The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1863-11-19
From the Charleston Courier, september 10th.

FORT SUMTER As 1T Is-No point connected with
the defense Of Charleston is of more interest to the
public. not only of our own State, but of the entire
COnfederacy, than Fort Sumter. Associated, as it
has been in the past, with pleasant memories, and in
the present with heroic deeds, it has become as it
were sn heirloom of our whole people; and from the
hour when it fell into our hands as the first victorious
Offering of South Carolina to the Confederacy until
the present moment it has been defended and pro-
tectei as the apple of our eye" AT last IL has
been laid in ruins its fair proportions, its noble
walls, its threatening tiers of guns, all demolished
by the ruthless demon of war Yet there the stately
old pile stands, proud and defiant as in her palmiest
days-crushed but not conquered; wrecked but not
reiuced-every foot of her massive sides written all
over with the tributes OF the zoe, 70 the patriotism,
skill and courage of those who have beer her de-
tenders.
1t is not our purpose to enter INTO a descriptive
detail OF the present condition Of the fort, since il
would be manIfestly imprudent TO state what is not
known to the enemy, but there are a few facts which
may be interesting and proper to mention. There is
nothing in the entire range Of facts or fancy to which
the ruins Of Sumter can be Hkene5, that would con-
vey an idea OF their external Appearance. On the
sea face scarcely . brick is TO be seen. Bushel by
bushel, cart load by cart load, the wall has been
clipped off, until nothing Is left bat n gray. ragged
mass Of mortar, from which project the outlines of
former Classmates, heavy beams anil iron bars. The
bernie or base Is literally covered with the debris,
amid which, at every step as yCEI climb over the
great fragments Of stone and bric!- that have fallen
from the parspet, you tread on br ken projectiles of
the enemy scattered in pieces, WISE weight varies
from m ounce TO n hundred pOuu6 The SuIlivan's
Island face IS less shattered but even here the pits
are deep, and huge piles Of maIesr al torn from the
edge Of the parapet by the overshOi balls have fallen
on the rocks below. On the Morris Island face
the spectacle battles all description. For a distance,
roughly guessed, Of thirty yards, the wall is little
less than 4 steep hill that descends from the parapet
TO the waters edge. This, too, is a CHASTITY pile of
the once magnificent shape, from which stand out, in
almost sickening aspect, fragments of guns, gun car
risges. masses Of machinery, balls, bolts, hammers,
spOuges, all bound and mixed together with the iron,
brick and mortar, in Jumps and in dust, that have
been wrenched from their long time hODored places.
Here, too, lie the myriad fragments Of projectiles.
On the parapet. as you glance around the pleasant
walk that has been the scene of so many social
episodes, eagerly remembered by our fair ones, you
observe that the demon of destruction has likewise
laid his heavy hand. One solitary gun, looming
high above All else, keeps its lonely watch. and this
has been partially covered by the tirt dashed over it
IN the passage Of shot Other guns, broken in every
conceivable manner, lie around. tneir carriages in
spinters, AID every vestige of their former use de-
itrOyed.