Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-09-09

The following is Gen. Gilmore's reply, a
| brief notice OF which has IN published in
several papers, to Gen. Beauregard's commu-
| nication, already printed at length;
DEPARTMENT OF THE Scum,
HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD
| MORRIS ISLAND, :. c., 9P. NJ, Aug 22I
| SIR: | have the honor to acknowledge the
| receipt of your communication OF this date
! complaining that one of my batteries had
| opened upon the city Of Charleston and
| thrown a number of heavy rife shells into
| the city, the Inhabitants of which, of course,
| were asleep and unanncd
| My letter to you demanding the surrender
| of Fort Sumter and Morris Island threaten
| ing in default thereof to open fire upon
| Charleston was delivered near Ft Wagner at
| Ills \. ~, Of the DIST inst, and should
| have arrived at your headquarters in time TO
have permitted your answer to reach me
| within the limit assigned, namely four hours.
| The fact that YOU were absent from YOUR
/ headquarters at the time of its arrival NAV
| be regarded as an unfortunate circumstance
for the city of Charleston but it is one for
| which, am clearly not responsible. This let
| ter bore date at my headquarters, and was
officially delivered by an officer of my staff
| The iuadycrtent omission of my signature
doubtless affords ground for special pleading,
butt is not the argument of a commander so
Hctous only for the safety of sleeping wo-
men and children and unarmed men.
Your threats of retaliation for acts of mine,
which you do not allege to be in violation of
the usages of civilized warfare, except the
length of time allowed as notice of my nten-
ton, are passed by without comment. / will
however, call your attention to the well es-
tabIished principle that the commander of a
place attacked, but not invested, having his
avenues of escape open and practicable, has
no right to "A notice OF an intention of bonn
bardment other than that which is given by
the threatening attitude of his adversary.
Even had not this letter been written, the
city of Charleston has had, according to your
own computation, 40 days notice of her dan
ger
During that time my attack upon her de
lenses has steadily progressed. The ultimate
object Of that attack has at no time been
doubtful. If, under the circumstances, the
life of a single nOn-cOmbatant is exposed to
peril by the bombardment of the city, the
responsibility rests with those who have first
failed to remove the non-combatants or to
secure the safety of the city, after having
held control of all its approaches for a period
of nearly two years and half, in the pres
ence of threatening force, and who after
wards refused to accept the terms upon which
the bOmbardment might have been postponed.
From various sources, official and other
wise, am leu 10 bcIleNc th-t most OF the
women and children of Charleston were long
since removed from that city, but upon your
assurance that the city is still full Of them,
| shall suspend the bombardment until II
o'clock 7. III. tomorrow, thus giving YOU two
days from the time you acknowledge to have
received my communication of the 2lst inst
Respectfully, your ob't. servant,
Q. :. GILMORE, Brig. Gen. Com'dg.
To Gen. P. 7. BEAUREGARD Com'dr., &c.
1t appears that the Spanish and British
Consuls respectfully addressed Gilmore on
behalf of the subjects of their countries IN
Charleston, and he checrfully suspended the
bombardment for "a hours to give them time
to leave the city. Nothing was farther, he
says, from his wish, than to endanger their
lives and property.