The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-07-13

EXPERIMENT., twenCy-Ihree kiiIeu anu
seventy-six wounded.
1t was very hot day, and this was
very hot work, handling and working
heavy ordnance amid the roar, and
smoke, and blaze of battle, the villanous
smell of sulphur and saltpetre, the howl.
ing and kissing and crash of shot and
she'll, and the thunder of the guns. The
men threw off their coats for the work,
and Moultrie. refreshened them with live
buckets of grog. 1t must have been
sgood old jamaica" so called by our
fathers. Long years afterwards, Moul-
trie writes of it: "Never had a more
agreeable draught than that which !
took out of one of those buckets at the
time" What soldier that ever endured
the heat and thirst of battle does not
sympathize with this grateful apprecla-
tion of the well-timed and refreshing
draught? Yet, alas, how fatal it often
proves to health, honor and happiness.
All the while the battle ragged inces-
SAINT; the Thunder Bomb dropped heI
shells with wonderful precision, and
broadside after broadside hurled tons OF
iron against the little Fort. Once, three
or four broadsides struck it at the same
instant, and gave the merlons such tre-
NOR that Moultre thought few more
such would tumble them down. Moul-
trie saws, "it was an honorable but a
most unpleasant situation" Gen. Lee
seems to have agreed in this opinion.
He visited the Fort through a heavy
line of fire, pointed two or three guns,
and then with pleasant compliment to
Moultrie, returned to the city. "Never,"
said Moultrie, "did men fight more
bravely, and never were men more COOL
Their only distress was the want of pow
der. There cannot be a
doubt, but that if we had had as much
powder as we could have expended in
The time, the men-ofwar must have
struck their colors, or they would GER
tainly have been sunk"
For the want of powder the fire be-
came so slackened for time that the
enemy thought the Fort abandoned. At
the southeastern angle of the Fort, the
regimental colors were planted. on the
bastion. 1t was the first American flag
displayed in South Caroline. 1t was pre-,
pared by Moultrie under tie orders OF
the Council of Safety, and raised at Fort
johnson, September 18th, Its. A large
blue flag, with silver crescent In the
dexter corner. 1t was designed after the
uniform of the South Carolina troops,
which was blue, with silver crescent on
the cap front, inscribed with the grand
motto, "Liberty or Death" Early in
the action the flagstaff was shattered by
a shot, and the flag fell outside upon the
beach. Thousands of spectators with
eager eyes and anxious hearts-fathers.
mothers, sisters, SONS, daughters, wives
and loyers-watched from yonder city
the progress of the fight, and when the
cry went forth, 'the flags is down." hor-
ror and despair seized the shuddering
crowd.
There was Sergeant, William Jasper,
born about the year 1850, at Charleston,
tradition says of an Irish family. When
he beheld from the opposite bastion the
fall of the flag, with a courage and en-
thusiasm characteristic of the Carolina
Irishman, exclaiming, s"Let us not fight
without flag" he leaped down from an
embrasure, passed through the iron hail
of cannon shot and shell, along the entire
length of the Fort, seized the flag, fas-
tened it to his sponge staff, fixed it firmly
upon the bastion in view of the whole
feet, and leaped unhurt from the parapet
to the platform, amid the hearty cheers
of his gallant comrades. A deed more
noble, more heroic, is not recorded in
human history; no incident more worthy
of embodiment in imperishable marble
and brass, upon the monument reared by
Charleston in honor of this glorious day
The name and fame of Jasper will &c
sounding down the ages of remotest time.
a distinguished and illustrious example
of the most exalted heroism.
One Sergeant Mcdaniel, whose name
proclaims the Scotch descent, when borne
away in the heat of the battle, mortally
wounded and mangled, lifting bis dying
eyes upon his comrades, exclaimed: :
"Huzzah, my brave fellows I die, but
don't let the cause of liberty die with
meW Words Of eulogy were wasted
upon an incident like this.
Meanwhile, how Jared the brave
Thompson at his advanced post?' His
Rangers were rifemen, the best marks.
men in the State, himself the best shot
in his regiment. None of them had ever
fred a cannon. Their idea of gunnery
was very simple-to load, aim we'll, fire
wipe out, and repeat the process. They
had no idea that any ball aimed by them
could miss the mark, but firmly believed
that every grape-shot found its victim
So, indeed, it seemed that day; for they
completely cleared the decks of the ad.
vancing Aotilla. and bafled and repulsed
the vessels and boats composing it. Sil
Henry Clinton bravely marched hif
troops to the waters edge; but the re-
pulse of his boats, and Thompson's de-
termined resistance, induced him to de.
cline the attempt to ford it. He found
the water too deep under the circumstan'
ces.
DR.. johnson, from an English pape,
of the day, has preserved an epigram
upon the occurrence:
'By the Red Sea the Hebrew host detained,
The waters fled, the deep passage gave
But this God wrought q chosen race to save.
"Though Clinton's troops have shared different
fate
'Gainst them, poor men, not chosen sure of Heaven
The miracle reversed is still as great
From two feet deep the water rose to seven"
Lee perceived this repulse. 1t gave
him more confidence in the courage and
ability of the State troops, and he imme.
diately entrusted Moultrie with more
ammunition. With it came words Of
cheer from the more hopeful chieftain
He writes: "Honor and victory, my good
sir, to you and our worthy countrymen
with you. P. S.-Do not make too free
use with your cannon. Cool, and dc
mischief" 1t was now 2 o'clock p. m..
and the battle ragged with renewed fury
The Bristol had her cable cut, and drift
ed with her stern to the fort. The gen.
tlemen of the garrison redoubled their
attentions to the Commodore, and raked
the doomed ship most fearfully. The
oto,on tho Sphuny and the Svren at-