Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-09-18

THE SIEGE OF UARLE STON.
Except for an occasional shot from onr own
batteries, it would have been difficult to be-
lirve for the last TWO days that n large hGScig-
ing force is in sight of the spires Of Charles
Ton. Unvcxcd hy the busy keel Of commerce,
the waves, under the pale autumn sky, have
slept more quietly than they ever slept in stc
GOOD old time. before the separation.
birdie eve view, however, across the blue wa
tcrs pf the bay, from some elevated point i'll
! the city, bctrays ut once the utter hnl!pwncss
oC this scmhlancc of peace. 1onder, 1T
Cummings Point Battery Gregg is rapidly
! growing into the dimensions of n hostile fort,
and not far o!r, IN the parapet Of Wagner the
Yankee flag !loats as proudly a. if it were no.
stained bya thousand dsgraccs. Somewhat fur
thcr to the south. the formidable batteries No.
! and No. > may be seen looking as formidable
| rs ever, and if you watch closely You may
ncrhars detect a relieved working parry, eth
cr drawn up on the sands, or disappearing be-
hind the hills. Still beyond these glea!n tho
white tents of the enemy, and over the woods
Of James Island tower the masts Of the fleet.
The Ironside> lies where it has lain for two
days, close under Gregg, while five monitors
are anchored considerably nearer the north
end Of Norris Island than they would have
cared tn he n week aga. But where is the
sixth q It is not in sight and the inference
that it has been seriously damaged and with
drawn, it is 50 pleasant, that, though it Is by
no means certain one. we recommend tour
renders to adort it.
There is. Of course, but little to report to-
jay. On Thursday night two guns, bearing
apparently on Sulivan's Island, were mount
ell at Gregg by the enemy. and additional
traverses were thrown up. At the same time
! rhc enemy were no. idle elsewhere. but we
have no definite information rs to what was
accomplished. Previous to Thursday night
! large platform for guns had been erected in
Wagner.
Moutrc and the James Island batteries
| have kept up night and day slow fire upon t"o
Yankee working parties. The tolsow.ag COS
patch received at headquarters will show thai
this fire has not been altogether witEoat effect:
Fort JOHNSON, Sept. IL.
CAPTAIN Nance: have tho honor e. report
that nc ten minutes past eleven, A. N, {. he.
fred from battery Simpkins exploded = n!uga-
| zine or caisson at battery Gregg, crra-inS
I great confusion among the enemy. ~
ately afterwards number Of shells were Sc
to eyplsGc near tie same place.
A.. j. YArEs.
l. II is source Of great comfort to US 70 ,h.ri
that the above catastrophe could hardly have
occurred without considerable loss q jlic nd
limb.
Some additional facts have been learned
from the prisoners in regard to the late as
saul, on Sumter. The mcu were. for the
most part, detailed from the blockading YES
sells outside. but they were put under the ,m-
| Inand Of officers from the fleet within the bar.
Nothing was known Of the expedition until
after dinner on Tuesday, when they were
| called up for orders.
Lieutenant Williams. commanding the party,
took the lead in the assault The reception
which the parry met with was anything but what
! they expected. as they had been led to believe
| that there were not more than hundred men
| in the fort.
About fifty marines. from the steamer Powha.
tan constitute the majority of the prisoners taken
The prisoners state also that the fire from Sui
ivans Island in the last fight with the Monitors
| vas very accurate. one of the Monitors having
! been struck on the turret twenty nine times.
without doing any damage. One Monitor had
her smoke-slack completely blown Off he
Ironsides. they say. was struck fifty times, with.
out receiving any material injury.
tits an amusing proof ofthe confidence with
| which the enemy lonked forward to the success
Of their assault, that two boxes were received
under flag of truce one addressed to Lieuepan.
F. Williams, Commanding Fort Sumter, and
anorher to Ensign Benjamin II. Porter, For
Sumter The boxes contained great many
deIicacies, AMI were probably intended to grace
festival in honor of the capture of the fort. .
Among the wounded at Battery Beap'egard
during the last bombardmeRt Of Suliivan's Is
land. was Lieutenant L. W. Macbeth, Company
A. Ist S. c. Infantry, who received severe con
fusion from the fragment Of shell.