Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-08-10
FORT suMPFER,
Progress of the
esting Developments.

the batteries or Cummings Point is prose-
cuted with great yigor. The firing thus
far has had marked effect, having expos
ed TO view a considerable portion Of the IN
terror Of the work. 1t has been manly
months since the rebels in Sumpter-.
have had a good, thorough waking upi
but the spell is now broken under the new
order of things, a circumstances which has +
doubtless made lively impression on the /
sensibilities of the garrison. The bom- /
bardment is as heavy as any that has yet /
been directed to the fort. The firing can I
not be exceIled. Shot succeeding shot
strike squarely at the point aimed. At Il
most every discharge down comes pile Of
rubbish, while above rises a volume Of dust
and dirt. 'o. -a4s hnt'
.ia 1uf THE FORT STRONG. liyd5 y
{ When this bombardment was corp-
menced it Is believed the fort was nearly
as strong as it was before the severe cha's-
tisement it received under the direction
Of General Gilmore. It had become thus
strong for the reason that the rebels had
been allowed to quietly, uninterruptedly
work at repairing damages. .. i.--l..
The other day, when General Foster was
at the front, witness to the shelling, ne
observed that a sheet of water was thrown
up by shot which struck within the fort.
This led him to make a closer examination,
the result of which strengthened his con
viction that the rebels had made large ex-
cavations in the igErlyi Ascertained that a
has been s.1r,5assage has been construct
cd by means Of which the garrison are en-
abled to make complete circuit round the
| fort. According TO information considered
authentic, the lower casemates ofthe work
have been materially damaged. The de-
bris formed by the constant sheiling com
pletely buried the casemates On the side
| fronting Morris Island That being the
case, it may be safely assumed that the
men are provided with a sufficient shelter
from offensive missiles. r g.ru
BoABPRooF. ..i
Besides having the lower classmates. as a
place Of protection, the rebels have con-
structed two bomb-proOfs of dimensions
sufficiently largeto accommodate very
numerous garrison. OF course these bomb
! proofs are built low down, so that when
| the upper portion of the fort is knocked
away, that share of the debris which fails
in ward tends to add to the strength of the
proofs. Those who examined the rebel
bomb-prOOfs in Wagner are aware of the
| perfect security they afforded the occu-
pants. In that case, as in the present case
Of SUMTER the earth or material displaced
by projectiles served to render the bomb
proofs still further impregnable. ..r
GUNS.
A great division of opinion has existed as
to whether or not the enemy, at any tina
during the past few months, has had guns
mounted in Sumter. The fact appears to
DO that guns are really mounted IN or on
the fort. 1t must be borne in mind that
the channel side Of the fort, not being
directly exposed to either the land or
naval batteries, has sustained but little
damage compared with the other portiqns
of the work On the channel front, then,
it has been learned through undonbted
sources the rebels have mounted five guns,
two of which are in good serviceable con
ditiOn. Of the remaining three, one is in
questionable condition, the two others
being useless. The guns are of heavy
caliber, having originally belonged to the
fort In addition to these five guns the
rebels, each night, after dark, haul over
the rubbish to the summit of the
walls--it cannot be called para
poundafF n5lgit1grigS5 rigS which they place in
position on a level surface or PLATFORM
The object of these small pieces Is Proba-
bly, to defend the fort against infantry as
saults. In the morning, before daylight
the guns are lowered out OF sight. The
rebels never fire. either from the light or
heavy pieces. They have probably delud-
ed themselves with the belief that we were
ignorant of the fact of their having guns
in the fort, which supposed Ignorance they
intended to take advantage of when the
monitors shonld attempt the passage Of the
channel, or when a party from the shore
should favor them with an assault.
If the rebels should chance to glance at
this they will probably be ohagrined at
their unsuccessful efforts in keeping from
us this valuable piece of information.
MAGAzINEs-wIRE NETWORK
In the present or in n previous lombard
ment the old magazine was blown up.
The rebels have now constructed a new
magazine near the northwest angle ofthe
fort. s,
Spread at intervals over the rubbish is a
network of wire, which is intended to act
as an impediment against the efforts of
scaling party. .I.a.
The rebel sharpshooters felicitate them I
selves upon the excellent shots they will
make when our men, entangled in the wire
give them an opportunity.
CASUALTIES. Ias..I 'r.aH'
1t is admitted that our mort.rs do fearful
execution. The occupants of the fort can,
when away from the bomb-proefs, manage
to crawl behind a pile ofbricksto escapein- J
jury from the shots thrown from the guns;
but perpendicular shots discharged from
the mOrtars have no respect forthese places
of refuge. Since the late bombardment ,
commenced over one hundred men have
been killed and wounded within the fort. |
The casualties usually occur while men are \
engaged in making repairs. i DID 'ss-
RELIEFs.
Reliefs are sent to the garrison at night
by means of small steamer which runs
down the Sullivan's Island side of the
channel. BY the same means the garrison
is supplied with Provisions. 49,. s....r
.r TIE REBEL FLAG ly
The small, colorless flag, in which the
rebels take so much pride, can be seen at .
most all times on the northwest wall. How
many times the flag has been shot away
we know not, but we know for a certainty
that in a single day it has gone overheard .
four different times. l - sHalIr H.ugI
TIE BoSIBARDMENT TO BE CONTINUED.
As one of the results of the present
it has been noticed that
complete lane has been pIoughed through 4
.he fort. Il is the intention, we under
stand, to continue the bombardment until, u
t is clearly demonstrated that the work of I.
demolition Is fairly accomplished Il
PresbyterIan Church in Canada.
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