Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-04-26


THE ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER-WIG
FALLS RECKLESS BRAVERY.
According to the notice given by Gen
eral Beauregard, fire was opened upol
Fort Sumter, from the various batteries
which had been erected around the har
Dor, at 4:SO o'clock on the morning o
Friday, the 18th of April, 1861. Th'
fort soon responded. It is not the pur
pose OF, this work to give minute detaili
of the military operations, as the events
OF the bOmbardment have been often re
lated and are generally well known
with no material discrepancy in natter
of fact among the statements of the va
rlous participants. It is enough, there.
fore, to add that the bombardment con-
tinued for about thirty-three or thirty.
four hours. The fort was eventually sci
on fire by shells, after having been part
~ destroyed by shot, and Major Ander'
son, after q resolute defense, finally sur.
rendered on the 18th, the same terms
being accorded to him which had been
offered two days before. It is a remark.
able fact, probably without precedent In
the annals of war, that, notwithstand-
ing the extent and magnitude of the en-
gagement, the number and calibre Of
the guns, and the amount of damage
done to inanimate material on both
sides, especially to Fort Sumter, nobody
was injured on either side by the bonn
bombardment. The only casualty at
tendant upon the affair was the death OF
one man and the wounding of several
others by the explosion of q gun in the
firing of salute to their flag by the gar
rison on evacuating the fort the day af-
ter the surrender.
A striking incident marked the close
of the bombardment. Elk Senator Louis
T. Wigfall, of Texas-a man as generous
as he was recklessly brave-when he
saw the fort on fire, supposing the gar
rison to be hopelessly struggling for the
honor of its flag, voluntarily and with
out authority went under fire in an open
boat to the fort, and climbing through
one of the embrasures asked for Major
Anderson, and insisted that he should
surrender fort which it was palpably
impossible that he could hold Major
Anderson agreed to surrender on the
same terms and conditions that had been
offered him before his works were bat
tered down.
THE FIRST MANASSAS BATTLE-FAIL-
URE TO PURSUE THE ENEMY.
1t was, as stated, with deep regret
and bitter disappointment that I found,
Notwithstanding our diligent efforts to
reinforce this army before and af-
ter the battle of Manassas, that its
strength had been but little increased,
and that the arms of absentees and dis
charged men were represented by only
2 800 on hand. 1 cannot suppose that
Gen. Johnston could have noticed the
statement that his request for confer
ence had set forth the object of it to be
to discuss the question of reinforcement.
He would have known that in Rich
mond, where all the returns were to be
found. any consideration of reinforce
ment by the withdrawal of troops from
! existing garrisons could best be decided.
Very little experience, or fair amount
of modesty without any experience,
would serve to prevent one from an
nouncing his conclusion that troops
could be withdrawn from a place OF
places without moving how many we're
there and what was the necessity of
their presence.
was at the conference by request !;
the confidence felt in those officers is
shown by the fact that I met them
alone, and did not require any minutes
to be made of the meeting. About four
months afterward paper was pre-
pared to make record of the converse
ton (; the fact was concealed from me,
whereas, both for accuracy and frank
ness, it should have been submitted to
me, even if there had been nothing due
to our official relations. Twenty years
report, by one party, without notice
| hov vi |, upivy f<xf ho NJ -
versation said to have lasted two hours.
After the explosion of the fallacy that
had prevented the pursuit of the ene-
my from Manassas in July, 1861, nv
assailants have sought to cover their ex-
posure by change of time and place,
locating their story at Fairfax Court
House, and dating it in the autumn of
1861.
When at that time and place met
Gen. Johnston for conference he called
in the two generals next in rank to him,
Beauregard and G.. w. Smith. The
question for consideration was, what
course should be adopted for the future
action of the army? and the prelimina-
ry inquiry by me was as to the number
Of troops there assembled. To my sur
prise and and disappointment, the effec-
tive strength was stated be but little
greater than when it fought the battle
of the 21st of the preceding July. The
frequent treinforcements which had been
sent to that army in nowise prepared
me for such an announcement. To my
inquiry as to what force would be re-
quired for the contemplated advance
into Maryland. the lowest estimate
made by any of them was about twice
the number there present for duty
How little 1 was prepared for such q
condition of things will be realized from
the fact that previous suggestions by the
generals in regard to a purpose to ad-
vance into Maryland had induced me,
when I went to that conference, to take
with me some drawings made by the
veteran soldier and engineer, Col. Gro
zet, of the falls of the Potomac, to show
the feasibility of crossing the river at
that point. Very little knowledge of
the condition and military resources of
the country must have sufficed to
show that had no power to make such
an addition to that army without a total
disregard of the safety of other threat
ened positions. It only remained for
me to answer that I had not power to
furnish such a number of troops, and,
unless the militia bearing their private
arms could be relied on, we could not
possibly fulfill such a requisition until
after the receipt of the small arms which
we had early and constantly striven to
procure from abroad, and had for some
time expected.
For the purpose above stated, extracts
are herein inserted from a narrative in
the Operations on the Line of Bull
Run in June and July. 1861, including
the First Battle of Manassas. The
name of the author, J. A. EARLY, will,
to all who know him, be q sufficient
guarantee for the accuracy of the state-
ments, and for the justice of the conclu-
sions announced. To those who do not
know him, it may be proper to state
that he was educated as a soldier, after
leaving the army became lawyer, but,
when his country was involved in war
with Mexico, he volunteered and served
in regiment of his native State, Vir-
ginia. After that war terminated, he
returned to the practice of his profession,
which he was actively pursuing when
the controversy between the sections
caused q call of q convention to decide
whether Virginia should secede from
the Union. He was sent by the people
of the county in which he resided to
represent them in that convention
There he opposed to the last the adop-