The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-26 00:00:00

courts of the captors' country, and was satisfied that.
the Tascaleosa was entitled to be regarded as a
vessel of war. Against the decision of his Excellency
in each ease Mr. Graham formally "protested," in
the name of his Government.

The Occupation of • Fort Wagner by the
Federal%

On the evening of
the 6th inst., General Gil-
more, it is known, ordered that an assault on Fort
Wagner should be made, the following morning.
The special correspondent of the New York herald
writes

The troops moved from their camps shortly after 10
o'clock, reaching their positions in the trenches an hour later.
Thei had barely arrived when a deserter from the rebel lines
came in, bringing the news that the island was being eva-
cuated. We bed depended upon our picket boats in Vin-
cent's creek, under Major Sandford, to keep us advised of
any movement of this kind on the part of the enemy ; but it
appears that the state of the tide would not allow them to
get through until some time after the withdrawal of the
rebel garrison had commenced. As soon as the story of the
deserter could be told, General Stevenson sent forward a
small scouting party to ascertain its truth. They speedily
returned and corroborated the news, and our forces imme-
diately leaped into the fort, Captains Walker and Pratt, in
charge of the sappers, planting their flag upon the parapet.
A slow match connecting with the magazine was dis-
covered and extinguished, and then commenced a race
between our troops for Battery Gregg. Captain Bzayton,
of the 3d Rhode Island Artillery, was the first man
there. A few men of the 54th Massachusetts were close
behind him, and then came two companies of the 3d
New Hampshire regiment, under Captain Randlett. They
arrived in season to capture between 40 and 60 stragglers,
mostly from South Carolina regiments, while Major Sanford,
who as soon as tide served had got his picket boats through
the marsh, succeeded in overhauling a couple of boats con-
taining a lieutenant and 22 men of the rebel iron-clad
steamer Chicora, who had been assisting the garrison in
their escape. In addition to the prisoners taken we captured
19 guns, 14 of which were in Fort Wagner and the remain-
ing five in battery Gregg. The armament of Wagner con-
sisted of two ten-inch columbiads, one ten-inch mortar,
five navy howitzers, mounted en seacoast carriages; three
carronades, one rifled gun, and two field pieces. Gregg was
armed with three ten-inch columbiads and two field guns.
Nearly all the pieces had been spiked, but in such a manner
that the spikes can be easily withdrawn from the vents.
These guns are nearly worn out, and are now of little use
except for short ranges.
The scene which presents itself to the eye of a vibitor
at Fort Wagner this morning is one of utter wreck and
ruin. The broken parapets, the dismounted guns, the
sand piled up before the entrance of the bombproof, the
bolts and fiagments of exploded shell with which the
terreplein is paved, and more than all, the heaps of
rebel slain, some lying in the sun and others half buried
in the loose sand, show what a fearful ordeal the garrison
passed through. The stench arising from the decaying dead
is sickening and overpowering. Many were buried at night,
just below the surface of the terreplein, to be unearthed
and torn to pieces by the missiles which on the following
day continued to plough through the work. Hero au arm
sticks stiffly out of the ground, and there a shoeless foot is
visible, while in another corner are three bodies, one clad
in a major's uniform, laid carefully aside for burial, but left
in the hurry of departure for us to put away.

WITHIN THE BOMBPROOF.
Existence must have been terrible while the bombardment
was going on. Even now the odour of the apartment is
almost intolerable. The garrison, which consisted of about
1,400 men, was here huddled like sheep in a fold, without
sunshine to illumine or air to breathe. The ceiling, formed
of huge logs, is so low as scarcely to afford standing room.
Dead bodies are scattered here and there, contributing their
effluvia to the horrid stench arising from human filth and
nastiness. I could only remain for a moment in the
place. Officers and soldiers who enter it flee hurriedly
away as from a plague or pestilence. The only furniture of
the room was a table made of rough boards. One or two
rough coffins were there, whether empty or not I did not
endeavour to ascertain. A row of shelves on either side of
the main entrance containel a number of shot and shell of
various calibres. The floor was strewn with papers, old
rags, pieces of greasy bacon and other filth which, in ordi-
nary camps, finds its way to the sinks. Until disinfectants
are freely used and the work thoroughly policed it will be
impossible for our men to remain there. Already General
Terry has ordered them out of the fort, and 40 barrels of
chloride of lime are on their way up the beach to be era.
ployed in making the atmosphere of the place in some de-
gree tolerable and wholesome.
THE REBEL BURYING GROUND.
ch like the
i
Beyond Fort Wagner the ground seems to have been
nsetdheaspalapole. place
Tofhberueriaalre a for
number
yblvhoof
graves just in the
fell in the defence
of
1 tfr
raenadr
mofutlhose,baawnarleentte:;thllneormeteaulsao
gaarsees,and littlefurtherseveral
ot
no
A li
are several holes dug in the sand for shelter to the troops,
those stationed without the fort living very mu
chfiddlers and sand crabs with which the ground s thronged