The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-08-01
AUGUST l, 1863.

serve. The selection of the 54th Massa-
chusetts to lead the charge was undoubt-
edly made on account of the good fight
ing qualities it had displayed few days
before on James Island, an account OF
which you have in my letter of the 18th.
These brigades, as l have remarked
before, were formed for this express
duty. Many of the regiments had never
seen their brigade commanders before !;
some of them had never been under FIRE,
and, with the exception of three regi-
ments in the lst brigade, none of them
had ever been engaged in this form of
attack. All had fresh in their memories
the severe repulse we had met on the
morning of the llth inst For two years
the Department of the South had been in
- existence, aud until the storuing Of the
batteries on the south end of Morris
Island, the army had won no victory
Just as darkness began to- close in up
on the scene of the afternoon and eve
ming, General Strong rode to the front,
and ordered his brigade, consisting of
the 54th Mass, Col. Shaw, (colored reg
iment,) the 9th Conn, Col. Chat6eld, the
4Sth n Y, Col Barton, the Sd n. H.,
Col. Jackson, the 10th Penn, and the
9th Maine, Col. Emery, to advance to
the assault At the instant the line was
seen slowly advancing in tn" dusk to-
wards the fort, and before double quick
had been ordered, tremendous fire
from the barbette guns on Fort Sumter,
from the batteries on Cumming Point,
and from all the guns on Fort Wagner,
opened upon it. The guns from Wagner
swept the beach, and those from Sumter
and Cummings Point enfladed it on the
left. In the midst of this terrible shower
of shot and she'll they pushed their way,
reached the Fort, portions of the 54th
Mass, the 9th Conn, and the 18th n. Y.
dashed through the bitches, gained the
parapet, and engaged in hand to hand
fight with the enemy, and for nearly half
an hour held their ground and did not
fall back until nearly every commissions
ed officer was shot down. AS on the
morning of the 1lth inst, these brave
men were exposed to a most CALLING fire
of grape and canister from howitzers,
raking the bitches from the bastions of
the fort, from hand grenades, and from
almost every other modern implement of
warfare. The rebels fought with the
utmost desperation, and so did the larger
portion of Gen. StroDgs brigade, as
long as there was an officer to COM
mand it.
When the brigade made the assault,
Gen. Strong gallantly rode at its head.
When it fell back, broken, torn and
bleeding. Major Crompton, of the Sd N.
H., was the highest commissioned Off
Ger to command it. Gen. Strong, Col.
Shaw, Col. Chatfeld, Col Barton, Col.
Green Col Jackson all bod -fs-lI4,,- -.--sss,}
other brave officers fell with them Sto-
ries are flying about that this regiment
and that regiment broke and ran !; that
but for ike frightened 54th Massachu-
sets (negro) we would have carried the
fort that the 9th Maine did not reflect
much honor upon the gallant State she
represents, and thousand other rea-
sons which | care not to enumerate. 1t
is absurd to say these men did not fight
and were not exposed to perhaps the
most deadly fire of the war, when so
many officers and so many of the rank
and file were killed. 1t must be remem-
bered, too, that this assault was made in
the night-a very dark night-even the
light of the stars was obscured by the
blackness of heavy thunder storm, and
the enemy could be distinguished from
our own men only by the light of burst
ing shells and the flash of the howitzer
and the musket. The 54th Massachu-
sets (negro), whom the Copperhead Off
GERS would have called cowardly if they
had stormed and carried the gates of
hell, went boldly into battle, for the sec
ond time, commanded by their brave
Colonel, but came out of it led by nc
higher officer than the boy, Lieut.. Hig'
gins.
The 1st Brigade, under the lead ot
Gen. Strong, failed to take the Fort. II
was now the turn of Col Putnam, com.
manding I'd Brigade, composed of the
7th n. H., the 62nd Ohio, Col Voorhees,
and the Tooth N. Y, Col Danly, to make
the attempt, but alas! the task was toe
much for him. Through the same ter
rible fire he led his men to, over and in
to the fort, and for an hour held one-hal
of it, fighting every moment of tha
time with the utmost desperation, and
as with the lst Brigade, it was not until
ne himself fell killed, and nearly all hi
officers wounded and no reinforcement
arriving, that his men fell back, and th'
rebel shout and cheer of victory wa!
heard above the roar of Sumter and the
In this second assault by COL putnam
Col. Turner, of Gen. Gilmores staff
stood at the side of Col Putnam when HI
fell, and with his voice and sword urgeC
on the thinned ranks to snal charge
But it was too late The Sd Brigade
Gen Stevenson was not on hand l
was madness for the I'd to remain unde
so deadly fire, and the thought of sur
rendering in body to the enemy coul
not for a moment be entertained. To figh
their way back to the entrenchments wa
all that could be done, and in this retrea
many poor fellow fell, never to ris
again. s+ =.
Without doubt, many of our me
,, fell from their own fire. The darkness
was so intense, the roar of artillery S
loud that it was absolutely impossibl
, to preserve order in the ranks.
3 More than half the time we were IN tn
fort the fight was simply hand-to-han
y one, as the wounds received by man
t clearly indicate. Some have swor
:. thrusts, some are hacked on the hea
t some are stabbed with bayonets, and
v few were knocked down with the bu
~,