The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-07-01

1
was laughing at the engineers, and the
Charleston papers got wind of the pro-
ject and made great sport oft. One
of the comic papers had very funny
CARTOON about an old negro carrying
the swamp angels compliments to
Gen. Beauregard in Charleston, An
other paper would have it that the
Yankees were going to drain the
swamp, which of course was impossi-
BILE, as it was fed direct from the At
lantic Ocean another paper again
insisted that We were going to dixie
the swamp across another that we'd
sent North for people to bring down
bridge structure another that We had
discovered something wonderful in
pneumatics, and still another that We
were going to use balloon battery.
Well the engineers went ahead in
spite of all the laughing. They built
a bridge to the point of the swamp
where Col. Terrell and Lieut.. Harold
had surveyed, and soldiers carried out
the planks and logs and 10, 600 bags
of sand and the battery was built.
The work was mostly done at night,
and the hardest job of ali was to drive
the street piling. Many men were
killed at the work, for the rebs shelled
us: but it was all done at last. We
had put up a sham fort little dis.
tance down the cost, just a simple
mass of leafy bough. 1t bothered the
life out of the rebs they couldn't
make out what was going on
behind it and shelled it necessarily.
Well, when we got the swamp fort all
ready we built a flat-bottOmed scow,
put seven-inch rifed parrot on her
waited till high water came foated
her through and got the gun into po-
sition. We couldn't get elevation
enough on at first though, and had to
cut away the rear gun carriage; that
fixed things to a nicely. Oh, wasn't
that gun daisy-never a cannon
before or since had such range. |
You can guess how nicely We
had it trained when / tell you that
Lieutenant Nathan Edwards and Col. |
Terrell laid the line of Fl e, calculating
to put shell into the rebel headquar-
ters five and a half miles off, and they
only missed their mark by few feet.
Smashed right through the house next
door that shell did, and Captain Mac
beth, who was then on Beauregard's
staff, afterwards told me that he was
sitting at his desk when the thing oc-
Cured. An old niger came running
INTO him in great state of excite
neht, saying, Massa massa! dar's
Yankee she'll come an made hole in
lie street big huff ter put der omnibus
N. A lieutenant in Col. Pleasanton's
regiment fired that shot. l tell you
t woke the Charleston folks up, and
Meerscham and johnson and the
)ther forts fired whole mines of metal
It us, but it was all no good. We
Gould fix up in night all they could
Knock down in day, for their shot
would 60 into the sand bags and do
10 harm and besides we had a re-
erve platform of sand bags behind
he battery. The gun was fired nine
cen times that first night, and did
treat execution, but the panic it
'aused was even greater than the exc
:ution it did, for Charleston had i'm
Igined that it could not be attacked
N this side, and consequently had
no defenses. Gen. Gilmore,
ONE days before we opened fir, had
ent flag of truce to Beadregard,
cling him that he proposed to open
ire on Charleston, and warning all
TO retire, hut Beaure- !
ard said it was impossible to bonn
ard the city without feet. Next I
corning, after the swamp angels sa- {
ute, Beauregard sent a steamship with !
flag of truce to us. His communi-
alton argued that it was wrong, I'M r
air and altogether against military !
recedent to attack him in lear of his !
forks. Gilmore replied that it was !
9th right and fair, and that as far as
recedents went he was making them, Z
nd so the truce ended, and the fight
etween the swamp angel and the !
orts continued, with the advantage {
lrgely ON the angels side, for it had
D much the longer range and so
luch the larger mark. 1t knocked ,
ne whole lower part of the city to !
ieces.