The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1862-01-17

Incidents OF the Bomba rdmpnt of Fort
PIckenS,

The following extract is from letter
written by an officer on board the United
States steamer Richmond, after the bonn
bardment Of Fort Pickens:
Il went bv invitation of Lieut..
Iof the Engineers, to visit the fort. Took
ia circuit first of the covered way, then of
the parapet and ramparts. All around
the fort, inside and out, were marks of
the enemy's shot and shell. On the gla
els, here and there, are deep grooves, end
ing in large hole, where the shot had
pumped into it, or where there had been
shell which had burst The whole was a
great evacuation into which you could
drive an ox-cart. Where the projectiles
had struck the standing walls, they have
chipped off patches of the brick work, (it
is a brick not a stone fort, perhaps eight
or ten inches deep, and where they have
struck, large portions have been removed :,
but i'll no case has the fortification res
ceived any injury calculated in the least
| to weaken it, and this after two weeks
heavy firing. The only man who was
! killed outright during the two-days' ac
ton, was an artilleryman, who was pass
! my III W tiiC CttsCuIdlCS, WIN Dltdu,
from the bakehouse. A shell exploded at
| the area, and one piece, flying a distance of
some two or three hundred feet, passed
through his body under his arm. He
walked a few steps and fell dead
There We're many almost miraculous
escapes. A shell was heard coming to-
wards gun ON the parapet, and the men
lodged under their bomb proofs. The
shell hit fairly on top of the bomb proof,
went through and dropped into pale oi
water beside the officer, where 1t exploded
When the men came out again to resume
their work, all they saw of their officer
was his heels sticking out of a pile oi
rubbish. After digging him out they
stood amazed TO see that he was not even
hurt. He rose up, shook the sand from
his hair and clothes, and coolly said
Come come what are you standing
there gaping at? Load that gun there.
At it they went as if nothing had hap
pened.
Another officer, who had charge Of a
battery of mortars, had no less than sew
enteen shells strike within ten yards o
him. saw the ground ploughed up il
every ulfeCtloH, anu Seg noo d itlftu "ftf
hurt, About twenty of the men, wh'
had been relieved from their guns, were
sitting smoking and watching the firing
in corner, protected from shot by the
walls, when half of huge shell struck
and buried itself right in the middle o.
the group, without disturbing them in the
least What's that p asked one. The
devil knows, and he won't tell,' indifier'
entity responded another, and went OF
smoking A ten-inch Columbad came
rolling toward the group, the fuze whiz
zng and smoking. Wonder If that'll hi
us?' Guess not, we're too near it
Crack went the shell, flying in every
direction, but fortunately escaping then
all.
The rebel powder was poor; as was als'
their shot and shell, except that portion
which they succeeded in stealing before
! the rebellion broke out. Their practice
however, was said to be good-how could
! it be otherwise Uncle Sam taught then
at his unparalleled school at West Point
but with little thought that the teaching
would be thus employed"