, 1865-02-28
Gen. Gillmore's Receptlon.

1oA- I44A4o1e SR6cepClOns
A Glance at The City and a Talk
With the Citizens,
CONDITION OF FORT SUMTER,
Correspondence Cincinnati Commcrcial.1
CHARLESTON. February Is, 1855.
Last night about midnight General Gilmore
lett Hilton Head On his flag steamer. the ".
". Colt, and was permitted to accompany
him, my desire to do so being doub1y stronp
from conviction that The crisis about
Charleston wna fast ripening. The General
eaye orders TO run to gu!l's Bay, which is
about twenty-five miles North Of Charleston,
and the Intermediate base of operations for q
force ofGillmore's troops under the command
Of General Potter. W1 passed the light ship
of Port Royal bar, and headed north, ekima-
ming along at eleven knots, over restless
sen to which the newlyrisen half Of the old
moon gave q faded, decaying brlliance.
About o'clock IN the morning We passed to
windward Of the fleet of Charleston, their
many Lights rocking softly ii the dead hours,
making the ha,bor seem populous as indeed
IL has long been, and winking from twilight
to dawn with patient, "we:can; ;wait' air at
the invisible and daskencd rebel city ut whose
gateway they have licked up so. much mid
night Oh. There were the low monitors,
oozily unqufet, far up towards Sumter in a
convergent cluster Of six. their iron snouts
roofing against the ebh-tide. To their rear,
and behind black clearing, rose little dim
grove Of spars near Morris Island.
At the bar the lightrship Aared with Its two
blazing eyes upon dozen companlons-pro-
pejlerB and gunboate-lts glare combining
with the rusty radfance Of the moon on the
| many wrinkling acres Of water Of which II
ln<~ $,n %s1fJ SnH
Bcnrps Of the wares. with d. varnish that
brought out the f1neness Of their gloom, and
The deep jet of their color. a mile or
two to the north WIS another group Of steam
blockade:rmners that creep in oyex: the bar
there, aud run under the guts of3SullIyan
Island. On each vessel several quiet sntefns
were burning, and the still illumination rs
minded me OF the slck-1oom, as thought Of
the smitten sky beyond, In which no spark
waa visible should have listened for the
! death-tick had l known how very sick
| Charleston was at that moment, as II lay
emptily hugging ita spit Of sand, and listening
for the last time Us Confederate city, to the
docke. I can picture now the scenes tina:
| we,e steslthily tlan6pfrfng there at that mo.
| ment, when all that is ignoble and dcpraved
In the human gamut Of passion Was sounded
! in large city, in that interval when 1t lay
like cast-of .ritc for somebody to stoopand
|
By the greedy fingers Of The poverty to which
1t bad given shelter, though never 50 humble
as it swooned through . long night, In which
1t hsd no Law but the bludgeon and tho strag-
glet's bayonet, no municipal existence, and
worst Of all, no past to be proud OF, and no
ACCORD. I knew nothing Of this as the lights
OF The feet g1laea out Of tho field Of vision,
though l. believed firmly it was near ut hand.
With this grateful conviction turned In.
i About nine o'clock this morning VIC ran up
into Bulls Bay, threading the gunboats and
transports collected there. The morning was
i fresh md buoyant and the sea SO lovely that
could understand NIL the SMILES (which Is
strong laDgrage) that have been drawn from
Its breezy brilliunce Of bright morning.
Gen. Potter boarded us for IN Interview with
the commanding Geneal, during the pro-
g1css Of which the rest Of us were "utiously
studying, with naked eye aud field glass, q
dense, high reached column Of smoke which
hung steadily in the horizon to the south
west, not unlike family shaded cumulus-
places TRANSMISSION Of Iead-colored yapor. It
rose very slowly to an immense height. and
drifted off impe1ceptib1y towards the East.
One suEmised that large pile OF cotton WAS
burning about ten miles from the coast; anoth
er that Charleston was being 4o:eo,red 4 third
tancc declared the Moscow business lnlpossl-
Charleston WIS twenty five miles away ;
and again, the column Of smoke WAS too
white to Issue from burning. buildings.
While we were gazing and specnlating, pass
Ing the feld-glRss from hand to hand, q
mighty explosion occurred. Through the very
heart Of the cloud, shaft of smoke, white,
broad and arrowy sped to the heavens, spread
ing, as its speed upward decreased, into pars
achute. With d distinct column reaching back
| q Palmetto trek" somebody rcmarkedAAlter
IN interval long enough to convince US that
the fire, whether OF cotton, forest or city,
vas more than twice ten miles distant, the
report doomed upon our car, and gradually
he a5 daTn tsee gfsw blurred and
bea1ings Of the explosion to be taken. Itwaa
done the charts consulted-the direction
was directly that Of Charleston; and hastily
! giving bis orders for the operations under
Gen. Potter-which were, presume, to push
boat to run to Stono Inlet, where he might
! learn the location aud import Of the fire. We
{the General was not included, Of course, ,lWcre
! inclined to think that Fort Moultrie Of Fort
Sumter had been blown up, just possibly BY
. accident, most probably bY design.
AS we ran down from Bulls Bay, every eye
was bent upon the cloud Of smoke, growing
.. | wider rs the fire eat back on the mainland.
. | An hours run brought the spires Of Charles
; to cfces the bar, It didn't take long to see
. that the Ere tros in Charleston surely. Gill.
! more stood with his glass glued to bis face
ecann,ng every object IN the harboT whose
,, every feature xas photographed on both hi {
material and his minds eye not many month.
! ago, when he care impn]sion to. the series ol
, Ingenious combinations whose fruits were
| pretty valuable at the moment whereof
write. II never saw our monitors go neal
! Sumter BEFORE" said he, but our nag Is moi
: on it. Run up near Sumter and Sc see ~ TnaI Il: Il
: the smoke still rose in dense volumes, bu1
!. seemed to crow no 11rger. The shipping Of
!. The bar and the monitors had their largs
:. flags flying. This wns significant, but vague
: ly 90.
o The eye cou1d reach well up the ha1bor. VI
a thought for moment that we caught I
3 glimpse Of our flag on Sumter, but Us the yes
. Sci swung around, We saw the flag in question
i on Fort Wagner, beyond. These moment
we're the most exciting ] have spent with th
army, Taught as they were with some sns
pense, as 10 the size o. me agreeable new
r wrapped up In that little charade, wherein
burning town, nnwonted temcrity Of iron
). clads, and a display Of bunting, signifying
victory Of unknown quantity, were the dis
= closed members. General Gilmore was th
! ! first to give the solution. "chaEleston
emotion. II see Admiral Dahlgren's flag
ship way beyond the forts, heading for III
4 city. Wen run up too" And he Watket
back md forth cn the deck, softly whiatlint
G sort of a Sebastian Bachfuguc, characterized
e by not much air to speak Of, and an irregular
c rythm, but just as expressive Of the whistler
state Of mind as If 1t had been divided init
bars, scanned BIZ those profound In the deyel
. op1ucnt Of emotional melody, and labelet
allegro or tInaee There WIS poetic prophet.
In General Gilmore being in command Of th
= Department Of the South just then. That b.
enjoyed 1t, I can readily believe, though az
still puzzled to know how he concealed hi
! exhilaral!on SO completely.
Our lag, ns we pushed toward Sumter, va
: discovered naoat above Fort Monltrfe, bu
d strange to say, none Ind been raised over tn
= former, though we could now discern ma
y y 1lne OF two standing on its iron n-scarrcd bat
n Elements The omission was probably due t
:. the fact that either fog or boats were not q
Q hand, and WAS accidental; but poetic propri
II | ty was uppermost again ,+ns General Gillmor
hastily ordered a boat to be ready and fla
10 be produced. The flag WAS forthcoming
hut no staff. The General picked up boat
a hook, close by, and directed that 1t be lashe'
y to an orr. This done, the flag was hstene'
It to the boat-hook half Of the staff and place
l. in the boat ready tor lowering. pcrhap
3 some poetic proprlety attached to the flag
y 80, the poetry and the propriety are founde
>. entirely on the unrese. ved generosity Of th
il army, which had in q few days carried thes
d / forts, against which the whole fleet of MALE
e monsters had not suftieed to prevail. Let U
70 not forget which army 1t was either-the dt
. yotod one marsbaled by sherman-who
q content to do the marching, the planning
Il md the fighting, ltaytng to others the 1as
+. raising, the dispatch-Writtng, and the saivo
!. We were soon in what had lately been tn
| Il hOf a a TN STRAIGHT fihArIht