The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-08-29
The siege Of Charleston.

The Siege Of Charleston.
MORRIS ISLAND, s. c., Aug. Is, 1861
One hundred and five to one hundred and
zen degrees in the shade to-day on Morris
Asiaho, quite tropical enough for the most
aroent lover of the Southern CLINE, is it
noi1 But our Northern troops endure it
wen. Nothing but the severest labor in
the trenches seems to affect them. Feyers
are scarcely heard of. Sickness from IA
ugue and exhaustion, and occasionally
rom sunstroke, are all that the physicians
are called upon to administer for. The ne.
groes grow rat and jolly under this in
tense neat, and drag the big siege guns
!nrougn the deep sand and under the blaz-
ing sun without the least murmurinp.
True, they do not drag them yery fast.
-Four miles day to Northern man would
seem slow progress; but, nevertheless. in
this climate it is progress, and quite as
rapid as the engineers care to have it.
1t is worth a trip to Morris Island to see
these dusky soldiers, after having worked
all night and until nearly noon in the tlav.
lie down in the hot sand on their backs
with their mouths wide open, and swarms
OF flies lowering in and around them, sleep
as soundly as if they were upon the most
comfortable mattresses and beneath the
coolest shade.
Yesterday morning the severest and
most obstinate cannonading of the cam
paign came off, with but, as usual in all
very little loss of life or limb.
The night before we had advanced our
lines on our right to within 400 yards of
Fort Wagner without the least knowledge
or suspicion of the rebels. In the morn
ing, to their surprise, they found that we
were within easy. rifle range OF every man
who lifted his head above the parapet OF
of Any Lois 1rNn
their artillerists as they came out in sight
| to work their guns.
In advancing our lines we had anticipat-
ed and prepared for an obstinate resistance,
but had met with none, and had been en-
| tirely successful. 1t seemed, however, to
| almost every one that it could hardly be
possible that they would allow us to con-
tinue our work unmolested much longer,
| and such in few hours, proved to be the
| case. - "aasE
While our men were at work in the
trenches and our mortars We're firing at
| intervals Of half an hour, Forts Wagner,
Sumter and Gregg opened most terrible
tire from all the guns they had bearing up
on our extreme right and left. 1t was the
most rapid firing heard in this department
since the repulse of Du Pont from Ft. Sum-
ter. Fort Wagner threw, for two hours, a
| constant stream of AZ and 20-pounder grape
and canister and spherical case shot, and
Sumter and Gregg their heaviest shot and
shell. Colonel Bell, of the 4th New Hamp-
shire, commanded the front during the en-
| gagement, and the moment it opened or
dered all our mortars and 20-pounder Par
rotts to reply, which they did instantly, in
| splendid style. After the heavens had
trembled for more than two hours, and just
| as the sun was rising in golden glory on
| the ocean, the fire from Fort Wagner began
| to slacken. Fort Sumter's big guns SEEM
I,l 10
was evidently completely exhausted. The
| rain of shell from our mortars had been
too much for them, and though we may not
have destroyed many lives, we had demor-
allied their gunners and compelled them
to seek the shelter of the bomb-proofs. Our
| own men being well protected during the
| whole engagement, we lost but one man
killed and eight wounded.
Re-enforcements are rapidly arriving
Gen. Gilmore has now all the troops he de-
sires. In few days the final attack upon
these formidable structures will be made,
and in few weeks thereafter the whole
world will know whether we have been
able to reduce them or not.
To-day all the rebel forts from johnson
| on the left, to Wagner on the right, have
| been firing at intervals of fifteen minutes,
and we have replied from our mortars with
| the same rapidity.
/. For the first time since the siege COM
menced, we opened fire upon Fort Sumter;
| and for the first time in siege operations,
brought to bear a two hundred-pound
Parrot.
! Col. Turner, Chiefof Gen. Gilmore's Staff,
desiring to test the powder to be used in
these guns, experimental with few shots
| upon Sumter with the most gratifying re-
suits. He fired seven shots-the first three
| fell short, but of the remaining four, two
went directly through the gorge wall of the
fort, short distance above the sally port,
and two struck the parapet and sent an
immense amount of brick and mortar tum-
bling into the ditch and into the fort. The
effect Of those shots can clearly be seen
with the naked eye at a distance of two
miles and half
| The solid shot which went through the
fort made holes from four to five feet in di-
the engineers, the diameter of the craters,
| by mathematical calculations, is four feet
! and ten inches.
After the range had been obtained upon
Sumter, every shot struck. When all the
200 Founders open, if handledwith the same
skill, it would seem hardly possible fer the
fort to stand twelve hours bombardment.- -
It cannot otherwise than fall within the
| time required to reduce Pulaski.
| While we were firing upon Sumter this
afternoon, an officer in Fort Gregg, evil
IDENTIFY designing to watch the effect of the
shot, brought his camp chair out upon the
parapet of the fort, and sat down as coolly
as if he was not within the sange Of so or 80
PARROTS. One of our artillerists, desiring
| to teach him lesson in prudence, let fly a
! 20 FOUNDER Parrott shot, and sent him tum-
bling off his chair into the fort. Our gun
ners are using these small PARROTS with
almost as much skill as the sharp-shooters
do their rifles, and are competing with them
in the taking off ofevery head that appears
n sight.
In my last i mentioned the capture of
| Capt. Paine, valuable scout, who through
| this campaign, had been of great service to
Gen. Gilmore in obtaining accurate infor-
nation of the enemy's movements. The
| facts with regard to his capture are as fol-
lows: He started out in a small boat with
a sergeant and eight men to go to the old
| wharf on Light House Creek, where the
enemy had attempted to erect battery
A picket boat, manned by detachment of
the 9th Pennsylvania, accompanied Capt.
Paine to guard the water approaches to the
wharf from the rebel lines. Capt. Paine
reached the wharf in safety, and leaving
his boat and crew at the end of the pier,
took position on the dock, where he could
| observe the movements of the enemy and
To hiatt