Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1900-03-15
DURING CIVIL WAR TIMES.
Some Further Reoollections Of an Ex-
Confederate Officer.
Philadelphia Record.

Philadelphia Record.
AS stated IN my last article, the six
hundred Confederate officers sent from
Fort Delaware in August, 1854, TO Nor
ris Island, s. c., to be placed under the
fire of their own batteries, in retaliation
for a like number of Federal officers
said to be within range of the Union
guns firing upon Charleston, were landed
at Folly Inlet and received by the Fifty.
fourth Massachusetts Regiment, COM
posed of coloreo men, under command
of Colonel Hallowell.
After landing, we were compelled to
march some three or four miles along
the shore to reach the pen which was
to be our prison for an indefinite period,
and owing to our enfeebled condition
from the three weeks of confinement on
board the transport the march was slow
and painful, and compelled innumerable
halts.
Finally we reached a point midway
between Forts Gregg aud Wagner,
where had been erected a stockade Of
palmetto logs, and within this enclosure
were pitched many tents, each capable
of accommodating four men, and around
these tents was run rope, known as
the dead line" to approach which
meant certain death. Along tine top OF
this stockade, on the outside, ran plat
form for the sentinels 90 walk, from
which they could observe our every
movement.
My comrades In the tent were Captain
Hunter Griffin, of the Baltimore Light
Artillery; Captain George Howard. Of
the First Maryland Cavalry, and Cleg-
get Fitzhugh, who had never been in
the Confederate service, nor in the Con-
federacy, but who had been picked up
couple Of years before in Maryland,
more for the reason that be was the man
who captured Captain Cook, hanged
with John Brown, and turned him over
TO the Virginia authorities. His captors
dubbed him Captain and demanded a
captain in exchange for him
And now a word of Colonel Hallowell.
He was Of Quaker origin, son OF Nor.
ris l.. Hallowell, il am not mistaken, a
prominent merchant of Philadelphia;
but the Colonel was what Or. Weir
Mitchell would call a "Free Quaker"
though he hardly came up TO the stand.
ard OF the doctors fine creation, Hugh
Wynne," He was a rather SHINY built
young man, with a decidedly "low
head, and when he was truly looking
you full in the face it seemed as
though one eye was up tree md the
other down well. This was because
he was crosseyed The Colonel was
not much OF an orator, either, as the fol-
lowing selection from the little speech
he made rs before we were dismissed 20
our quarters will testify
u suppose you rebs all know what
you are here for. II you don't, you'll
soon find out. | want you 90 behave
yourselves; II you do, all will be lovely,
but II YOU don't. my niggers will give
you Il.
This speech brief and 10 the point, did
not, however. elevate the Colonel In the
estimation OF the gallant gentlemen 90
whom Il was addressed, and would Rot
have been much more bc6ttiugiy applied
to a lot VI penitentiary conyicts The
Colonel had evidently mistaken the Gem.
position Of his guests aud after ho made
the discovery Colonel HallowelI chang.
cd toward as altogether have always
believed the Colonel was something OF q
joker, and that be thought Of the time
that be was saying something that would
amuse MS.
The Fifty-fourth had been formed from
among the colored people ot Boston,
Massachusetts,, aud surrounding cities.
and had proved itself brave command
at the storming Of Wagner, where 1t hnd
been terribly cut up, losing its colonel,
the gallant Shaw. Since Then The ranks
OF the regiment had been recruited from
the ncgtoes Of the South. some af s. whom
where the most ignorant aud brutal 81
their race Fortunately for ue, how.
ever, these were comparatively few
IHE HUrSs or FoHr sUsw1gn
Soon after our arrival took view
Of the situation Immediately behind
us frowncd Fort Wagner. and not far
Ia front Of US was situated F0n Gregg
on In the harbor toward Charleston.
about q thousand yards. waa located
What lO0Fed like an Immense mass of
rubbish, with nothing IN Ia formation 10
suggest that IL had once been the pride
Of the engineers who had Tolgr5 &c. This
was Fpft Sumptcf, which had aitbstoud
the hcrccst bOmhaTdmCnts from land
and sea for months, but was unW stT0n K.
or IN Us ruins than when il stood Ia its
shapcly proportions, and the only fort
ia the south that was no. captured by
the Fc3erals during the war Beyond,
some four miles, stood the city Of Char.
lesion It's churcbspircs and many prom.
imeut buildings being distinctly discern
ible
Charleston was then, and bad been
for many months undergoing lombard.
ment, sometimes furious Ia 80 character,
but never ceasing day or night and In
certain conditions of the atmosphere wc
could trace the great shells Cred from
Fort Wagner, behind Us. almost until
they reached the city, and could then
distinctly hear the explosions.
UNDER TIE FIRE OF coEFEDEusrEGuss
Our experience was novel one, aud
such an one as but few men had under
gone before. Away of to the right Of
us lay Sulliyan's Island, and Wc were
told IL was from the batteries stationed
there that we had most to fear, and that
these batteries seldom fred except at
night, and then threw only mortar shells
II was with no little apprehension that
we awaited the coming OF night TO see
what kind of practice our comrades on
Sulliyan's Island would make under the
peculiar circumstances, for they had
been warned of our arrival and could
plainly see our prison, and as We were
not allowed out Of our tents after dark,
we could only witness the firing hY lying
on our faces and raising the canvas of