Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-10-11

~ - @iiC vi TIC l@Lu VI AFiilY
The most momentous morning in the history of
America.
Fifteen thousand citizens Of Charleston have
crowded down to the esplanade. and every man
has ms face turned towards the sea- To the
right as they look down the harbor, is Morris
Island: to the left Suvan's, and midway be-
tween Is Fort Sumter grim and silent and not
even showing It's flag.
The great crowd trembles with excitement
and speaks in whispers. A bloody civil war is
about 20 open. The young men are ready to
hurrah over the prospect, but the older ones
look grave as they realize what war means
Now the gray mist creeps up from the waters
OF the narbOr and floats away and the eastern
horizon becomes tinged with red You can see
more plainly now At the head of Sulliyan's
isiahd Is the floating iron battery, and it is to
hre the first gun. Its echoes will awaken the
huge ron monsters asleep in Forts MOultrie
and Johnson-or Cummings PoInt-at Point
Pleasant and other localities There is a flag
over each confederate fort and battery an d
with good glass you can see men on the ram
parts.
From December to April the confedcrates
have been busy trying to get possession of the
grim and silent fort rising out of the waters of
the harbOr. All demands for surrender have
been refused. and the only other way is now to
be tried. Day By day batteries and forts have
been erected, almost within rfe-shOt of Sum-
tiers walls aII Major Anderson has been DOW
erleSs His orders are to hold tine fort and he
has authority 10 fire gun until il becomes
an act of self-detense. He has seen the forts
rise. The great Anns landed and mounted. the
volunteers mabh in. the ammunition brought
down from Charleston. and vet federal policy
Kept his guns silent.
Silence now. In the floating battery is an old
gray-haired man-Edmund Rufiin. He has
sought the privilege of firing the first gun of
the war. The lanyard he holds in his hand is
the rope which will ring the bell of destiny.
When that bell strikes a mighty Republic will
fall i'm fragments. and it will take the blood of
hundred battles TO cement it,
''fOOm!'
The bell has struck At the word the old man
has pulled the lanyard. and a solid shot whirrs
across the water and strikes the brick wall of
Fort Sumter with heavy thud. For long
minute no one speaks. The echoes of that gun
are fraught with mighty issues-the whirr of
that shot means death to q quarter of a million
OF soldiers. As the thunder rolls up and down
the harbOT and dies away 10000 people cheer
HE war has begun. There can be no backward
step now. Old and young cheer aud shout and
Snake hands and feel glad relief
The cOnfederates had been all ready for a
week. Every one Of the fifty guns and mOrtars
In position had been trained with mathemati-
Cal precision to reach certain points with their
IRE The order was to fire from left to right
v.
gun which Edmund Ruffin fired was soon
answered by the next and the fire was swept
clear around the circle until il came back to the
same gun. The prOiectiles used were solid shot
shell and bombs. and every gun had the fort
within easy range At the time the first run was
fired reporter of the Charleston Merc,n.y-nOw
on the staff of the Netrs-waS standing directly
behind Mr.. Ruffin. and to him am indebted for
many particulars of that attack neverb before pub
lishet. He was one of the first i'm the fort after
the surrender and what no md do
note of can be depended on even when it
clashes with the traditions OF the historian
Taking up the firing in the order named each
gun was busy at work, and the tremendous can
nOnade shook Charleston from center to circum-
ference. One standing on the espanade three
miles away. felt the ground trembe under his
feet Is if an earthquake was struggling 60 reach
the surface There was no excitement among
the cOnfederateS after the first five minutes
The runs were loaded and fired with GOODNESS
and regularity. and officers sought positions
from which they could note with their glasses
The work of every shot. .f<f
Major Anderson was not only expecting the
attack. but was ready for IL. With the echoes
of the first gun all the men turned out. and the
morning roll was called and the fac run nm
with the iron balls pounding away on the walls
each one jarring the masonry for several yards
around and sending up a cloud of dust 1t was
Just after roll call that gun fired from Sulli-
vans Island dismOunted one OF the monsters en-
bdT-tete on the fort. The ball which struck and
dlsmOunted the gun broke in three pieces, two
OF which fell inside the fort
Anderson knew that it would be an all-day
nght and his first move was to send his men to
breakfast There was no particular excitement
within the walls, as each enc had been looking
Tor the climax. IL was auring the morning
meal, over an hour after the first gun 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 d.
ylded into reliefs, and the first went to the guns
and opened fire in reply. As soon as the fort
answered. the confederate guns were ordered TO
IRE One-third faster, and the result was that
Within an hour not one OF the barbette or upper
tier OF guns in the fort could be used. One was
struck in the muZzle and split down for four
ieet, ana three or four were upset and hurled a
dozen feet. Those left intact could not be
worked on account OF the enemy's fire When
shell struck the wall anywhere within thirty
feet uf a gun shower of mortar and pieces of
orifk We're hurled clear over the fort. and solid
shot We're continuously passing over and around
the guns. Fhe dsmountng of the guns was
piainiy noted by a hundred men with glasses
anu the announcement called forth cheers all
around the circle
Anderson could not have had the falntest
hopes OF saving sumter and he seems tn have
Iou%ht more TO gain time or in the way of dutv
imam 20 silence any of the guns opposed His
Irlh- Tor the nrst two hours was very wild and
even In the afternoon not one shot hit u,baro
four missed. With the ordnance of 1854 no
might have damaged Moultrie and the floating
battery. but he could not have silenced them
nor inflicted any great loss Of life So LITTLE
We're ms cannon balls feared tina. hundreds of
cOnfederates stood outside the works to get a
better view of the fight. With SO few men i'm the
fort only few guns could be worked and those
but slowly.
Before noon the cOnfederates began usinr hot
shot, and the third one which entered the fort
SET building on fire. This emergency had been
provided for, and the flames were quickly ex-
thn4ulShed, but to be kindled again and again
during the day by the same means After the
men had orders 10 desert the upper tier of guns
anu serve the next they were well protected
ana nred with more regularity When Fort
sumter was ready for occupancy it was pro-
nounced Oy engineers andartillerist to be iTlprep
haole- From twenty to thirty feet of brick stone
sand and earth Stood between the balls of AN en-
envy and the defenders within Within an hour
AFTER the nTst gun was fired the fort was NOT
only being knocked to pieces by Old-fashioned
ordnance. but was menaced by f. danger never
dreamed OF by its builders-that of the mortar
hiring While subsequent events proved that
the stronghold could not be battered so badly
but that IL could be defended il was a dozen
times shown that bombs could he dropned INT,