Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-09-14
THE NEWS FROM CHARLESTON.
The Success at Morris Island-The Bonn
bardment of fort Mou!tric-Attempt
to Storm Sumter.

Special Correspondence Ui the ENCIldg Post.
CAPTURE OF WAGNER AND GREGG.
MORRIS Island, South Carolina, }
Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1868.
During Saturday and Sunday the fire OF all
our guns and mOrtGrS was concentrated con-
tinuously upon Fort Wagner and at night the
bombardment was continued sufficiently to
prevent the enemy from repairing the dam
ages which the days work had made We
could see that the commissary building in the
tort had been struck and destroyed. One
heavy gun had been dismounted and its grea t
black muzzie projected into the air almost
perpendiCuarly. Other guns had been struck
so as to give pretty good assurance that they
could not be used. The fire OF the fort was
entirely slenced.
Meanwhile the work of sapping had been
pushed forward until one sap not only reached
the fort, but went past its left angie (the right
as seen by us,) leading out upon the beach.
Three StOrlning parties were made up for Il
charge on Monday morning at eight O'Clock
General SteyenSons brigade to go through the
sap, follow the beach, till they could get around
back OF the font, and Jhere make the assault,
Colonel Davs's brigade to follow the same
line OF attack, covering the remainder of the
rear Of the fort and preventing the escape of
the garrison; and Colonel G0ss with two reg
iments to storm the front. The plan was well
laid and promised success---but who could
nave SAID at what cost OF the best blood IN our
little army! No one who remembers the
charges OF July llth and 18th could avoid a
feeling OF the deepest solicitude even amid
the general hopetplurss.
With these anticipatiOnS and anxeties Sun
day closed. With carly light on Monday we
were awakened with the good news ;-''The
rebels have evacuated and we hold the whole
island Two or three hours after midnight,
deSerterS brought word Of the movement thar
was taking place. a small body of our forces
pushing forward, found themselves treading
with IMMUNITY the Businesses of this long
dreaded stronghold. Another party Skin
mlShng up to Fort Gregg, found that, too,
deserted.
As the light dawnCd what a spectacle was
presented by the interior of Fort Wagner!
There were splntered tinhers, dismOuuted
and exploded guns, wal ard traversps torn,
and turrowed by shot and shell, here IL man
gled fragment of body, ii leg, an arm, half
head, there four bodies lying in a pile, on
which the heat and sun had produced the
frighttul marks of decomposition Zone of the
bodies was of a lieutenant col mel.). Strewn
all around were bodies OF horses and mules
The air was unSpeaka.ly foul and loaths0me
with the stencil from all these masses Of de-
cay Those who first went into the fort could
not help vomiting repeatedly. Attracted by
a groan, they found ia one of the bDmh-proofs
wounded man, whose wounds hau not been
dressed. lie died while being removed to tie
hospital.
Probably Il humber of causes combined to
produce this abrupt fright of the rebels The
destruction of their c"mmiSsary store houses
threatened them with starvation; the murder
GUS effects OF our shells (attcslrd ny the ghast
ly relies strewn through the furt) showed that
their bomb proofs and splinter proofs were by
no means impenetrable; the condition of Il
garrison crowded into those close shelters
with but a narrow door, and that ut times SO
closed up with the sand disOd ged from above
by our shells that the inmates had TO dig them
selves out, must have been one nearly sutfO-
eating.
The progress of our sap and its extension
past the angle of the tort showed them that
they would soon be taken in the rear, where
they had made little or no provision for de
fence. In ad ltion to this, if the lieutenant
colonel whose body was found i'll the fort was
in commando it is likely his death threw the
garrison into disorder and perhaps into a
panic.
OUR OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF THE FORT.
During the day visited both of the forts.
Hardly less worthy of attentive curiosity than
these is the extended system of parallels and
saps by which we made our approaches to the
fort. A very epitome of the war and trans
cript of the character of the Yankee nation
are these approaches While the ''chivalry"
with frantic yells pour shells on our adj
vance, we shovel, shovel till they are van
pushed and circumvented by our steady toll
ing energy As one approaches the fort, he
sees its front stuck full of pixies and pointed
stakes, intended to impalc stOrming party.
Passing round and entering it in the rear, he
is struck with the immense Labor that the fort
has cost, aud the strength which labor and art
have given it. The rampant at its base can
not be much less than forty feet thick. A
perfect mountain of earth has been thrown up
in the erection of the entire work. To Il
storming party, attacking it in front, it might
be pronounced imprcgnable. 1t is rather a
succession or congerioS OF forts than fort,
and if by any almost impossible good fortune
and valor an attacking force could gain pos
session of one OF these, they would have ac-
complished nothing but to win ii spot for their
own sacrifice A very intelligent oIicer of
engineers Capt Brooks, New York volun-
teer regiment, whose skill and efficiency have
been absolutely invaluable all through this
campaign pronounced 1t 'the strongest work
of the kind in the world"
| did not count the pieces myself, but an
intelligent friend who counted them carefully
tells me that there were sixteen guns, beside S
three mortarS. OF these m0rtars one was il
CohOrn of about twenty-four pOnnd calibre,
whose legend of Sc. r." surmuunting IA
crown, markedit as a revolutionary trophy.
Another gun, ritied, not yet mounted, was OF
the "Brooks' pattern. 1t is shaped exactly
like the Parrot, and can only be distinguished
from it by very close examination.
FORT GREGG.
A walk of about twelve hundred yard
brought me to Fort Gregg, small but yer,
strong work. mounting three eight and ten
inch guns, and furnished with two howitzers
The inducements for staying long in Fort
Gregg or to rambling much between it ant
Fort Wagner are quue limited. Shells iron
forts Moultrie Beauregard LJohnson ar
falling perpetually on this narrow Area witt
frequency and accuracy which pay tn
rebels tribute to the value Of the position "
have gained. Yesterday afternoon, Will
standing ON Fort Gregg, watching the rebc
works, Captain Baker, OF the on Maine, wa
struck b. shot from Fort Bcauregard o
SuIlivans Island, and instantly killed.
BoMBARDMENT OF FORT MoULTRJE.
We have received additional particulars, b
the Arago, of the progress OF the bombarc
ment OF Fort Moultre by Gen. Gilmore an
Admiral Dahlgren. The firing had continue
all day Tuesday, the Sth, and up to six o cloc
"Wednesday tbn 1th instant with VrpH