, 1862-04-15
Investment Of Fort Macon, at Beau
Tort. N. C.---Condfttom Of the Garr1-

Investment Of Fort Macon, at Beau.
ioEt. N. C.---Condttton Of the Garr1-
Correspondence dated 3lst ult.) Boston Journal]
Fort Macon is known to have about five hun
drcd men in it, mostly ct the militia Of this
part Of the State, and they are represented to
be not over well satisfied with their situation.
Ihe commander Of the garrison is Moses T.
Mississippi, a nephew Of JEFF. Davis. He is of
middle age, and from the people In this vicin-
lty I learn is Q sort Of mfsanthropic, easy man,
who has been SO troubled with natural infirm-
tiles that he cares but little for life. He is IN
derstood to have told Capt. De Forrest of one
of the ships in this harbor, that he knew he was
trapped, and that&here Was only one thiag for
him to consider, VIZ: how he would dispose Of
bis few days Of liberty; he vas to determine
whether he would fight, surrender or die, and
of, and see what would befa1 him first He is
very unpopular with all Of the people berea-
bouts, on account Of an impulsiVe nature and
his custom Of being governed By these pas
slons IN his every day life. Since be refused to
surrender, he has seemed determined to annoy
the people about him as much as possible. He
at first: threatened to shell the depot at More
head City, if our troops occupied It then
he positively determined to shell Beaufort, if
1t was occupied by the Federals; both Of these
threats have been disregarded, and since then
he declared that i his supply Of fresh meats
h.
The supply Was Immediately stopped, but the
shells have not been In this city yet. As last
resort he fires upon all boats that pass back
andforth between Morehead City and Beaufort,
and he has ordered the English ships to get
out Of bis range, but the captains Of these YES
se1s, having pandercd to secessia long enough,
now seem to think it discretion to be neutral,
and they won't mind Col Whites injunctions.
1t is only safe to cross the Sound in the night
time. The shooting Of the rebels, the range
not being more than mile, is pretty accurate.
| Although they have not hit any Of our boats in
their trips back and forth, several shots have
| come within few feet of the mark.
Colonel White having promptly refused to
hold any communication relative to en- eyacu.
t ation Of the fort, arrangements are progressing
| as RAPIDLY as the circumstances will admit Of
| toward an Investment and reduction Of the
stronghold. Siege guns are now being trans
| ported over the railroad, and the guns and
nortars will be conveyed to Bogue Island, Tor
Shack1eford's Banks, as the point Of land on
which Fort Macon is located is locally knoWn.)
There Is upon this Island a succession Of
sand bluffs, running in close proximity T. the
fort, which will afford excellent natural pro-
lection to our troops in planting artillery.
The guns in the siege train are to be comman-
ded By Captain Morris of the regular service
and Lieutenant Flagler Of General Burnside's
staff, who has charge of the ordnance depart
| ment, and has experience in mortar service,
| will command this latter arm. Owing to dis
| advantages that it Will take time to suFmouut,
it may be 8 week or ten days before tho fort
will BE- regularly besieged. In the meantime,
however, every point about it is occupied by
our forces, and the rebels..only have it option
al with them to fight OF surrender, a mail
from the fort was intercepted q few days since
by which 1t was accrtained that the garrison
Is very siekly, and that there is no physician
there They have plenty Of provisions, and
the men hare received one payment In corn,
one hundred and ten bushels Of which has
been captured while on its way from the fort