Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-07
UNDER FIRE IN SUMTER.
the Scenes Inside the FOrt-How the
Garrison Came Near Being Annihi-
lated by Smoke.

Though from a military point If view
fba borubardment of Fort SumfeI.jn April
7.st ,orLs o,1,,os, ,,i,or a,a,,t of III,
-, H.,
'".e pieasdu Vnes9 llOAi 'uo 80
point OF view 1t takes a place OF gre"
Importance, as there the first gun in ;
long and devastating war was fired. The
e,,r,,i,.ors or tho l,t+Io hand that held the
o W. ~ ~ - .o,ttarod
lort lor 90 hours arc Nv" -, 81
throughout the Union one oi 'H0S7 i'
Dennis johnson, q veteran arllleryman
now emploved i'm the depot Quarterm3s-
60, .ot,i,,. -, This cit-
: 0i'i0 ~ 49,. NOV, IN .1,o oo,,,
mere Were ".' W. Inl'nson in reniv
lnaIu an tolu' t,.' rennrter ,.and ~
o1Iitin,, moro we're : or civilians in the
fort. Tnese civilians were workmen who
had been employed in the works. The
officers were Mai. Anderson, Capt.
Doubleday, Capt Foster, Capt. Seymour,
Lieut.. Hall. Lieut.. Snyder, Lieut.. DAVIS
and Lieut. Meade.
son the morning of April p" con-
tnued Mr.. johnson, settling himself
down for a long narrative, about
APO o'clock, the first she'll was fired
at sumter They continued until !
o'clock, firing shells at us every 3mlnutes,
without RESPONSE from us. At Z O'Clock
we fell i'm and were marched to the case
mates. where we were all told of to differ
eut guns We could not man the guns on
the rdmpafts on top, which were open and
exposed 10 the fire from every quarter
from Fort Johnson, Fort AOultrie, Mount
Pleasant. Sullvan's island, and the IRON
battery at q place called Cumming 5
ONT. From all these different points
mortars and guns were pouring shot aud
shell into the fort. While men We're
working a gun on the ramparts on one
side of the fort they would receive the
enemy'S fire from the rear Consequently
we could man only the lower casemates.
However. we opened the ball at 1910
o'clock, beginning by Smelling the iron
battery and Fort MOultrie.
THE MOST TERRIFIC FIRE
no ,.oooi,-,.i NC fron, Fort Mo,,ltrio q
-. 49,, "a Xv,ei,in,-to,, ,,i+3,
~, ,s,,,,otes ovor hora y
go 81. nv So, c7, nc soat and
',as,,' - ,,i,h ,iis ta,,e esasas Cn,,
Ssier,. 49, o., - i,ort Iohr7so,,
,,5 - NJ, Bl,o'rt W., ,,nt ~
,,-ti,, - drn,,,,od tb6ir ehnt
- '1iS 80
80 ,,,st-,.
Co. no,lIo1s,. ;,,.e,',,i Tho TO-, hattor,,
-, e. C,,r,''i,,e-,g $50 So othoi.s
ma,,,,,l ~ 'l,,,,aeo,, +bo ntbar s;la a,,d
so,, 49, AL, ~ NJ Yo,,ltro rho
-, - So - ,a,-eat w Ill
49, 80, 90 80
e. "a ~ c,i1 ~, to
+,,,a,,,,, a., ,ba+ 80 VVbon f,o foct Va
built it was never expected. of course.
that the American people would be fight
ing themselves, so on the side looking
away from the channel no provision had
been made for guns. manned a gun my
self directing the fire at Fort MOultrie.
Three thlTty-twO Founders and two forty
two Founders were all we could work on
that side. We fired at the magazine part
OF the fort, and the fire was so heavy there
that the enemy had TO evacuate the works
for time, afraid that they would blow
up. The magazine had a pitched roof
with two gables protected by the ramparts.
We knew, Of course, lust where it was
and aimed to smash in the roof by firing
so that the balls would slide over the
ramparts upon it. The fire from the enemy
was continued all that day and was
very heavy. There was a heavy fire from
Mount Pleasant, which swept the parade
in the center of the fort. Some time dur
ing the afternoon OF the first day the flag
staff was shot away and came tumbling
down into the open space. Lieut.. Hall
ran out from the classmates, snapped the
halyards with knife, secured the flag,
which WAS Lflctu I'll again Ia lue ram paris.
After the flag was shot down the wells of
the buildings and the roofs began TO give
way. We kept at the enemy till the build
ings on the south side of
THE F0RT TooE FIRE
s,r,,,,,., ,,,it,i..... -. -. ..,
n, ,i,,,.t..,o ., "1iOn W.
&C 'el . nl'el OuU tnlee VI .he anSI's
80, VI sns ioi onS iooAths ~ ny
east Tbo ts ~ ~ ~ f St ,a Iniid
80, % VI rIe us VI que ~
80 ~ 1871 u " q 'ue IAN Pdi - ~
" a. y = tnc hoI !. !, ,he space was an open
" tei. = Vi uo'iIl4 " w u"A oon-
GU 4o.eu q Icsuia lul uace, vi suo' HeateI
~ teU III sneS anu "a peot tlS
S Sneuly u'eu ~. 1VlL hioultIle was wei
81 IN. anu ~ Ihust nave oeeh Irupl tIe
suns VI snae loIO S MAI tns hIe was sIaIt-
gu III sumner. me olnceIe qus vie
s neIe ~ Tue cehtre vi tnls TOW VI uu.i i
@nu a. . 1ue alsh' anu Igi' Ws'e .ne
4ua a ven, o. tne men, M, inc oiceIs. quar-
thine a. t~vin0 10 inf ONT tho Gro frhe
flames spead rapidly 10 the right ard left.
and soon the two magazines were sur
rounded by walls of fire. We were at the
classmates at the north side. and the
smoke from the burning buildings was so
dense and suflocating that we had to lie
on our faces. The wind blew from that
side, and the embrasures were two small
70 let out the smoke. which was so thick
we could hardly see. An the smoke
came into our faces. We were OBLIGED 10
wet hapdkercbiefs and nut them over our
faces. We were in this plight fully three.
quarters of an hour. during which we
ceased firing altogether. 1t was a terrible