Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-09-08
THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON


From the Charleston Courier Of the ID
\ SLOW hut steady fire was maintained Mon.
day night between the land batteries on both
sides. Batteries Simkins Cheyes and Wagner
: kept up q constant fire IN the enemy's rife
pits near Wagner, and also on the IaDkeee
batteries Nrs. and 2, and on Gaiberry Hill
, Tho fire upon Fort Sumter from the Yankee
! batteries was again heavy and incessant yes
! teTday. especially in the afternoon.
The fleet kept quiet. The result Of the Mnn.
:: itors' fire on Monday afternoon, on Fort Moul-
; tric and the batteries on Sullivan's Island, was
one horse killed andganother near by slightly
wounded. Between fifty and sixty shots yere
fired by the enemy from the rife pits vester-
day ut Battery Wagner.
The number Of shots fired By the laud bas.
| teries at Sumter was between three and four
hundred, of which sixty -nr seventy struck
| the fort
! \ despatch boat was observed to be very
busily engaged among the feet and blockaders
! ycsterd. y afternoon,, 5Stdantly communicating
[ orders. A number Of troops, supposed to be
the relief, were also seen disemharking from q
river steamer at Oyster Point
The number Of vessels inside the bar was re-
ported to be fOrty-fve, including the Ir6nsidcs,
six MOnit RS, three sloops of war, three gun.
l:olts. six mortar schooners, &c. AT Light
: House Inlet thcr. were seventeen vessels Of
different classes, twenty vessels in Stono and
| eleven blockaders'oF the bar including n fri
gaze and Il French vessel
| ~ b =. NJ, river steamer came in and COM
mcnccl transferring troops from Folly to Nor
ris Island. From the movements Of the enemy
observable yesterday afternoon, and the dis
| closures clicited from the Yankee letters, al
| ready published, we anticipate shortly some
| stirring work. Our casualties for the last few
| day, have been very slight.
The following is a list of casualties at this
place during the bombardment of Sunday, the
30,h ult., all of the 32d Ga. volunteers:
| S. c. MiddlcbrGok, Company a, side,
| slightly.
n. Roland, Company E, leg, slightly.
ChaS. Davis, Company X, back, slightly.
r. Davis. C.'mpany X, eur slightly and Sc
| ycrrly stunned.
f. Il. lIcriot, Company X, slight but pain
ful. Ennr T1ASD,
Surgeon in charge Battery Gregg.
p. S.-Sincc writing the above Il furious
hpnhar,lmcnt commenced about - o'clock -
fonr Monitors arc.repGrted approaching Fort
Sumter, it is supposed for the purpose Of try
in",n PASS Forts Moultrie our batteries
On SuiliYan's Island are firing heavily. Bat
terica Greg, Wagner and Fort Sumter are
also engaged.
The Charleston papers of Thursday, Tho 81
inst. state tha. in the slow bombardmept of
Sumter by the cncmy's land batteries on Tues
day, HS2 shots were fired at the fort, lGG of
which struck outside, % inside, and l2l fell
short or went over
At lilo p. m. on Tuesday night, six moni-
tors steamed up the bay, and opened a heavy
fire on Sumter ur dista ice of eight hundred
yards The lronsides also advanced about an
hour afterwards, and added all the weight Of
I!cr metal to the terrible bOmbardment.
Fort Moultrie, the batteries IN Suliran'-
Island, and Battery Gregg replied with great
spirit. Sumter received the fire in steadiast
silence. The contest asted for five long hours
!urin: whicIi the harh.r was filed with one
grand diapason of artillery.
The Monitors. 1t is stated, were struck pos
sibly one hundred times. The impingemcnt
Of the Shnr aga nst their mailed sides produced
sounds like The deep thud of distant cannon
| through 4 heavy atmosphere. Sparks of fire,
visible even in the city, were elected by every
bi"w which they received.
At LIDO 4. NJ, the fleet withdrew, with per-
haps one Of their number crippled.
The damage to Sumter was considerable,
| the Monitors having fired with good accuracy
u; their shots llG struck the exterior of the
The fort, - struck inside, and thirty-four
passed over.
In spite of the battered condition Of Sum-
ter, there were but three casualties at that
post. the men bring we'll cared for, under
| strict orders against exposure. These were
| Sergeant Foshee, Company B, Orderly Ser
gcant of Col. Rhctt Private Brown, Company
! C,.lst S G. ~. and Private Alexander, Com
pany II, 9th Georgia; all slightly wounded
Battery Gregg and Suliran's Island did not
| fail, also, to receive their share Of attention
| from the Monitors There were, however, no
| casualties at Moultrie or at Cummings Point,
| and no damage was done to the works ut
| those places. Two men Of the 6lst North
| Carolina, were killed. in the renr of the
| Mpultric House, by the explosion of 4 she'll
Seven monitors were reported inside the bar
! on Wednesday morning. A long, low, dark
object. which has been styled a Yankee Devil,
| was also deserted over sand hank between
! Sumter and Battery Wagner. Its character
| and purpose are as yet unknown.
Thirty eight vessels, including the monitors
| and lronsides, were reported inside the bar
In the course of the morning the enemy was
| observed to be busy in arranging sand bags
ul.,n the decks of the monitors Outside the
! bar there were thirteen vessels, among them
French vessel Of war.
The quiet of the harbor during the day was
distm bed only by the occasional action of the
contcnding batteries, the chief participants
being Batteries Haskell, Cheves, Simkins, and
the Yankee Batteries Nos. l and 3, with their
battery 1T Gadberry's Hill. There were but n
few desutory shots directed Mt Sumter.