The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-03-08
A VISIT TO FORT SUMTER.
"Carleton" writes to the Boston

,7surnal as follows:
After ramble of several hours
through the city of Charleston, we made
a visit to Sumter, entering by the sally
mort where Major Anderson entered on
that er>to-be-remembered January
n light of 1861. The fort bears little re-
=, smblance to its appearance then, exter-
NJ llv or internally. No portion Of the
orr ginal face of the wall is to be seen,
ex, ept on the side towards Charleston
and a portion OF that facing Moultrie.
From the harbor and from Wagner it
appea rs only tumult-the debris. of an
old ru IN.
"An' the classmates, arches, pillars
and arapets are torn up, rent asunder
and tserly demolished. The great guns
y which two years ago Kept the monitors
at b;iy, Which famed aud Numbered
awhi lie upon Wagner, are dismounted,
broken, overturned, and lie buried be-
meath the mountain of brick, dust, con-
crete, s. nd and mortar. After Duponts
attack in April, 1863, reinforcement
of paine, to logs was made on the harbor
side and against half of the wall facing
Moultrc. The lower tier Of classmates
was filled with sand bags, but when
General Gill more obtained possession his
fire began to crumble the parapet. The
rebels endeavc red to reconstruct the wall,
Of to maintain its original height by ga
bions flled with sand, but this compelled
widening Of the base inside. Thou
sands Of bags filled with sand were
brought to the fort at night. Bomb
proofs were constructed. Day after day,
week after week, the pounding from
Wagner was maintained so effectually
and thoroughly that it was impossible
to keep gun in position on that side.
THE only guns now remaining are
five or six on the Moultrie side, in the
middle tier of classmates. Five howit
zers were kept on the walls to repel an
attack by small boats, the garrison keep
ing under cover or seeking cover when
ever the lookout cried, "a shot!'
"Checfaur de trise of pointed sticks
protect the fort from scaling party
At the base outside are iron posts and
wire network. There is also sub
merged network of wire and chains, kept
inplace by floating buoys.
II had the curiosity to make an in
spection of the wall facing Moultrie to
See what was the effect of the fire of the
ironclads in Dupont's attack. With my
glass at that time could see that the
wall was badly honeycombed !; close in
spection shows that it was a very d.
maging fire There are seams in the
masonry and great gashes where the
solid bolts crumbled the bricks to fine
dust 1t is evident that if the fire could
have been continued any considerable
length of time there that the wall would
have fallen. The effect OF that fire led
to the filling up of the lower classmates.
An hour was passed in the fort, the
band playing national airs and the party
inspecting the ruins and gathering relics.
Captain James, of the Massachusetts
fiity.fourth, who is now aid to General
Fillmore, was of the party. He was
wounded in the assault on Wagner. He
sazed at the ruins with satisfaction and
pleasure, not unmixed with melancholy,
Tor yonder, beneath the sands of Morris
isiand, his beloved commander was lying
his colonel, his general, his brother
onicer' fellow soldier. 1t is - pity he was
~. 1nere on Saturday to raise the flag
elsewhere.
s,, tor four long years the cannon Of
. .uA have hurled their iron bolts
,ss a'n .s the rights Of man but the con.
~ w.. .nere rs ended. The strong earth.
; ., on Sullivan's and johnson
sIa '' ~: The batteries in the harbor, Gas.
y" f''cknsy and Fort Ripley, those in