East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-08-26
FROM CHARLESTON.

FROM CHARLESTON.
PHILADErAHIA, Aug %.
The United States supply steamer
Arkansas arrived at the navy yard to-
day. She left Charleston Wednesday
morning, and reports that the navy
and army shore batteries have done
tremendous destruction on Fort Sump-
ter. The south and east face looks
like honeycomb, and a complete de-
molishmcnt of the walls is looked for
in fnY ef6uowmg account is rom the
pen of Mr.. Chas c. Fulton, editor of
the Baltimore Amcrican,
FLkGsHIP DINsMoRE, Aug. Is.
The attack on Sumptcr commenced
at daybreak yesterday morning by the
siege batteries of Gen. Gilmore and the
naval BATTERY on board. At T. o'clock
Admiral Dahlgron proceeded on board
the Weehawken, and with the Iron
sides and entire monitor feet attached
batteries Wagner and Gregg with
great fury, completely silenceing Wag-
ner and almost silencing Gregg.
"The wooden gunboats, seven in
number, also joined in the assault, and
enabled all of the shore batteries to
pour their shot and shell into Stump
ter. At 10 o'clock the Admiral chang
ed his flag to the Passiac and with the
Patapsco proceeded to within !, 400
yards of Sumpter and shelled the sea
wall with the rifed guns of those YES
sells for about an hour, with marked
effect. Sumpter fired about fifty re-
turn shots, DONG no damage TO the
vosenls, whilst tho wall of Sumpter
was badly Scared.
effect Captain George w. Rodgers
took command of the Catsliill and
went up to one hundred and fifty
yards Of the beach front of battery
Wagner. After firing a number of
shots, shot from Fort Wagner broke
a piece Of the interior lining, which
struck on the head of Commodore
Rodgers, instantly killing him, as well
as paymaster Woodbury., who was
standing at his side. Both of their
heads were split open, They were
the only persons injured on land or
water during the six hours.
"The damage done to Sumpter by
the siege batteries of Gen. Gilmore is
visible without the aid of n glass;
The rebels had erected a false wall
against the one exposed to our bate
RIGS. 1t extended to within ten feet
of the top of the wall, over forty feet
high and ten feet thick, and this wall
is how a mass Of rains, whilst the old
wall is bored full of deep holes, the
narane+ crlreh"l ...l logged, and the
northwest corner gashed and cut down
almost to the waters edge.
"The harbor and Stone River are
filed with torpetoes. About a dozen
have been picked up in the Stono.-
One was exploded under the Patapsco,
raising her foot out of the water, but
doing her no harm. None of the YES
sells were injured in the least, and the
Admiral and his officers are confident
in the ability Of the monitors to batter
down Sumptcr. He is however, anx-
ious TO save the vessels for the heavy
work required Of them after Sumpter
is taken, and TO let the army reduce
Sumptor if possible,
The fleet, except the Weehawken
md Nahant, all retired before 2 p
NJ, but they remained to keep Wag-
ner silent during the afternoon and to
prevent the remounting of the guns
The shore batteries continued firing
rapidly all the oftornuUr nnd night on
the wall of Sumpter with good effect.
This morning the batteries are steadi-
ly at work.
Gen. Gilmore announces that the
work thus far has been entirely salts
factory, that the fort is greatly DANA
ged.
Admiral Dahlgren is much depress-
cd by loss of fleet Capt. Rodgers, but
highly gratified with the operations of
the fleet and army, and very hopeful
Of ultimate success.
The Arkansas left the fleet Wednes-
day morning. At that time huge vol
umes Of smoke were seen issuing from
Sumpter, as if from the burning of
cotton, and the officers Of the Arkan-
sas believed the fort would be captur-
ed or entirely destroyed by noon
Her guns were replying feebly. Fort
Gregg had been entirely silenced.--
Wagner still held out. The lombard
mcnt continued without cessation du-
ring Tuesday night and was renewed
Wednesday morning, and when the
Arkansas left the firing was furious
the Ironsides, five monitors, and
the shore batteries being all engaged.
The PHILADELPHIA 1ge truly says,