The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-08-13
DEFENSE OF CHARLESTON.
REVIEW OF AN INTERESTING WORK
WRITTEN BY A PARTICIPANT.

WRITTEN BY A PARTICIPANT.
The Defense of Charleston Harbor, D.
John johnson, Formerly Major of Engi
neers in the Service of the Confederat
States. Charleston, S. c.
The defense of Charleston was one O
the most stirring episodes Of the wa
between the States. Its moving story
only second in interest to that of tn
great armies in the field, is told in th'
work above cited by one who bore {
greater part in it than his modesty per
mlts him to record.
No one can read Major Johnson:
first chapters without recognizing tht
spirit Of soldier and the literary ar
which reveals thought and culture. Nc
one can finish the book without feeling
the thrill which always responds to the
simple, rapid, and intense narration oi
great events, by d writer who, as eye
witness and actor, took part in them
In language almost as completely
stripped bare of every vesture of orna
ment," as a great orator described
Caesars style, Major Johnson places hi:
reader at once at the very centre of the
action, and soon kindles his interest tc
the white heat of the surrounding
battle.
After a brief sketch of the evening
preceding the 7th of April, 1863, the de
tailed history opens with the attack OF
the iron clad fleet on Fort Sumter
which signalized that day. The authors
fine descriptive powers are here first
displayed, and the reader who, in spite
of Major Johnson's grave and scientific
attitude, has perhaps already become
partisan of the fort. is relieved to tinC
that the fleet was repulsed with four
vessels disabled and one, the "keokuk,
sunk. The "Keokuk" went to the bet
tom off Morris Island, not far from The
station of the fleet. The story of the
removal of the guns from this wrecked
monitor by night, under all sorts Of
difficulties and perilS, and almost with.
in hearing of the federal sailors, is told
with spirit and effect. Then follows
an account of the federal descent on
Morris Island; of the two assaults on
the ConfeGerates battery Wagner blood
ily repulsed, and of that which marks
the next attack on Fort Sumter as the
beginning of a new era in war-the
preaching of the walls of regular for
tification by rifed guns on Morris Is
land, 3,400 to 4,300 yards distant. This
was the first great bombardment OF
Fort Sumter by General Gilmore. Be-
ginning on the 18th of August, 1868,
it was maintained uninterruptedly for
seven days, and was continued after
wards at interval till the I'd of Septem-
ber. BY this time the guns of Sumter
were silenced; its offensive power was
gone. But, recognizing it as the cita-
del of his combined defenses, General
Beauregard determined, on the advice
of his firm and able engineers, that it
should be held to the extremity. Out
of this vigorous resolution grew mast
erly and unparalleled defense, in the
course of which the fort suffered two
other great and eight minor lombard
ments, and was transformed from a
heap of ruins into "Shapely and pow
erful earthWork armed with five heavy
guns and protected against assault"
1t is popular error to suppose that
the tumbling in of the walls was itself
a principal element in this magic trans
formation. These ruins were merely a
part of the materials with which the
genius of the engineer patiently and
skilfully wrought. But for the intelli-
gent and ceaseless laborS which before
the first bombardment had strengthen
ed the sea front and gorge with thous-
andS of cubic yards of sand and cotton.
the opportunity would not have occur
red for the novel and heroic defense
which followed the destruction of the
original fort. One hundred and forty
six days and more than one hundred
nights of continuous fire on Fort Sum-
ter distributed over two principal and
eight lesser commandments, the evacu.
alton of Morris Island, and fierce at
Jack on Sullivan's Island, followed
Beauregard's intrepid decision not to
give up his citadel. In such q tenh4eessss
If shot and shell was the 4aew creation
If the engineer'S"art to take its rise on
he ruins of Sumter.
f-WeeSe0 consider the physical and moral
strain under which this work was done,
md 291 days during which the fort was
lnder fire, the losses by the enemy's
missiles and the explosion of magazines,
The monotony of the passive defense,
;he fierce obstinacy of the attack, and
he accumulating and portentOus dan
yers contemporaneously pressing on the
Confederates on other threatreS of war,
We cannot fail to admit that this de-
'ense was worthy of careful and Cir
narration. During every
light and many days Of this long
period the labors of some one hundred
md twenty men, on an average. with
,ut counting the garrison, were direct
ID by the engineer in charge of Fort
Major Johnson. Justly and
does he declare, Foresight
,ontrived, and hard work executed the
,lans of defense" With equal justice,
We must add. that dauntleSs courage
md overmastering energy are also quail
ties which the future historian will
lscribe to the engineer Immediately re-
ponSible for that stubborn and pro-
ongeG resistance.
We have no room left to mention in
letail the unsuccessful boat attack on
Fort Sumter. or the operations on
James Island-the key to Charleston
With the dash at Fort Johnson, or the
instructive account of the torpedo de-
Tices for the destruction of vessels
he first use of these methods in war,
If the authors luminous discussion of
he whole problem of the defense of
Charleston, or to mingle gaieties with
,ravities, that felicitous description of
he Christmas dinner in a casemate at
which the half Of an exploded 15-inch
hell did duty for punch-bowl, and it
lid well or those solemn pages, recount
ng the final collapse of the Confeder-
.te power and the consequent abandon
nent of impregnable Sumter. The
,ook should be widely read for its vivid
1t is noble record of noble
,assage of war.
The ordinary reader will be carried
long on the stream of its rapid MARIA
i've, the military student will find in
rich and precise technical instruction,
by abundant maps and
N CRAVINGS and in if the soldier will