Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-03-26
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Charleston under Arms" is the title OF
pleasant article in the Atlantic Monthly for
April The author, who evidently has an
eye for the ludicrous, visited Charleston in
January, and appears to have made the most
OF his opportunities. We quote two or three
passages from his readable story;
CHARLESTON MARKsMEN.
AttWO o'clock we were steaming over the
yellow waters Of the harbor. The volunteers,
ike everybody else in Charleston, discussed
Secession and Fort sum er, considering the
former as an accomplished fact, and the latter
as a fact Of the kind called stubborn They
talked uniform, too, and equipments, and
Workmanship, and drinks, and cigars, and
other military matters Now and then an
awkwardly folded blanket was taken from
the shoulders which IL disgraoed, refolded,
pa iked carefully in its covering OF India-rub-
Der, and strapped once more in its place,
two or three generally assisting in the opera
tion. Presently firing at marks from the
upper deck commenced. The fayorite target
was conicsl floating buoy, showing red on
the sunlit surface Of the harbor, some four
hundred yards away. With crack and
hoarse WhiZ the Minie-balls few towards 1t,
splashing up the water where they first struck
aud then taking two or three tremendous
skips before they sunk. A milltiaman from
New York city, who was one Of my fellow
passengers, told me that he "never saw such
good shooting It seemed to me that every
sixth ball either hit the buoy full, or touched
water but few yards this side Of it, while
not more than one in dozen went wild.
ait is good for a thousand yards, said
volunteer, slapping his bright new piece
proudly.
TIE QUESTION OF FORT SUMTER.
A favOrite subject of argument appeared to
be whether Fort sumter ought to be ed
Immediately or not A lieutenant standing
near me talked long and earnestly regarding
this matter with civilian friend, breaking
out at last in a loud tone:
"Why, good Heaven, jim do you want
that place to go peaceably into the hands OF
Lincoln 2"
"No, Fred, no not But I tell you,
Fred, when that fort is attacked, it will be
the bloOdiest day,-the bloodiest day the
bloodiest-lr
And here, unable to express himself in
words, Jim flung his arms wildly about,
ground his tobacco with excitement spat on
all sides, and walked away, shaking bis head,
I thought, in real grief of spirit.
HATCHNG sECoxD-oLAss PLANS.
In country which for eighty years has
not seen a shot fired in earnest, it is not won
derful that a good deal of ignorance should
exist concerning military matters, and that
second class plans should be Matched for tax
ing a frst-class fortifcation. While l was
in Charleston the most popular proposition
was to lombard continuously for two whole
days and nights, thereby demoralizing the
garrison by depriVing it of sleep and causing
it to surrender at the first attempt to escalade
Another plan, not in general favor, was to
smoke Anderson out by means of a raft
covered with burning mixtures of chemical
and bad-smelling nature. Still another, with,
perhaps, yet fewer adherents, was TO advance
on all sides in such a vast number of row.
boats that the fort could not sink them all,
whereupon the survivors should land on the
wharf and proceed to take such further meas
ilres as might be deemed expedient. The
volunteers from the country always arrived
full of faith and defiance. " We want to get
squint at that Fort SUMTER" they would
say to their city friends. awe ere going 10
take it. If we don't plant the palmetto on
it it's because there's no such tree as the pal
metto."
ooLUMBIADs REGARDED WITH DIsFAvOR.
Down the haEbor they would go in the
ferry-boats to Morris or Sullivan's Island
The spy glass would be brought out and one
after another would peer through it at the
object of their enmity. Some could not
sight it at all, confOunded the instrument, and
tell back or their natural visioY. Others,
more lucky or better versed in telescope OBJ
servations, got view of TIE fortress and per
haps burst out swearing at the evident mas
siveness Of the walls and the size of the col
umbiads.
Good Lord, what a gunl" exclaimed one
man. "D'ye see that gun What an
almighty thing I'll be-if I ever put
my head in front of itp