The Washington herald., 1913-12-11

thC SOA4CSllOh VI n NOOhs
| Pushing through the wounded and ter
rified men to the open air, the officers Of
| the garrison saw that an extensive con
hagration was in progress in the covered
/ parts Of the fort
| With frantic haste they organized
parties to check the fire by placing sand,
bags across the passages, in order to re-
duce the draft of hot air that was now
rushing through them.
| An effort to barricade the main pas.
| sageway leading to the western case
| mates-in which the garrison was quar-
| tered-was unavailing. the heat driving
| the men out Of the passage. The flames
| fed by combustibles among the ordnance
and commissary stores, were now beyond
| control.
To add to the discontinue of the garri-
son, the guns of the Federals on Nor
ris Island opened fire upon the fort ten
minutes after the first column OF smoke
| rising from the fort apprised the watch
full Federal sentries Of the character OF
the disaster in Sumter.
Under a CALLING fire, which wounded a
number of privates and officers. the gar
rison worked heroically to stem the
flames. Sandbags cut the fire of from
certain parts of the work, but all that
day il ragged and smoldered in the gal
leTleS ana arches OF the OlSIndnIleQ I
BY noon all the woodwork in the upper
easements on the west side-which had
been spared in the bombardments-was
consumed. The fire had also worked its
way to the heavy timbers that formed a
support for the saRdbags that protected
a stair tower, the only means by which
the garrison mounted to the parapet on
the west side of the fort. These timbers
burned away, and the stairs were buried
In tons of debris and stone that complete
ly filed the chamber through which they
had assembled
Signals for help were made all day
by flags. to Sullivans Island; but
though the signalmen- on the island could
be seen at their work, they paid no at
tention to the signals on Sumter. The
smoke rising from the fort alone ad-
vertised to the. other harbor forts that
all was not well at Sumter; but the day
passed to late afternoon before help,
beyond that afforded by a few boats,
reached the fort
It was then impossible to enter the
fort from the wharf. which was on the
land side, as the sally port was red hot
The only means Of entering the fort was
by a ladder on a high opening in the
west wall.
The fire ragged throughout the night
and the next day. By wetting down
some of the upper classmates, the gar
rison checked its progress in their d.
rection, after more than thirty-six hours
of hot work in choking smoke.
Not until ten days had passed were
the ruins cool enough to bear inspec-
ton. The masonry arches Of the lower
classmates were found to be shattered
and some Of them ready to fall. Moth
ing was found that threw any light on
the cause of the explosion.
The defenders of Sumter believed that
had the Federais made a determined
boat attack at any time in the flrst or
second days of the fire, the fort could
not have been defended against them.
No such attack was undertaken, and
the plucky garrison Of Sumter was left
in peace, while the fort was cooling.
They improved the time by mining
with fresh galleries through the debris,
and putting the fort once more in a state
of defense, to be held until the advance
of Sherman's army should force its
evacuation more than a year later.
Tomorrow, Gen. Pickett vs.. Gen. But
tCopyright, ls13l