The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1894-01-17

a part OF the land :ace. The balance.
of The land face, all Of the sea face, and
flank wall outside, running from the fort
to low. water marx, were occupied by
the 25th S. G. V. Major. Glover was as.
signed to tie command Ct the tlank wall
and the sea face. I had command Of the
land face and the general supervision OF
the whole regiment. Tee two regiments
mentioned, and several companies OF
the ID South Carolina artillery (in all
about 1900 effective mer) constituted
the garrison OF the tort. The 9th
Geogia was kept IN the sand bills aS re-
serve. Battery Gregg was garrisoned
bv company Of regulars. These were
all Of the Confederate troops on the
island. The fire CT the enemy was not
very brisk curing the ni-ht, but there
was very little chance for any rest on
the part of our tloops. was directed to
make the salient angle, on the land lace,
regimental headquarters. Major +. F. {.
Warley, of the ID South Carolina artll
lery was Chief CT artillery and had tie
general supervision Of all the
guns. During the night Col. Lawrence
u. Keitt, of the ooh Sou!h Carolina
Volunteers, came down, and relieved
Gen. Colquitt, who left the island.
THIRD OF SEPTEMBER, THURSDAY.
Enemy still approaching. Oae Of two
of our guns and one mortar keeping up
a steady fire. The men OF TIE 18th were
in high spirits, a great many Of them
went to work building 6efences on the
walls of the fort with sand bags, in
which they constructed loop holes,
through which to FIRE at the enemy
whose works were provided with similar
means Of offence ADD defence. Firing
through these loop holes had become
very dan gerous, yet it was steadily kept
up AS soon as light Was seen through
one OF these holes the ''Eederal sharp.
shooters" fred, and not unfequently
succeeded in sending their balls through.
Each side fred at the hashes OF the RI
fes of the other. Our men, after firing,
showed their hats into the loop holes to
darken them before they drew out their
muskets, which when reloaded were put
cautiously back, and the hole covered
by a man before the bat was Withdrawn.
Private Wallace, Of COMPANY G, re-
ceived Yankee ball in his piece, which,
happening to be Of larger calibre than
the enemy's gun, did not lodge. He
took It out, put down charge OF
powder, aud sen the bail back toits for
mer oGn. Musket firing and the Kissing
OF balls were iucessant. The enemy did
uot today make ~ uch use of his artillery
out was hard at work in bis trenches.
Not a man could be seen, but line OF
spades vas visible as they were lifted
up TO throw the sand out Of the trench
on the side towards US. There Was no
entire cessation CT fire, but only a slack
enlng of the artillery. Our James ls-
land batteries and Fort NJ ,ultrie briskly
cannonaded the enemies trenches all
DAY. The feet came up, as was the
cus.om. every day, and opeaed fire on
US throwing eleven and fifteen inch
shells. They were often throEn with
small charges OF powder, r:cocheted
along the water, and striking near the
TOP Of the covered ways fell nearly yer.
ucally, searching every part Of our
works. Some of the fifteen inch shells
were loaded with smaller shells, which,
when tie large shells burst, would have
their fuses ignit I'd and would explode,
scattering their pieces in every direction
and doing much damage. During the
dap from one fourth to one third OF the
men were kept on the psrapet. The
rest were allowed to remain n the bomb
proofs. At niehttall they were all
turned ou4 and kept oa the parapet all
night. The enemy had gotten so near
that we could be heard making our dis.
positions for the night. The IRE was
then Qulckened and shot and shell came
literally like iron hail. The garrison
had great deal OF work to Go constant
IL repairing damages. It was soon ap-
parent that this fort vas near its last
day. The exterior slope Of the salient
was drifting slowly into the ditch under
the enemy's fire.
FOURTH OF SEPTEMBER, FRIDAY.
The enemy commenced lively can
ro1aGe this morning. Quite a humber
of cur sharpshoote-s' stands were
knocked down. The firing of the sharp
shooters was very brisk Oh both sides,
and continued so all day. The United
States flag was patup by the enemy at
the head of his trench, now only about
one hundred yards from the salient.
My opinion was that the intention OF
Gen. Gilmore wa to pass the fort at
low tide and assall US from the rear.
There was ia width at low water about
fifty yards of hard beach between our
faux wall and low water mark. This
was one OF the defects OF our work.
There was a time when line OF pail
sades might have been driven to low
water mark. The engineers Thought
that the salient would be the point OF
assault. This would have been IN &C
cordance with scientific approach and
assault. expressed my dissent from
the engineers, and urged Col. keitt to
allow me to strengthen GU. force oftTo
companies left on the outside behind the
flank wall to meet any effort that
might be made to pass the tort He
agreed with the engineers ard did 20:
allow me to strengthen our force ca tie
outside.
The batteries on James Island kept
up an unremitting fire aad were dong
some excellent practice, particularly the
one at Shell Point, called BATTERY
Simk.ns," in honor OF the gallant Lieut..
Col. Slmkins, who fell during the assault
on this fort on the 18Th OF July. Major
F. F. Marley was wJunded in the at
ternoon bY piece Of shell, which made
epaioful flesh wound on one Of his legs.
He was soon after started TO the city il
Brig. Gen. RipleY's boat, which came
down to bring dispatches. Al sccou 1t
Of the CONDITION OF the forS was given
Mai. WarIeY for Gen. Beauregard. On
The way up to the city one Of the enemy
boats commanded by Lieut.. Charles
Craveu, # TIE Uuited States navy, fell