Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-04-08
! first gun Of the war and offered to al
low him to fire It.

2
B low him to fire it.
] Pryor was very much agitated-
/ With a husky voice he said, ! could
not fire the first gun Of the war Cap
+ tain James would allow 10 one else
but himself to fire the first gun. 1t
vas fred at 4:30 a. N. and burst i'm
/ mediately over the fort"
I General Beauregard mentions Ed
mund Rufin in his report and locates
him at 1.-The iron battery" on Morris
island. Colonel De Saussure, COM
mander of the Morris island batteries.
says In his report that his guns open
ed at AS, after the signal agreed
upon had been given. Colonel De
Saussure's subordinate. Major Stevens.
says that the batteries on Morris is
land opened after the signal shell had
been fred from Fort Johnson. Rufffn
served in the Palmetto guard. which
manned two batteries on Morris is
land. the Point Cummings and the
iron batteries. Captain Cuthbert Of
the PaImettos is very explicit in his
report. He says: THE mortar battery
at Cummings point opened fire on Fort
Sumter in its turn after the signal
shell from Fort Johnson. having been
preceded by the mortar batteries on
Sullivan's island and the Marion artil-
Iery Morris island. At the dawn of
day the iron battery commenced its
work The first shell. fred by the ven
cradle Edmund Ruffin, burst directly
upon the parapet of the fort"
The dawn of day" which was the
Iaia6 - nlaR-
ed by several witnesses more than an
hour after the signal gun. Meanwhile
the bombardment had been going on
steadily from the several batteries
bearing upon the doomed fort.
Doubleday Fires Sumter's First Shot.
Captain Doubleday believed that the
Edmund Ruffin shot was the one that
struck the wall of the magazine where
be was lying He himself fred the
first shot in return The guns used
were thirty-two and forty two pound
ers The gunners aimed we'll, and fire
was concentrated upon an ironclad
Confederate battery about mile dis
tant. The shot rolled off like peas. and
as it was a waste of iron Doubleday's
men took for a target the famous old
Fort Moultrie of Revolutionary fame,
the one Colonel Moultrie held against
a British feet. That work was liter
ally buried under sand bags. and the
shot had very little effect there. There
were no men visible near the Confed-
crate batteries as participants, but
there was a large party of people. ap-
parently noncombatants, on the beach
of SulliVan'S island, near Fort MOul-
trie. Irritated at the fact that they
had been unable to do any damage to
the enemy's batteries. a couple of the
Sumter gunnerS surreptitiOusly, when
no officer was near. turned two guns
on this crowd. The first shot fell short.
but the second went crashing through
the Moultrie house. which was filed
with citizens watching the duel be
tween Sumter and Moultrie. Natural
~ the crowd promptly dispersed.
The first night of the bombardment
was one of great anxiety to the little
band cooped up in Fort Sumter. The
shells dropped into the fort at reg
ular intervals all night. The second
days boIlbardment began at the same
hour as the first CT:3o) in the morn
ing At daylight the enemy's fire,
which had been slow all night. warmed
up, and the aim of the gunners was
better than it had been the day be-
fore. Fire broke out in the officers
quarters Of the fort and was extfn-
guished, but it soon broke out in sew
eral places at once.
FIaustaff Shot Down.