Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-04-19
TIE CAPTURE OF FORT SUMTER.

Tue excitement produced in our village by
the telegraph report Sunday that Fort
! Sumter had fallen INTO the hands Of its assail-
ants was very great. The hotels, street cor
Ders an. telegraph Offices were thronged by
| people discussing the report. s. many false
rumors have come from the south. and 50
many improbable circumstances were detail
I'd IN the account that many were quite
ready O. d.scre'it 1t altogother,-and with
mtnv more - ungrateful was 1t 70
their feelings to admit that the gallant Ad
derson VITO. with bis little band bad main
t4ined the honor Of his country in For; Sum
ter 50 long. had been obliged t. submit at
last 60 the overwhelming force brought
araiust him. that they said, AT any rate they
would nos believe it till they were
obliged to. F r ourselves. though IN many
particulars the report seemed improbable.
the main one, the capture of the fort,
did not seem very much So; and the
painful fact is beyond dispute. The fort il
I
for which it was constructed, aad not to
cope with land batteries, was relatively
Weak n the landward side, the side unex-
posed 10 81 attack by water and on that
weak side the rebels had erected several
powerful batteries strongly guarded from
shot proceeding from the fort itself, and pro-
yided with guns and mortars Of grea; power.
Il would have been an easy thing at the out
ret lJr the fort to demo'ish all these works
ar they began 10 be built, and even TO blow
W Moultrie itself, across the channel, il
President Bachanan had prortdsi the men,
and green The orders 10 that eTeot. as ms dmy
required A.na 10 DO g.: bot it was another affair
altogether to resist and overpower
their cyInbined FIRE, when the works
had been completed and well protected
by the uninterrupted labor of large forces,
under the direction Of an experienced and
able military officer aad engineer, such as
Gen. Beauregard is well known to be. Aid
to this, there was but a handful of men in
the Fort From 600 to 700 men are required
to fully man it. The were but from 20 to
50 officers and soldiers, all told, aided by 20
10 80 iaborers This little handful worn out
With months of toll and watching
now was it to maintain long fight agains:
/ force of some thousands, provided as 1t was |
With ampe means of assault :? As for any
nd from the 1set-if indeed any great assis-
ance could be expected from it unless there
we're a chance to land men and take the as
jailing forts in the rear it does not
lppear, from what we have yet seen, that
much if any was rendered. We are
lot even informed that the larger vessels
Eere ordered to Charleston at all-Gf they
7ere, the storm and the shoals of Charles
On harbor kept them aloo0 their destina-
ION may have been farther south. and the
urpose of the Government so far as Fort
umter was concerned, only to provision it, !
1t could be allowed to do 90. We must !
raft for further information before we form j
positive opinion on that point.
1t is plain that it was determined by the
ebel authority not even to allow provisions
0 the garrison now brought to the verge of '
omplete restitution: for in the proposal to
iaj. Anderson that he should agree not to
pen fire unless he was attacked, it seems s
Jain that the rurnoSa ,ra 20 ~ b;n5 Ne; Andes, /
on 80 that be could not in honor render any
clip to vessel coming in with provisions,
the rebels should attack it. Mai. An
erson was not caught in that snare; and 6
len. Beauregard determined, to get Fort a
umter into his possession before eFectual 4
Military force might be brought against him, S
pened Ibis fire without further delay. l
aAIoR ANDERSON did all that q faithful o