Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1911-04-21
frst gun Of the war and ohered to al
low him to fire IT,

nrst gun or the war. aiid "hsred 10 al
low him to fire IT,
pryor was very much agitated
With a husky voice he said. 4 could
not FIRE the first gun of the war Cap.
tain James would allow no one else
but himself TO 6re the drst gun II
was fred et 4:S0 a m. aud burst i'm.
mediately over the fort"
General Beaureeard mentious Ed
mund Eufin in bis report and locates
him at 1.-THE iron battery" on Morris
island. Colonel De Saussure. com.
mander Of the Morris island batteries.
says In bis report that his guns open.
ed at 4:4s after the signal agreed
upon had been given. Colonel he
Saussure's subordinate. Major Stevens.
SAYS that the batteries on Morris Is.
land opened after the signal rheli Md
been fred from Forr Johnson 4tutfin
served in the Palmetto guard which
manned two batteries on Morris Is.
land. the Point" ,CummiuCsI and the
iron batteries Captain Cuthbert Of
the PaimettOs Is very explicit in his
report. He says: The mortar battery
nj Cummings point opened fire on Fort
Sumter In It's turn after the signal
shell from Fort Johnson. having heen
preceded by the mortar batteries on
Sullivan's island and the Marion artil
lery morris isIandi At the dawn Of
day the iron battery commenced its
work. The first shell, fired by the veD-
erable Edmund Rufiin. burst directly
upon the parapet of the fort
The dawn of day" which was the
time Ruffin fired his columbiad is plac-
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 Rufiiu shot was the one that
struck the wall of the magazine where
be was lying He himself ired the
first shot in return The guns used
were thirty-two and forty-two pound
ers. The gunners aimed well. and fire
was concentrated upon an ironclad
Confederate battery about mile dis
tant The shot rolled off like peas. and
as 1t was a waste of iron Doubleday 8
men took for a target the famous old
Fort Moultrie of Revolutionary fame,
the one Colonel Moultrie held against
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 90 any damage to
the enemy's batteries, 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 filled
with citizens watching the duel be-
| tween Sumter and Moultrie Natural.
ly the crowd promptly dispersed.
The first night of the bombardmrnt
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 bombardment began II the same
hour as the first 07:30l 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 extin
guished. but it soon broke ont in sew
eral places at once.