The Camden confederate. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1861-1865, 1863-09-11

than thousand great guns were IN action. 1t
was grand chorus of hell, in which Moloch
might have assisted and over which Satan
have presided.
All tltis went on beneath waning Septem.
Der moon, which, with its warm Southern
light, melowed by n somewhat misty atmos.
phere, brought out softly, yet distinctly, the
most distant outlines of the harbor
The loss at Wagner during this awful bonn
bardment was considerable. Up to o'clock
on Sunday it amounted to one hundred and
fifty in killed and wounded. Probably many
more were added to these casualties in the
coarse of the day.
At Gregg there were but eight casualties on
Saturday night during the skirmish with the
barges. Among them was Captain of the
9th Georgia Volunteers.
Under cover of their ceascless fire, the Yam
kces had approached on Sunday within forty
yards of Wagner.
During the bombardment of Friday last the
brave and Jealous Major Marley was wounded
at Wagner by the fragment of she'll He
was struck on the ankle, and the wound is said
not to be severe. About nine o'clock, D. m.
of that day he was put into a barge-thc Leo,
belonging to Gen. Ripey-to be brought to
the city. Of this barge, with its gallant freight
and of its crew, which was made up of white
men, nothing has been heard up to the present
moment. The inference is that it was cap
tured, with all on board, by rcconnotcring
party of the enemy, whose small boats nightly
patrol the waters between Morris Island and
Fort Johnson. Col. ,Rhett's boat, returning
from Morris Island to Charleston, Saturday
night with Lient Jones, passed between sever
al of these prowlers and was not fired on,
probably on account of the contemplated at.
tack on Gregg.
EVACUATION OF MORRIS ISLAND.
To sum up the events through which we
have just passed, Battery Wagner had been
subjected during the last three days and nights
to the most terrific fire that any earthwork has
undergone in all the annals of warfare. The
immense descending force of the enormous
Parrot and mortar shells of the enemy had
nearly laid the wood work of the boombproofs
entirely bare, and had displaced the sand to so
great degree that the sally ports are almost
entirely blocked up. The parallels of the cne-
my yesterday afternoon had been pushed up
to the very mouth of Battery Wagner, and it
was no longer possible to distinguish our fire
from that of the enemy. During the entire af-
ternoon the enemy shelled the sand hills in tn G
rear of Battery Wagner (where our wounded
lay) very vigorously.
Under these circumstances, and in view of
the difficulties Of communication with Cum
mings Point, the impossibility or longer hold
ing Morris Island became apparent, and it was
determined that strenuous efforts should be
made at once to release the brave garrison of
the Island, who seemed to be almost within the
enemy's grasp. This desirable result was &C.
complishcd with the most commendable promo-
titude and success
At about six o'clock, yesterday afternoon,
the orders for the evacuation were delivered to
Col. Keitt, commanding our forces on the Is
land. Everything was at once made ready for
the abandonment of Batteries Wagner and
Gregg. The dead were buried, and, at night.
fall, the wounded were carefully removed in
barges to Fort johnson, The guns, which, for
so many weeks he'd held the foe at bay, we're
double-shotted, fired and spiked; the heavier
pieces were dismounted and the carriages rem