Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-09-10

The following is Gen. Gilmores reply, 4
brief notice OF which has been published in
several papers, to Gen. Beauregard's commu-
nication, already printed at length:
DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
HEADQUARTERS " THE FIELD,
Morris ISLAND s. c., 9 P. NJ, Aug 22.S
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
thlown a number of heavy rife shells into
the city, the inhabitants of which, of course,
| were asleep and unarmed.
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 TT. Wagner at
Ills \. NJ, of the 2lst 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, may
! 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 inadvertent omission of my signature
q,
| but it is not the argument of a commander So
| licitous only for the safety of sleeping wo-
men and children and unarmed men.
Your threats of retaliation for acts fmine,
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 inten-
ton, are passed by without comment. | will
however, call your attention to the well es-
tablished primo pie 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 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 period
of nearly two years and half, in the pres
ence of a 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, l am led to believe that 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.
l shall suspend the bombardment until Ii
o'clock ?. M. 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. a. 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 cheerfully 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 nrODerty