Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-04-28

HE COMMANDMENT OF Fort PULAsKI.-
Lieut.. Col. liawley Q! the Connecticut 9TH
regiment writes private letter, in which lie
gives some account of the bombardment Of
| fort Pulaski. The Connecticut 7th had charge
OF most Of the batteries during the lombard
ment, and was Detailed to take possession Of
the fort after its surrender We copy from
the Hartford Press few passages of his let.
ter -
81 stood in The ditch or stretched over it to
see the glorious sight. We fired 5225 shot
and shell. Pulaski fired perhaps one. ttird rs
many. Counting the explosions OF the shells
all did not eXplodc-there must have been
! ever tour hundred shots 10 the hour, or nearly
| seven tn the minute Sometimes there would
| be a halt minute pause, and then The whole
earth would trembe as the fire ran down the
line, and the smoke would drift by, obseuring
| the fort tor moment. The windows ratified
al Port Royal, twenty miles distant, and the
roar was distinctly heard at Beaufort, ten or
| fifteen miles further. The wind was fair to
take the sound to Savannah and they must
| have felt intense anxiety there.
There were many curious things about it.
Any time when took pains, could follow q
mortar she'll through all but the last and
swifest OF its course, and looking carefully at
the tort with my glass, | could catch our
shots as they approached and struck it, l
could also catch their shots as they came to-
wards us, and safely look at them a moment
before STOPPING in the ditch. We intently
watched the angle which our rified cannon
and heavy columbiads were irving to breach,
aud when a shot struck fairly a cloud of dust
would arise and art-load OF brick fall into
the ditch. Then every body yelled. And
what scream ran down the line when the
first hole appeared Every shot that enlarged
it was hailed with another yell.
Nothing but the barbette guns could reach
US from battery IIaleck down, so at those
batteries whenever Il gush OF smoke appear
ed on the parapet, the look out generally COM
posed OF all but the gunners, would cry bar
bette, and al! would spa. behind the banks
until the shot passed or the sound showed that
it was going somewhere else. Up at Goats
Point, where | was all the second day, at
Rodmans battery-the nearest-we cried
sometimes 'barbctte,' sometimes 'casemate,'
or simply cover, or lookout and all would
drop moment till the scream went close
over our heads, and the shell dashed up the
mud behind us or perhaps burst before it
struck.
Sometimes we called out 'ten-incher,' as a
certain big coiumbisd on the S. w. angle let
off always aimed at Rodman's battery some
times pet, or pocket pistol little rifle
as small sharp, accurate Blakely gun on
the rampayis fred. We go Is othat we knew
where each gun was trained, and we could
soon tell by the sound, before it reached us,
where il VAS going, They tried to tool us a
few times by changing two or three guns and
letting them off i'll close succession, calculating
we would pop our heads up and catch it. We
soon learned the trick.
"Soon after noon Of the 11th, there were
four or five holes in the fort close together,
Que of them perhaps twelve feet in diameter;
great piles OF masonry rolled down; the ditch
was nearly full, and a huge gun on the ram
parts apparently Joltered, ready to fall into
the ruin. Our fire grew furious. Captains
of guns jumped oil the banks ami yelled, NO.
l, fire! No. B. fire No. 3, tirs! No. 4, IRE ?
and the black and sweaty caunoneers Jumped
10 the muzzles 10 reload Oh it was a mad.
dening sight and sound.
"At 2 P. M l standing in the hospital
eating bite. | heard strange shout. Out
l ran. The men looked crazy They were
crying, Stop that firing stop that firing the
white fay the While flag Glory to God !
And theJ danced ana Cheercd | ran to the
bank and put up my glass. l could not see
the white flag. The stars and bars were still
waving, and batteries Scott Mcclellan, and
Sigel, were still laundering. | denied that
there was white flag, and demanded the au-
thor of the story. kept looking The wind
blew it out. Then yelled too. And he rebel
flag came slowly down. Some of our batter
les still fired. Gardner and l and Il dozen 9TH
ers ran like mad, yelling, The white flag
Stop, stop! They stopped, and such cheer.
ing tor ten minules Three cheers for ev-
erybody and everything"