The National tribune., 1907-03-07

been destroyed by Mai Anderson upon
his movement from Fort Moultrie to
Fort SUMTER The batteries upon Sui
livan's sfsland were commanded by
Lieut.-Col. r, s. Ripley. an able and
experienced officer of artillery, long an
officer of the ,pld Army, and whose name
and service became identified with the
defense of Charleston Harbor until the
last. OF these batteries, three eight
inch CoIumbiads, two 32-pounders and
six 24-pounders in Fort Moultrie; two
s4epounders and two s2-pounders in the
enfilade battery; one nine-inch Dahl
gren gun, two 32-pounders. two AZ
Founders at Athe Point. and on board
the floating battery, and the six 10-inch
mortars4b bore, upon Sumter"
I ScrE,tl Chester's Account.
/ Serg't James Chester, of the garri-
/ son. says: nh
"There We're three points to be fired
| upon-the Morris Island batteries, the
| James Island batteries and the Sulli
vans Island batteries. With these last
was included the famous iron-clad
floating battery, which had taken up q
| position off the western end of Sulli-
vans Island to command the left flank
of Sumter. Capt. Doubleday divided
| his men into three parties; the first,
under his own immediate command.
|
| bearing on Morris Island: the second,
under Lieut.. Jefferson c. Davis. manned
| the casemate guns bearing on the James
Island batteries. and the third--with-
| out a commissioned officer until DR..
| Crawford Joined it-was marched by
| Sergeant to the guns bearing on Sui
| liyans Island. The guns in the lower
| tier, which We're the only ones used
| during the bombardment, except sur
reptitiOusly without orders, were 80 and
42-pounders, and some curiosity was
felt as to the effect of such shot on the
iron-clad battery. The gunners made
excellent practise. but the shot were
seen to bounce off it's sides like peas.
After battering it for about an hour
and half no visible effect had been
produced. altho it had perceptibly
slackened its fire, perhaps to save am
munition. But 1t was evident that
throwing 32-pounder shot at it at a
mile range was waste of iron, and
the attention of the gunners was trans
ferred to Fort MOultrie.
"Moultrie was perhaps a less satis-
factory target than the iron-clad. 1t
was literally buried under sand-bags,
the very throats of the embrasures be-
ing closed with cotton bales. The use
of cotton bales was very effective as |
against shot. but would have been less
so against SHE'LL The fact that the en-
brasures were thus closed was not
known in Sumter till after the bonn
bardment. 1t explained what was 9TH
erwise inexplicable. Shot would be seen
to strike an embrasure, and the gunner
would feel that he had settled one gun
for certain, but even while he was re-
ceiving the congratulations of his COM
rades the supposed disabled gun would
reply. That the cotton bales could not
be seen from Sumter is not surprising.
The sand-bag casemates which covered
the guns We're at least IS feet thick,
and the c6tton-bale shutter was no
doubt arranged to slide up and down
like a portcullis inside the pile of sand
bags. The gunners of Sumter, not
knowing of the existence of these shut
ters directed their shot either on the
embrasures for the purpose of disabling
the enemX's gins or so as to Craze the
sand-bag .parapet for the purpose of
reaching the interior of the work. The
practise was very good. but the effect,
for reasons already stated, was incen-
~.
Capt, DOubIeday's Account.
Capt AbnerbD Doubleday says: +
Nineteen batteries We're now ham
mering ata11s, and the balls and shells
from the'91 O-mch Columbiads. accom- {
panied byesheiis from the 13-inch NOR
tars which constantly bombarded us,
made US feel as If the war had COM
menced imearnest. -.
when 1T Swas broad daylight went
down to breakfast l found the officers
already asseiffbfed at one of the loDgl ;
tables in the.mess hall. Our party We're {
calm and even somewhat merry. Wei
had retained one coiored man to wait
on US. He was a spruce-looking mulat-
to from Charleston, very active and
efficient on ordinary occasions, but now
mpletely demoraliZed by the thunder
tt,a ct, ,it1O nf hn shot
around us. He leaned back against the
wall, almost white with fear. his eyes ,
closed and his whole expression one of
perfect despair. Our meal was not verv
1t consisted of pork and
water, but DIR. Crawford triumphantlyl
brought forth a little farina, which he
had found in corner of the hospital
"When this frugal repast was overl
my company was told off in three de-
tails for firing purposes, to be relieved
afterwards by SeymOurS company. AS ,
I was the ranking officer. / took the
first detachment and marched them to
the casemates. which looked out upon
the powerful iron-clad battery OF cum ;
mings Point.
an aiming the first gun fired against
the rebellion I had no feeling Of self
for ] fully believed that the
contest was inevitable and was not of ,
our seeking. The United States was
called upon not only TO defend ITS SOW
ereignty. but its right to exist as Ma ,
ton. The only alternative was to sub ,
nit to powerful oligarchy who We're Z
to make freedom forever
to slavery. To me it was ;
simply to a contest, politically speaking,
as to whether virtue or vice should rule. '
"My first shot bounded off from the |
slopng roof of the battery opposite
producing any apparent effect. I
1t seemed useless to attempt to silence q,
the guns there. for our metal was not
heavy enough to batter the work down
and every ball glanced harmlessly off, /
except one. which appeared to enter an 6
embrasure and twist the iron shutter. c
so as to stop the firing of that particu I
lar gun. IT
~ observed that a group of the ene-
my had yentured out from their in ,
to watch the effect of their Z
fire. but sent them flying back to their +
shelter by the aid of 42-pounder ball, {
which appeared to strike right in among +
them" +
..The First Gun of the War,
Col. Stephen d. Lee. of Beauregard's
staff, afterwards Lieutenant-General, c.
S. A.. says that after he and Col. James c
Chestnut left Maj. Anderson they went !
to Fort Johnson, on James I
Island, aroused Capt. George S. James, /,
and ordered him to fire the signal gun.
With them went Roger a. Pryor and J
A. r. Chisholm Capt James was a