Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-11-05
In the Beginning.

In an account of the attack on Fort sum
ter Major De Fontaine tells, in the South
| crn Bir0udc, the condition of affairs III the
city of Charleston. He says:
! April 10! The hour of action is at hand.
1t is not yet daylight. but every officer and
private in that circle of batteries is at his
post. The curtains of night are drawn
and as the bells of the distant city strike
one, two, three, four--a group OF soldiers
gather around mortar i'll Fort johnson.
!, They little realize, however, that III those
silvery notes rolling across the waters OF
the bay they have heard the death knell of
eighty years Of peace.
| Among the officers are Colonel James II.
Chestnut, ex-United States Senator,
Colonel A. H. Chisholm. now the editor
and proprietor Of mining journal III New
| York, and Major Stephen d. Lee, subse..
quently Lieutenant General, the aids OF
| Beauregard, by whom the final note was
| conveyed to Major Anderson. Watch in
hand they await the approach of the half
! hour, when the signal gun is to sound the
tocsin Of civil war; and as the last second
of the last minute is recorded upon the
dial plate there is flash of bright light,
| the thunder of gun, and an eleven-inch
shell traces its pathway toward Fort Sum
| ter with long, thin line of fire. Another
fairly opened, the prelude to a mighty
| drama of revolution. The first of these
shells was discharged by Captain George
| S. James, and the second by Lieutenant
| Hampton Gibbes.
The scenes of that April morning in the
city of Charleston will never be fully por-
| trayed. No tongue, nor pen, nor canvas
can convey an idea of the reality in all it's
| details. Let the reader imagine u popula-
ton started up from their slumbers by such
! an alarm. Lights flash as if by magic from
| the windows of every house, and in the
twinkling of an eye. as it were. an agitated
mass of people are rushing impetuously
| toward the water front of the city. Grave
citizens, whose dignity under ordinary cir
| cumstances is unimpeachable, are at the
top of their speed, dressing as they run,
| and sending up wild huuahs as if they
must have some such safety-valve for their
| enthusiasm or be suffocated. There are
men sans coats, women sans crinolines, and
children in their night gowns. "The Bat
tery," or fashionable promenade, presents
a scene OF dcshabille in every STYLE and the
mysteries of feminine toilet are revealed
with a reckless disregard of all the formula
Of conventional attire. And so with faces
pale, hair unkempt, and eyes sharpened by
the strange fascination of the weird spec
tacle, the impassioned multitude stand by
the hour peeling into the darkness and
reading the progress of the fight by the
flashing of the guns.
Our batteries had all opened, or, to use
the language of Colonel Ripley, 'rung
their breakfast bell for Major Anderson. Il
| For nearly two hours they pounded at the
walls of Fort Sumter with desperate en-
ergy but without eliciting response.
Scarcely, however, had objects Oh the low
coast become well defined amid the shadows
of the morning when, as if wrathful from
the enforced delay, there suddenly poured
| from parapet and easement storm of iron
ball. The murmur rang through the crowd
and was caught up and carried into the city,
"Fort Sumter has opened fret" The battle
now ragged with fury, and the frey messen-
gers from both sides followed each other
with spiteful haste. Short, sharp reports
with spurts Of flame told of bursting shells
in and around the beleaguered fortress,
while splashes of spray or clouds OF crum-
bled brick marked the ugly force of round
play Of pyrotcchnic skill could have been
more attractive.
at dawn a shower of rain dispersed the
throng gathered on the Battery" but at
sunrise thousands again congregated who,
with fever undiminished, watched the
progress Of the fight The elegant man
sions i'll the neighborhood We're also filled
with observers, while in the roadway Of
the broad piazza were hundreds of car
riages, and the horsemen who had hurried
to the scene from towns and villages miles
away.
| A single incident illustrates the enthu-
siastic sentiment which pervaded the en-
tire community. Among the spectators
was decrepid old gentleman over seventy
years of age. l found him still there in
the afternoon, on my return from the forti-
cations, and announced to him that thus
far no one was hurt" Taking me by the
hand, he remarked, "Sir, have five sons
on Morris Island, and they are all that at
tach me to life, but would not utter one
nurmur over their graves if they died
fighting to- day."