The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-03-15
DEFENCE OF BATTERY WAGNER.
How tho Confederate Soldiers Vacated a
Hot Boarding House.
Efonl the DHroa Ere Pcess.

Early in September, 1868, il became
plain to the Confederates that they could
! not hold Fort Wagner and Gregg many
days longer. The iron.clads had pound-
cd them from one side and Gilmore's
| troops from the other, and that the
greater part OF Morris Island would soon
be in tho hands Of the Federals was n
conclusion which must he met and pre.
pared for
And now here va, ths griinness of
war. The sand forts had been levelcd 10
the surface three or four times over. and
yet repairs had been made snd the rarri
son reinforced. They had the .cIads
on the one hand and the Federal infan.
try on the other, aud il had come to that
pass that finger could not be lifted
above the paraHet without finding a
sharp shooter watching for it. Gilmore
had about thirty guns in semi circle
before Wagner, and no, satisfied with
raining tons of shot and shei, daily upon
the work, he began new movement.
Here was tho terror Of war-sap and
mine. Foot by foot, inch by iuch, the
tederals had crept as near as was posi-
BILE, rolling their sand earthworks before
them almost as easily as one could roll
bales of cotton. Within pistol shot of
the parapet they halted. War had ,on,
become coid-biouded murder. A strlp of
sand not 400 feet wide, was the neu;ra,
ground, and the Tiger of War ravcd back
and forth over this in search of blood.
iie found it-blood by the gallon, BY the
barrel-blood flowing out upon the Thite
sands until the tracks of the Tiger could
be plainly seen in the dampness.
BLOCKING THE PATH.
The iron-clads could neither reduce
Fort Sumter nor pass in, and the attempt
to reach Charleston by way of Secession.
vile had failed. If the Federals could
gain possession of Morris Island,
Charleston would be under the fire of
common artillery and Fort Sumter could
be attacked from q new side.
Gilmore had secured the lower eud of
the Island and intrenched his position.
but he could advance no further until
Wagner and Gregg were overcome,
Wagner had received the most terrific
pounding from the iron .clads-a fire 80
fierce and continuous that army and
navy officers asserted that all human life
behind the sand piles had been wiped
out, and yet the echoes of the last gun
had scarcely died away when thousand
Contederates emerged from the bomb
proofs and coolly began making repairs.
A column Of 5000 Fedcrals had hung
itself Mt the fort, fought with desperation,
and retired shattered and broken. A
second column, stronger by thousand.
had rushed over the ditch-up the slopes
over the walls Of sand-fought hand to
hand with the ferocity of tigers, and
when the broken ranks were reformed
within the Federal lines six hundred
men were not there to answer to their
names.
Battery Gregg had been pounded at for
weary days-its garrison torn to pieces
by the monster shells, it's guns dismount.
ed and It's walls torn out or leveled flat
but there they were, sullen, defiant, and
saying to the Federal I.ion
we are in your path and prepared
for your
The English, the Franc!. and the Ger.
uans have their histories of that great
four years's struggle in America, and
their historians have praised pluck wher-
ever it cropped out. An American who
attempts it will be called q patriot for
praisiug the one side and ''rebep for
Praising the other. There was pluck at
Wagner and Gregg and Sumter and
Charleston-such pluck and determina-
ton; such uncomplaining sacrifices for
the cause; such steadfast purpose to
defend every brick and beam and plank
to the last, as neither Greek nor Spartan
ever exhibited.
FOOT BY FOOT.
When it was finally realized that nei.
ther the missiles from the feet nor the
bayonets of the infantry on shore could
reduce the forts of sand it was determined
to blow Wagner out of the path of the
advance. Wagner out of the way, Gregg
would be evacuated
Beginning about the 18th of July, the
Federal forces may be said to have
advanced foot by foot. During the night
the bappers would advance underground,
burrowing their way with pick and
shovel, and next morning the Confeder-
ates would look out upon q new Federal
position. Wagner was being fought with
its own weapon-sand. Its sand walls
had saved it-other sand walls were to
overwhelm it. Gilmore was the Spectre
of War. His shadow was reaching
further and further up Morris Island,
and that shadow never moved back.
wards. Where it rested it burned into
the sand and left horrible trace. There
was scarcely day that the Spectre did
not seek to devour more ground-never
night that the men who followed It. or
opposed it did not scream out as bullets
tore their flesh.
STRIKING AT FATE.
t. L. l.. T..l ~ -