The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-10-27

Colonel CIinch had the band OF semi
noles with him. but they were entlreit
for determined WORK 81 ~
kind that Colonel. Ciinch had 10 90.
Even while lying IN the "oods a.
distance waiting for the gun boats 10
come III. the indians became utterly
3omor.tiza3 under tho are ~ Garcon :
- noupd.r There was nothing 10 nc
done. ever, iy way 81 lmPlosinE
the prospects, winch VS. eeilas
hopeless enough. One hduiIcu 81
sixteen white men had the Negro foi1
TO storm. Notwithstanding ~ strength
and the overwhelming force tut u
Tended IT. But those one huhoIe''
and sixteen men were American
soldiers. under command OF u oIeNo
aud ~iesolute officer. who had maae up
his mind that tUe fprt r'aii he taken
AMI they were prepared /" lolio" ihei,
Ieade: up to the muZZie =. tue guns anu
over the ramparIS. there 10 n2ht tue
oucstion out III I htnd 10 Rand struggle
with the deSpe:adocs ine!de.
Finally the Gun goat, arrived, anu
pre narations were madc for the attack.
SAILING Master Jairus Looms, the
commandant of the little fleet, cast us
anchors uuier the gus of the Negro
Fort al five O'Clock IL the morning on
The nth of July, 1910 Tue fort at
QUO. o~pene,l fire, and il seemed impos-
sibi,. for The little vessels To endure the
storm Of shot and shell that rained
upou them from the ramparts above.
They replied vigorously, however, but
with no effect. Their guns were too
small To make any impression upon the
heavy earthern walls Of the fortress.
Saiiing-Master Lpomis had reused
his ships COOK early that morning, and
h d glven him a strange breakfast TO
cook. He bad O dered him to make ali
t. etire he could in his galley, and to III
the fl e With cannon-DaliS. Not long
after bomb-r imtnt began, the COOK
reported that tue breakfast was ready /;
that is to say that the cannon balls
were rcd hot. 1t. LOOMS trained one
of his guns with his own hands SO that
its shot should fall within the fort III
stead Of burying itself in the ramparts,
and this gun was loaded with a red hot
shot. The word was given, tue match
applied, and the glowing missile sped
on its way. In u few seconds latter,
the earth shook and quivered, a deaf
ening roar stunned the sailors, and a
vast cloud of smoke filled the air, shut
ting out the sun.
The hot shot had fallen into the
great magazine, where there were hun
dreds of barrels of gunpowder, and
the negro Fort was no more. 1t had
been literally blown to atoms IN a
second.
The slaughter was friyhtful. There
were, as we know already, three hun
dred and thirty-four men in the fort,
and two hundred and seventy of them
were killed outright 10y the explosion.
All the rest, except three men who
miraculously escaped injury, were
wounded, most of them so badly that
they died soon afterward.
One of the three men who escaped
unhurt was Garcon himself. Bad as
this bandit chief was, Colonel Clinch
would have spared his life, but it hap
pened that he fell into the bands
of the sailors from the gun boat and
when they learned that Garcon had
tarred and burned their comrades VINO
he had captured in the attack on Luft
borough's boat, they turned him over
to the Infatuated Seminoles, who put
him TO death.
This is the history of a strange affair,
which at one time promised to give the
government of the United State ne
little trouble, even threatening to III
vOlve us in a war with Spain.