Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-05-20


AND Is IN CHARLESTON STILL.
The present, OF, as Il is called hu'
morouEly, the rising generation, has
some peculiar notions about Fort
Sumter. IL looks 50 gray ami grim
1t dawn, 50 black and frJwning al
night. and so much Ike thing
from out the SEA, that the young
people are ap. TO locate 1t in the age
OF the pyramids or ef the ruins OF
BaalbOc. All this comes Of speak
ing Of the grand defense Of the AN
cient fortress . cold Sumter" and
other misleading phrases.
All the young people however
are informed now that the man who
built Fort sumter IS in Charleston.
He in fact has been with us'' for
about sixty years, having come over
from Ireland when he was about
twenty-five years Of age. He was
the master mtsJu az Fort Sumter.
he was there when the sp0. on
which Sumter was built was n waste
ofmud, tit only for fdLiurs, raccoOu
oysters, dead shrimis in the sum
mer, aud other such denominations
Of civilization. This ancient and
honorable master mason talked
yesterday TO n reporter for the NC,rs
and Courier about the building Of
the ''aucient fortress" He gave
first a list Of the various Federal
officers under whom he worked on
the fort and at Fort MOultric, up %
the firing OF the frs; gun at Fort
Sumter. When the work started,
a great force Of hbOrers was
brought from Boston, mostly
Irishmen. They did the prepar8-
tory work cf laying the foundation.
Schooner leafs " shingle and silt
and broken rOCS were brought and
unlOadci on the mud flats until an
addition % The land was made.
Then they built up the walls above
the highest tide anu iglLupen a space
% the east through which the largest
schooner could ride with ease into
the fort. Tie interior was n vast
well which was sixty feet deep, but
the schooner soon filed this up
and a solid foundation was made.
After that the WORK was compare
lively easy. When the fort was COM
plsted, not long before the war, the
tests Of resistance were made with a
Columbian gun, the largest then in
the servi,e.
When the war was about 10 cont
mencc, the ancient master mason Of
Fort Sumter WIS under the order
Of Lieutenant Foster at Fost t,gul-
tric. This order desired the master
mason 10 20 over % Sumter with
Anderson, saying % him that being
an irishmau Doc need have TO sym
Ilthy with the Southern csuse. The
master mason replied that he had
become loyal SON u. south Caro-
lima By ms acquire. Citizeuship,Ini
that besides, Ie had 'eight South
Carolina Chiiireu.-' TINS answer
must have been conclusive. a. the
builder was permitted 90 come hack Z
10 Charleston from AioultFip, where I.
he ielt Lieut.. Foster in the ue. % Z
burning tHr gun carriages OF tina.
fort. Coming over 10 Charleston he /
met Mr.. NOV Gcncrall NcCwdy.
and informed him Of what was be- I
.ns done q, the fort. Soon after
.he~e events the war broke out. and I
he FeieTals began 10 knock GOWN /
he tort they had tried 50 hard TO /
build.
II must have cen an excellent |
liece Of masonry, considering the
line il took the federals 10 take
!own the bricks at long range. !
From what the master mason could |
'ecoilect, they began 10 build For;
sumter about twenty-five years
'efore the war, anu, although it is |
quite respectable on account Of i.s z
&c, IL Is only "a sH0b when COM Z
AIRED with the genuine old aristrc- /
aCy OF Fort MuulIrie. Its worthy I
& special mote that the bricks which
we're used la the construction Of {
sort Sumter came from Mutiway, |
N the Black River Plautati0s, on I
hc Cooper River. At this place
.5Hdgr5ve Smith Vas buried. The
.lautati0u now belongs % Captain
V. i. StOncy. - Charleston Ne5rS I
nd CCsTi-r.