The National tribune., 1907-03-07

until April 13. The strictest econom,
was ordered, and the officers were di-
| rected to take away from the table with
| them the fragments of bread or crack
ers which remained after any meal. One
cracker was allowed each man at break.
| fast, one at supper, but none, at dinner
Some rice, which had been wet, was
spread out on an upper :ioor to dry
and when the National salute was fired
| Feb. % the windows We're shattered
| and bits of glass scattered thru the
rice. These We're carefully picked out
SO that not a grain should be lost The
| ConfederateS believed that starvation
would soon drive the men to mutiny
ana there were already current among
them stories of muttering discomfort
and outbreaks barely prevented by the
officers. There was absolutely no truth
| in these stories. since the enthusiasm
| of the men and their devotion to the
| flag rose with every day of the siege
| This is a matter concerning which the
| enlisted men of the old Regular Army
have never received a thOusandth part
of the credit due them. 1t is fiction
Navy before the war were made up of
''hard cases." of men of faulty habits
and vicious lives, who had drifted into
the Army or Navy as a refuge. and
Were only made servIceable by sternest
discipline. This too prevalent idea Is
shown to be singularly erroneous by the
great number of men who attained dis
tinction in military and civil life, but
who began as enlisted men in the old
Regular Army. Equally complete DEM
onstration of the fallacy of this idea is
the singular loyalty with which these
men adhered to their flag, meeting all
discouragements, frequently after their
officers had deserted them, trying in
vain to take them over with them into
the Confederate army. The Confeder-
ate agents made special inducements to
secure the old Regulars as drillmasters
and officers, but with conspicuous ILL
success. Astonishingly few enlisted men
at any time sided with the Southern
Confederacy. In Texas they endured
Imprisonment for years rather than fol-
low their officers into the enemy's ranks.
The enlisted men in Fort Sumter
worked with the greatest industry, and
to the limit of their strength, in making
ready for the fight. They built splinter
proof traverses on the parapet, finished
closing the embraSures, completed az
far as possible the hand grenadeS AMI
mines to resist an assault, and used up
the hospital blankets, surplus clothing
and all other woolen fabrics they could
find in making cartridge bags. in which
llty lHeHlSclNeS very ucilSleit-
AS there were but six needles in the
fort, the sewing was protracted and te-
dious. With only 65 enlisted men, Mai
felt that he could not take a
single risk more than he was absolutely
obliged to, and he therefore would not
allow the men to work his heaviest and
most effective guns, which were mount
ed in barbet above the walls of the fort.
The command was ordered to take UP
the r1Spmatag where all
would be safe, at least until the walls
We're battered down.
1t was evident to the garrison on the
9th, 10th and 18th that something WAS
impending from the unusual activity in
the harbor and the demonstrations
about the batteries on the islands They |
had all gone to bed at taps on the nth. |
but had been awakened at 1880. April |
IL, by the firing OF the gun which an
nounced the approach of the flag of
.ruce, and the officers who demanded
the surrender. When these finally left
the men understood that their CONS
had been notified that fire
would be opened upon them in an hour. |
Many of them did not believe this
would really happen, but thought Beau
regard was bluffing them again.
Surgeon Crnwford's Account.
Assistant Surgeon S. Wylie Crawford
gives this description of the opening of
he batteries:
"The messengers now hastily took |
heir leave. The batteries around We're
lighted, their fires burning brightly, as
he husy hum of preparation was borne |
across the water to the beleaguered fort. |
accompanied by his officers. |
then went thru the casemates where
the men were quartered and sleeping:
he aroused them, informing them of
tta; inn dirprfaa them |
not to move until they had received or
1ers from him; that he would not open
ire until daylight, and that they We're
then to fire slowly and carefully.
''The sea was calm and the night !
still under the bright starlight when, at !
4:30 a. M, the sound of mortar from
a battery at Fort Johnson broke upon
the stiffness. 1t was the signal to the
batteries around to open fire. The shell, |
fired by Capt. Geo. S. James. who COM
manded the battery, rose high in air.
and, curving in it's course, burst almost
over the fort. A silence fol-
lowed for a few moments, when a gun
opened from the iron-clad battery on
Point 1t was fired by Ed
ward Ruffin, of Virginia, who had vol
for the service. Hardly had
the echo of this opening gun died upon
the air when the mortars nearest to
the fort opened their fire. which was
at once followed by others in the neigh
borhood and in succession by the bat
teries around until the fort was sur
by circle of fire. AT a dis
tance between 1900 and 1900 yards
from the fort, and nearest to it, upon
Cummings Point, an array of heavy
armament had been established, whose
had been anxiously watch
ed by the garrison, and whose value
vas now to be tested There were three
distinct batteries, the result of protr&ct-
id Ia Dor and engineering skill. Upon
he right was the Trapier' battery,
of three 10-inch mortars,
yell placed and protected. On the left
stood the Point battery, consisting OF
hree 10-inch mortars, two 42-pound
guns and one 12-pound rifled Blakeley.
IN the center rose the iron-clad bat
cry, mounting three eight-inch Column
)iads. The mortars in the 'Trapier'
under the command of Capt.
7. Gadsden King, with the Marion Artil
cry of Charleston, opened their fire
after the signal gun. They
we're followed by the mortars in the
Point battery, which, in connection
With the iron clad battery, We're assign
ID to the supervision of Maj. p. +.
stevens, of the Citadel Academy, in
Charleston. They We're manned by the
Palmetto Guard, under Capt. G.. B.
cuthbert.
Fort Moultrie was ready with its
ire, and opened with its guns and
mortars soon after the
opening gun was fired from Cummings
Point. OF the 80 guns constituting It's
pina hOre lirectlV npDu