The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-14

fences passed through and endured by
the garrison of Battery Wagner, on
Morris Island, S. c., during the last
three days and nights before it was
evacuated. The Edisto Rifles consti-
tslted . part of the force that made up
| the garrison. I think l told in pre-
vious number, that the federals had
landed on Long Island and after
building masked batteries on the end
of that island nearest to Morris and
making what other preparations they
thought necessary, began a heavy
bombardment of the south end of
Morris Island, in which their land
batteries were aided by the fleet then
in Charleston harbor. The creek sep
arating the two islands is not very
wide and timing themselves so as to
meet conditions, they carried on a
heavy bombardment until the tide was
down and then made an assault with
infantry and succeeded in effecting a
landing, driving back the small force
Of Confederate troops opposing them.
The Confederates had never made any
special effort to fortify that end of
the island, relying on Battery Wag-
ner which reached across the island
near the center, and our troops, after
a sharp resistance of the enemy while
they were effecting a landing, grad
ually retired, fighting as they came
until they got under the protection of
the guns Of Battery Wagner. A day
or two after the Federals landed they
made heavy assault on Wagner af-
ter having first heavily bombarded it
| by fleet and land batteries. It was
a very disastrous assault for the Fed
erals, resulting in their being repuls-
ed with heavy losses in dead and
wounded. One regiment, the Bath, of
Massachusetts, colored troops, was
practically destroyed. They were
nearly all mulattoes, and commanded
by white officers, the colonel of the
regiment being r. G. Shaw, who was
killed in the assault. The well known
Shaw memorial by Saint Gaudens was
placed on the Boston common in 1897.
The attack was desperate and some
of the assailants reached the parapet
of the fort and fell inside when killed
or wounded, and when they were re-
pulsed and fed the ground in front of
the fort was thickly strewn with the
dead and they were all buried in one
long, wide, deep trench, including Col.
Shaw, when truce was had for bury
| ing the dead. This assault was on the
18th of July, 49, A short while after
that they made another assault but
it was not as vigorous and vicious as
the first and was also repulsed with
heavy loss to the enemy. After that
they settled themselves down to cap
tlre the fort by system of sapping
and mining, all the while subjecting
the fort, day after day, to lombard
meps by fleet and land, and vicious
ard accurate rife firing by selected
bunch of sharpshooters. The garrison
! in Wagner, after being under heavy
fxe all day, had to work all night re-
pairing as far as possible, the damage
done by day. Morris Island is all
sand-no trees or vegetation on it of
any kind-and is rough and rolled up
into irregular ridges and sand dunes
by the wind storms which have swept
over it for ages, the ocean beach be-
ing the only smooth place along which
any one could very well travel, and
then only when the tide was down;
and the beach was swept by the guns
of the federal feet. The fort was
built of sand and sand bags and the
water used by the garrison was OBJ
tanned by sinking barrels into the
sand and allowing the sea water to
seep through the sand into the bar
rels. OF course it was always brack-
ish at best, and often insufficient to
meet the demands. The duty of gar
risoning the fort had now become
hard, gruelling and hazardous, and
the garrison was changed every -four
or FIVE days and fresh troops placed
in charge. On the first day Of Sep
/ tember '63 a battalion of our regi-
nent, including the Edisto Rifles
with other troops, were sent over tC
relieve the force then on duty there
and composed the garrison the last
five days before the fort was eyac
uated by the Confederates, and tht
Edisto Rifles were among the last Il
leave when it was evacuated on th'
night of the 9th of September. Th'
4 Federal flag was flying over one angll
of the fort while the last of the Con