News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-10-19

cneer. Inc war mas Degun. Ihore cal
be no backward step now. Old AM
young cheer and shout and shake hand
and feel glad relief.
The confederates had been all read,
for week. Every one of the fifty gum
and mortars in position had been trained
with mathematical precision to reacl
certain points with their fire. The ordel
was to fire from left to right, beginning
with the floating battery, and the gu1
which Edmund Rufin fired was soor
answered by the next, and the fire swep
clear around the circle until it came
back to the same gun. The projectileE
used we're solid shot, shell and bombs
and every gun had the fort within easy
range. AT the time the first gun was
fired reporter of the Charlestown Ner.
catTy-now on the staff of the Nea0s-
was standing directly behind Mr. Ruffin,
and to him 1 am indebted for many par.
ticulars of that attack never before pub
lished. He was one of the first in the
fort after the surrender, and what he
saw and made note of can be depend
ed on even when it clashes with the ira.
ditions of the historian. Taking up the
firing in the order named, each gun was
I soon busy at work, and the tremendous
cannonade shook Charleston from CEN
ter to circumference. One standing on
the esplanade, three miles away, felt the
! ground tremble under his feet as if an
earthquake was struggling to reach the
surface. There was no excitement
among the Confederates after the first
five minutes. The guns were loaded and
fred with GOODNESS and regularity, and
officers sought positions from which
they could note with their glasses the
work of every shot.
Maj. Anderson was not only expect
ing the attack, but was ready for it.
With the echoes of the first gun all the
men turned out, and the morning roll
was called and the flag run up, with the
iron balls pounding away on the walls,
each one jarring the masonry for
several yards around and sending up
cloud of dust. 1t was just after roll
call that gun fred from Sullivan's
Island dismounted one of the monsters
en- 6arbette on the fort. The ball which
struck and dismounted the gun broke
in three pieces, two of which fell inside
the fort.
Anderson knew that it would be an all
day fight, and his first move was to send
his men to breakfast. There was no
particular excitement within the walls,
as each one had been looking for the
climax. It was during the morning
meal, over an hour after the first gun
was fired, that the first bomb-shell fell
inside the walls. Others had fallen
short or passed over, but the exact
range had finally been obtained.
After breakfast the handful of men
were divided into reliefs, and the first
went to the guns and opened fire in
reply. AS soon as the fort an
swered. the Confederate guns were or
dered to fire one third faster, and the
result was that within an hour not one
of the bnrbette or upper tier of euns in
the fort could be used. One was struck
in the muzzle and split down for four
feet, and three or four were upset and
hurled dozen feet. Those left intact
could not be worked on account of the
enemy's fire. When she'll struck the
wall anywhere within thirty feet of a
gun shower of mortar and pieces of
brick were hurled clear over the fort,
and solid shot were continuously pass
ing over and around the guns. The dis
of the guns was plainly noted
by hundred men with glasses, and the
called forth cheers all
around the circle.
Anderson could not have had the
faintest hopes of saving Sumter, and he
seems to have fought more to gain time
or in the way of duty, than to silence
any of the guns opposed. His firing
for the first two hours was very wild, |
and even iu the afternoon not one shot |
nit where four missed. With the ord |
nance of 1864 he might have damaged |
Moultrie and the floating battery, but
ne could not have silenced them nor in
iicted any great loss of life. So little
we're his cannon balls feared that hun
lreds of Confederates stood outside the
works to get better view of the fight.
With so few men in the fort only few
,uns could be worked, and those but
lowly.
Before noon the Confederates began
Ising hot shot, and the third one which
ntered the fort set building on fire.
This emergency had been provided for,
nd the flames were quickly extin-
.uished, but to be kindled again and
gain during the day by the same
neans. After the men had orders to
esert the upper tier of guns and serve
he next they were well protected, and
red with more regularity. When Fort
umter was ready for occupancy it was
ronounced by engineers and artillerists
D be impregnable. From twenty to
hirty feet of brick, stone, sand and
lei
nemy and the defenders within. With
4 an hour after the first gun was fired
he fort was not only being knocked to !
ieces by old-fashioned ordnance, but
'as menaoed by a danger never dreamed !
by its builders-that of mortar firing. $
While subsequent events proved that 6
he stronghold could not be battered SO
adly but that it could be defended, it
'as a dozen times shown that bombs
ould be dropped into it from the sea
8 well as the land.
AS night fell, Anderson called his men
'om the guns, and preparations were (
lade for what was likely to occur
uring the long night. The last gun
red from Sumter that day was at the G
eating battery. The ball struck the q
ater hundred feet short, jumping
YER the battery, and missing a small 8
Dat by only two or three feet, sank
ut OF sight. Some believed that be-
'use the fort had ceased firing 1t had d
lrrendered, and there was intense IN
rest to learn the truth. No one could p
It off in boat and approach the fort Il
account of the Confederate fire.
hlch did not slacken in the least as the y
rget was lost sight of in the gloom of b
ght. When a she'll struck the walls
Id exploded bright fash dispelled d
10 darkness for an instant, and twice :,