The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1863-09-19
aairs NJ Charleston.

The Charleston papers give some in
formation oi the state of affairs around
that city, though not much that has not
been communicated by telegraph The
firing has. not been very heavy at any
time during the week, and the enemy
seem more engaged in building batteries
than using them. They have commenced
slowly firing on Moultrie from battery
Wagner. The Courier, Of the l4th,
says:
A Yankee Telegraph operator named Fos
ter, Chaplain, Lieutenant, aud negro
soldier, were captured by onr cavalry near
Comhahee Ferry yesterday. Fosier.ani Eve
others, including those captaieti, II appears
started ON an expedition snme five or sin
days ago. with the view oG tapping our lines
and gaining Information. lie came prepared
with all the necessary instruments and about
Eve hundred yards of wire The party were
all mounted. On Saturday they reached
Green Pond, and Foster succeeded i'm attach
ing his Instruments. From what We can
fearn, however, be failed to obtain any infor
nation OF importance. Finding he was de
iected, he attempted to make his escape.
f'nr cavalry having been notified, started IN
pursuit.. He was oyertaken in the woods
almost naked and in a wretched plight from
mnssrlitos, bugs, As. About three hundred
yards oi. wire were secured besides III insu
lator. The wire is 0i superior make, with
seven strands we'll insulated and India rub
her coating. a piece may he seen At this
Office
The same paper, Of the 10th, says that
indications point to an early attack by
the enemy ''PerSonne," OF the Coarier,
who has been in Fort Sumter, gives the
following description of the damage done
that work.
Buslrl hy bushcl, car! load by st-load,
the wall has been chipped oil, until nothing
Is left but gray, ragged mass of mortar,
from which project the outlines OF former
caseiates, heavy beams and iron bars. The
bcrme or base is literally covered with the
dt5ris, auid which, at every step rs yon
ciiub over the great fragments OF stone and
brick that have fallen from The parapet, you
tread ON broken projectiles of the enemy
scattered IN pieces whose weight varies FROM
IN ounce to hundred pounds. Tie Sulli
vans Island face is less shattered bnt even
here the pits are deep, ana huge piles of ma
terial torn from HE edge Of the parapet by
the Overshot balls have fallen on the rocks
below On the Morris's Island face the
spectacle battles all description. For dis
tance, roughly guessed, OF thirty yards, the
wall ia little less than Il steep hill that tie
scends from the parapet to the waters edge
This, too, is a CHASTITY pile Of the once mag
nsGcent shape, from which stand ont, i'll al
most sickening aspect, fragments Of guns,
gun carriages, masses OF machinery, balls,
bolts, ralnmers, spOngers, all bound and
mixed together with the iron, brick aud
mortar, in humps and in dust, that have been
wrenclied from their lon. time honored
places Here, too, lie the myriad fragments
of projectiles
Un the ,,arapet, rs 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 it5 lonely watch, and this has
been partially covered by ihe dirt dashed
over it in the passage OF 4 shot Other guns,
broken III every conceivable manner, lie
around, theircafriagcs III splinters, and every
vestige of their former use destroyed. OF
the interior Of the fort we must Intentionally !
preserve siieniih,s, altm. One significant fact,
however, may be stated. There is not Sc
rious breach in the structure anywhere to be
observed. The effect OF the cGemy's fire,
though destruc tive, has tended TO ioriify
the walls with tiieir own debris, So that
while the efficiency Of Fort Sumter tor of
fence il destroyed, the same means employ
ed has i'm! royed IFS capacity for defence
against every infantry assault that may be
made against il.
Were ii prudent we might tell Of cosy
chambers still inside, of pleasant hours in
company with their inmates, and various in
teresting proceedings; hut for the present
the revelation is tabOOed. To the ladies We
may say, however, that the laurel wreath
presented to the brave garrisou who hold the
post, by some OF the sex, hangs upon their
banner, aud is cherished amOug the pleasant
est associations of the place.
Tie evening gun will continue 10 be fired
as regularly as ii the old fort Of other days
were in her prime, and in every respect the
same watchiul care over the spot is main
tanned that has marked its history for the
iasi Two years.
In connection with the recent assaults
several incidents are worthy OF mel ton.
The officers captured confessed themselves
Ito use their own eypression) sold" They
expected To find the place occupied by a
dozen or twenty men only, aud the entrance
easy. To celebrate their achievement they
brought wines, tobacco, candles, coffee,
sweetmeats, and-the old flag. All fell into
our hands. The treatment OF the officers.
while gcntlemanly, was moi unniiXed with =
cool dignity, which gave them al once 10 un-
,iclstand that, unlike themselves, We did not
take the affair as "a good joke" though the
navy was whipped with brick -bats--.I fact
which seemed 10 81. nneasily on the con-
sciences of scyera! of the marine in,iividu-
ala.
Meme oi them are permitted 10 See the in
terror ol The work, and hence they Are In tht
dark rs to It's condition. One of The officers,
after hiS captuie, was certainty struck with
: the belief that they had ''cansht tartar
for looking AT the solid walls around him, he
suddenly raised both hands and exclaimed
"Well, swear il this is what Old Dahissfe,i
calls Il ruin tina. eau be taken by merely
walking over ii, his i,ead is full Of blue
mud"
Daring the day following the assault, the
prisoners were fed on the same rati0ns is
sued to our own men. One of the Yank ecs
expected something better, and vented his
disappOint ment i'll cG,ses ofabtiumiiiai origin
Capt MnlysHey happened 10 be Il listener,
and turning 10 the dscomi;tird fellow,
promptly answered: '''lhr next time yos,
come visiting, sir, without al invitation, YOU
had better bring yoar own provisions. We
didat expect you, ~ We might have hal
another brick pudding" The pleasant sally
turned the laugh on the officer, and that war
the last of the grnMhlers-
The lncanness Of the genus Yankee sticks
out on every occasion. Alter the assault
while. Mr.. Hnger, Of the, Signal Corps, was
going round the base Of TIE fort, hr snJden
~ espied man doubled mp in one of the
lower tier OF port holes, who, as soon as dis
covered cried out with considerable indus
try, II surrender, | surrender; here's III,
arms; don't shoot" Then, lowering hi.
voice, as he delivered uph weapons, he con
tideniially remarked, ~ say, Capn, there,
another tciler in the next holc-take him
too" lie was, of course, immediatel,
''took."
The papers publish the following proc
lapaafion Of Ean R0nhatn Ga HING anoth