decided on Christmas morning that I would remove the command that day; and it would have been attempted that day if the weather had not proved inauspicious. Not a person of my command knew of my determination until that morning, and only on that day. The captains of the lighters are, I am sorry to see, threatened by the Charlestonians for what they did. I do hope that they will not disgrace themselves by wreaking their wrath upon these men. They were employed to take the women and children, and food for them, to Fort Johnson, and were as innocent in the matter as any one. Another lighter was filled with commissary stores for the workingmen here, and her captain certainly is not blamable for bringing them. Not a soldier came in either of these vessels except the married men with their wives for Fort Johnson, and there was not an arm of any kind permitted to be taken on board those boats. Only one person on board those boats knew that Fort Johnson was not their final destination, until the signal was given that the command was in Fort Sumter. My men were transferred in our own boats, and were all, with the exception of those attached to the hospital, in the fort before 8 o'clock. So much in exoneration of the captains[.]

I regret that the Governor has deemed proper to treat us as enemies, by cutting off our communication with the city, permitting me only to send for the mails. Now this is annoying, and I regret it. We can do without going to the city, as I have supplies of provisions, of all kinds, to last my command about five months, but it would add to our comfort to be enabled to make purchases of fresh meats and so on, and to shop in the city. The Governor does not know how entirely the commerce and intercourse of Charleston by sea are in my power. I could, if so disposed, annoy and embarrass the Charlestonians much more than they can me. With my guns I can close the harbor completely to the access of all large vessels, and I might even cut off the lights, so as to seal the approach entirely by night. I do hope that nothing will occur to add to the excitement and bad feeling which exists in the city. No one has a right to be angry with me for my action. No one can tell what they would have done unless they were placed in the same tight place.  . . . I write this note hurriedly, as I wish to acknowledge the receipt of your kind note, and to assure you that I am firmly convinced that, had you been in my place, and known no more of the political bearing of things than I did, you would have acted as I did.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *

I know that if my action was properly explained to the people of Charleston, they would not feel any excitement against me or my command.

Praying that the time may soon come, etc.,
Robert Anderson.

SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 128-30