The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-09-16
THE CAPTURE OF FORT MORGAN.
Its Bombardment and Surrender,
rrespondence of the N. Y. Herald

| ~ twenty minutes TO o'clock on TueSda'
morning. August %, 1864, Fort Morgan
garrison of six hundred men, Surrendered nm
condltonally to the combined forces of tn
army and navy of the United States, under
commandment OF less than twenty-four hours
DETAILS OF TIE SURRENDER.
On Sunday evening Gen. Granger notife,
Admiral Farragut that he would be ready tt
open the siege next morning at daylight. Tina
night the Admiral with his fleet took position
IN line OF battle, and Monday morning at fiv,
O'Clock we opened upon Morgan with thirty
guns OF various calibre and sixteen and 10
inch mortars, and in short time three Moni
tors and several wooden vessels opened. tn,
former with II and Is inch shells. and the lat
| ter with rifed 32-pounders. The firing con
tinued with great vigOr and extraordinary ac
| curacy until dark. when the fleet withdrew
and the firing was continued only at intervals
! by the shore batteries.
FIRE IN THE FORT.
During the afternoon smoke was noticed as
cending in steady volume from a particular
point inside the fort, and it was surmised b,
| many that some part of the work was on fire
| although very little was said or thought about
| 1t, so great was the interest manifested in the
accuracy of the artillery practice; but about
o'clock at night broad sheet of flame burst
| forth. which shone brightly all night, and
seemed to spread to the right, as if defying all
exertlons to extinguish it. 1t was thought by
some officers that the enemy had piled togeth.
er some boards and fired it in order that. by
Its light, night assault might be guarded
against.
THE CITADEL ON FIRE.
BY others it was believed, and this belief was
found to be correct, that the citadel was on fire
and that an explosion of the magazines might
ne 6XDpcta6 at oorf No ;,,co
ed oy the rebels next morning that after vain
enorts to extinguish thesfire they became great
~ alarmed lest they should all be blown up.
ana hooded the magazine with water and threw
large quantity of powder into the wells. No
sooner was this light discovered than General
BAILEY ordered all our batteries to commence
trlng, in order to prevent the rebels from ex.
tinguishing the flames, which thew did with
great vigor, and shells from 9-inch Dahlgren
and and lO-inch mOrtars fell amid the flames
with fearful rapidty, driving the rebels to their
classmates, and producing a scene of grandeur
rarely witnessed. For fully an hour this scene
continued with fiend-like fury, when the firing
ceased suddenly, to the establishment of those
VINO Witnessed the affair in the bay.
THE PORT WAVES A SIGNAL LANTERN TO THE
It was explained next morning bv G+nerol
Bailey that he saw some of the garrison 90
down TO the beach and wave lantern to the
1eet, evidently signal of surrender. The Cen
era! watched this movement steadily from a
position he had cautiously obtained very close
up to the glacier of the fort. After watching
half an hour, the rebels, finding the fleet made
no answer to their signal, probably because it
drew to the fort without attempting to signal
the army. Had they done so, they might have
Deen spared very uncomfortable night and
we would have saved large quantity of bow
der, shot and shell for Gen. Bailey immedi-
ately ordered his batteries to reopen, and the
garrison OF Fort Morgan slept to or were kept
wide awake by the music of his guns.
A PROPOSAL TO SURRENDER.
AT twenty minutes to seven o'clock on Tues
day morning rebel officer, Capt. TAYLOR. bear
ing white flag, and accompanied by about
forty men, carrying a small saii-boat, marched
out at the main sallypOrt facing Fort Gaines.
with the intention of pushing off to the flag
ship three or four miles distant, with q note
from zen. Page, proposing to surrender the
tort, and asking what terms would be granted !:
but here again they were thwarted by the
ubiquitous Bailey. They were determined to
ignore the army entirely; they would not treat
with 1t; they would not surrender to it if they
could have had their own way, probably be-
cause Gen. Page, who was long an officer of
the navy, has still lingering affection for the
Old Union Jack. Gen. Bailey informed the
nag OF truce officer that the army and navy
were one; that they represented one govern
ment that his artillery commanded Fort Nor.
gan and his battery every foot of Mobile Point
outside the fort, and that he could not and
would not permit rebel boats crew to push
OH from shore under any pretense whatever
ARRIVAL OF GEN. GRANGER.
About this time Gen. Granger arrived at the
wharf in front of Fort Morgan, and the note
OF Gen. Page was handed to him. Gen, Gran
ger replied that he would communicate the
contents OF note to the Admiral, and when bis
answer was received the terms of surrender
would be dictated. In short time thereafter
Gen. Granger sent Gen. Arnold, chief of artil-
lery; Capt. Drayton, of the Hartford, and an
other officer, with demand for the immedi-
ate and unconditional surrender of Fort Nor
gan, with its garrison and all public property,
to the army and navy of the United States.
guaranteeing the treatment of an enlightened
nation to prisoners of war. Gen. Page wished
to stipulate for the removal of his sick and
wounded to Mobile, but this was fatty refused,
and he then sent note to Gen. Granger. stat
ing that he accepted his terms, but requesting
that the tOrmality of surrender might be de-
terred until two o'clock in the afternoon that
he might have time to pack up his baggage
and get his men in order to march out. This
request was aceded to.
THE REBELS MARCH OUT
Accordingly, at precisely two o'clock the
rebel army, numbering probably little over
six hundred, marched out OF the main sally
port, without music and without banners and
were drawn up in line at the foot of the glacier
fronting the bay. Two regiments of Union in
fantry-the 34th Iowa and goth Wisconsin,
preceded by the brass band playing 4" Hail Col
umbia, " and with the stars and stripes and the
colors of their respective States floating proud
~ above them, marched by, and halted about
five PAGES in front of the rebel line. The rebels
then stacked their arms, after which the bands
struck up the g Star Spangled Banner" The
rebel rag was torn down, and the old fac of
our Union was once more flung to the breezes
which are waited over the ramparts of Fort
Morgan.
UNION SALUTE.
Then q national salute was thundered from
the guns of the men of-war in the bay. and in
| the Cult from Fort Gaines, and from some OF
| our batteries on the peninsula. When the an.
thusiasm had somewhat subsidized the rolls of
| the rebel cOmpanses were called and verified.
the officers and soldiers placed on board trana
ports, the formal surrender of Fort Morcau
completed, and the command of the entrance
to Mobile Bay passed forever from the rebel
! States. -.. .-.s...--.