The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-04-19
SAINT PAUL, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1861.
FORT sUMPTER.

-lar FORT sUMPTER.
Description OF the Fort--the Garri-
sOn---the Floating Battery-..the
South Carolina Forces.
The news of the contest at Charleston,
and the surrender of Fort Sumpter, gives
special interest to description of that post.
The Herald of the 10th, has lengthy arti~
Gle, from which we quote the following ex.
tracts:
FORT sUMPTER.
Fort Sumpter is modern truncated pen
tagonal fort, built upon an artificial island
at the mouth of Charleston harbor, three
and three-eigth miles from the city of
Charleston. The island has for its base
sand and mud bank, with superstructure,
if we may so term it, of the refuse chips
from several northern granite quarries.
These rocks are firmly imbedded in the sand,
and upon them the present fertilization is
reared. The island itself cost half mil
lion dollars, and was ten years in construc-
ton The fortifcation cost another half
million dollars, and at the time of its occu.
pancy by Major Anderson was so nearly
completed as to admit the Introduction OF
its armament. The walls are of solid brick
and concrete masonry, built close to the
edge of the water, and without BERN.
They are sixty feet high, and from eight to
twelve feet in thickness, and are pierced for
three tiers of guns on the north, east and
west exterior sides. Its weakest point is on
the south side, of which the masonry is not
only weaker than that of the other sides,
but it is not protected by any flank fire,
which would sweep the wharf. Once landed,
an entrance may, at the present state of the
construction, be easily made; for the blinds
of the lower embrazures, though six inches
in thickness, may yet be easily blown away,
and even if this was impossible, scaling
ladders can reach those of the second tier,
which are not protected in this manner. The
work is designed for an armament of one
hundred and forty pieces of ordnance of all
calibres. Two tiers of the guns are under
bomb-proof easements, and the third or up
per tier open, or, in military parlance, e,,
barbette, the lower tier for forty-two pound
er paixhan guns /; the second tier for eight
and ten inch columbiads, for throwing solid
or hollow shot, and the upper tiers for NOR.
tars and twenty four pound guns. The
full armament of the fort, however, had not
arrived there when Major Anderson took
possession but since its occupancy by the
present garrison no efforts have been spared
to place the work in an efficient state of de-
fence, by mounting all the available guns
and placing them in salient points. AS we
before remarked, the full armament of the
fort is not in position, as only seventy.fve
of the one hundred and forty guns required
for it are now mounted. Eleven paixhan
guns are among that number, nine of them
commanding Fort Moultrie, which is within
easy range, and the other two pointing to-
wards Castle Pinckney, which is well out
of range. Some of the columbiads, the
most effective weapon for siege or defen-
sive operations, are not mounted. Four
Of the thirty two FOUNDER barbette
funs are on pivot carriages, which gives
them the entire range of the horizon, and
others have horizontal sweep of fire of
100 degrees. In addition to these weightier
preparations for defence, the walls are
pierced everywhere for muskets, of which
there are endless numbers ready and loaded.
L uS mdSdZiuc COuCdluS ScVcu uu0QrcO Oar.
rels of gunpowder and an ample supply of
shot, powder and shells for one years siege,
and large amount of miscellaneous stores.
The garrison is amply supplied with water
from artificial wells, which are supplied by
the frequent showers of rain. In defen-
sive strategetical point Of view, Fort Sump-
ter radiates its fire through all the channels
from the sea approach to Charleston, and
has full sweep of range in its rear or city
side. The fort is sufficiently out of range
from land artillery attack, so that all
apprehensions for breachiag it from that
source may be put at rest, unless by guns
of superior calibre. The maximum range
of the guns from Sumpter is three miles
but for accurate firing, sufficient to hull
vessel, the distance would require to be
reduced one-balf of that figure. The war
garrison of the fort is six hundred men, but
only seventy-nine of that number are within
its walls, with the laborers-lO9 all told.