The free South. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1863-1864, 1863-08-15
NORRIS ISLAND ITEMS.


The siege is progressing favorably.
The public need not anticipate rapid
fall of the city, but they may rest assured
that the siege will be vigorously prosecu-
ted until the desired end be obtained.
The nature of the defences to overcome
requires time and a superior weight OF
metal.
To this latter end the departments are
devoting themselves, and it is safe to say
that within few days an armament Will
be brought to bear upon the forts and bat
teries in Charleston Harbor such as was
never before known. The steady deter
rnination and energies of the Government
win, in the end, amply repay the patience
of the country.
The new rebel batteries on James Is
land; which have either been built within
the past fortnight or have long been
masked, now occasion us at times little
ANNOYANCE, but do not interrupt the
steady advance and progress of our works
They have several large sea coast mortars
in position and they manage to explode
their shells high in the air over our
trenches, now and then, but very rarely,
inflict injuries on our gallant troops who
wieM the spade and pick as well as they
have the musket. Fort Wagner, when
not kept silent by the iron-clads and our
mortar and rifle batteries, directs sharp
fire of canister and grape on our working
parties, making the air above them vocal
with the nondescript missiles they favor
us with. The rebels seem to have pecu-
iar relish for broken bottles and glass
ware, old bits of crockery, rusty nails,
fragments of cooking utensils and all
sorts of odds and ends which may inAict
wounds, and these missiles they pour into
cur lines with an intense zest and no little
spite. Some of our men have been woun-
ded by these novel proiectlles, and in
few instances quite seriously. The rebel
stock of iron is quite limited, We must
infer from the above facts, or they have
chosen to use substitutes for the ordinary
missile which render wounds more serious
and more apt to occasion death eventual
ly. In either case. the show is not at all
favorable to the rebels. .. r,
In the trenches, as in every depart
ment, the cupidity and unprincipled char
acter of some of the suffers have, on Nor
ris Island, occasioned not q little trouble
among the troops Recently the suffers,
REGARDLESS of regulations and only desirous
DO increase their M-gotten stores, rave
sold wines and liquors to the soldiers and
occasioned insubordination among them.
Several have been arrested by Lieutenant
Colonel Hall, Provost Marshal General,
and proofs of their guilt not being hard to
procure, they were sent to the front to
work in the trenches and to relieve them
of any inclination to shirk work or escape,
orders were given to shoot them down If
they did not obey orders. Some OF them
were in the advance welding the shovel
for forty-eight hours, and subsisting on
soldiers fare, and mourning soldiers ha-
blities to be blown to pieces by the en-
emy's shells. They worked well, and
most of them have been relieved from ar
rest but their stocks of wines and liquors
have been confscated, and they them
selves ordered from the department.. Here
after but little liquor will be sold to sol
diers, as twenty-four hours in the trenches
under hot fire and still hotter sun, is o
consummation not much desired by the
noble army of suffers and extortioners.
Fear overcomes the desire for gain occa-
sionally, and in no class more completely,
under the new order of things, than IN
the yenders of bad whiskey and execrable
preserved milk.
lam happy to announce the promotion
of Quartermaster John l.. Kelly, OF the
Fourth New Hampshire, to the position
of Assistant Quartermaster of Volunteers,
with the rank of captain. He has been
for several months acting as Brigade
Quartermaster with the late Colonel Put
nam, and more recently on the staff OF