On taking command of the Confederate forces at Charleston, General Beauregard at once gave the benefit of his eminent skill as a military engineer, which merit had been recognized in him before, and had procured his elevation to the important and critical command in front of Fort Sumter, to the construction of works for the reduction of the fort, and the defence of the entrances to the harbor. At the time of Major Anderson's removal to Sumter, the approaches to the harbor were only defended by the uninjured guns at Fort Moultrie, and three 24-pounder guns mounted en barbette on a hastily constructed and imperfect earthwork on Morris' Island. The injured guns were replaced, and all, amounting to thirty-eight in number, of various calibres, were protected by well-constructed merlons; lines of batteries were constructed on the east and west on Sullivan's Island; at Cummings' Point on Morris' Island, the nearest land to Fort Sumter, batteries of mortars and columbiads were erected, protected by an iron fortification of novel and formidable construction; and another novelty in iron fortifications was perfected by the skilful and practical genius of the commander in a floating battery, constructed of the peculiarly fibrous palmetto timber, sheathed with plate iron, and embrasured for and mounting four guns of heavy calibre. Notwithstanding the extent and skill of the besiegers' works, Fort Sumter was declared, by a number of military critics, to be impregnable. It certainly had that appearance to the unscientific eye. The fortification, a modern truncated pentagonal fort, rose abruptly out of the water at the mouth of Charleston harbor, three and a half miles from the city. It was built on an artificial island, having for its base a sand and mud bank, which had been made secure by long and weary labors in firmly imbedding in it refuse blocks and chips from the granite quarries of the Northern States. The foundation alone had cost the government half a million of dollars, and had occupied ten years in its construction. At the time of Major Anderson's occupation of the fortification, it was so nearly completed as to admit the introduction of its armament. The walls were of solid brick and concrete masonry, sixty feet high and from eight to twelve feet in thickness, and pierced for three tiers of guns on the northern, eastern, and western exterior sides, They were built close to the edge of the water and without a berme. The advantages of delay which the Lincoln government had obtained by the pretence of the evacuation of Sumter, and the adroitness of Mr. Seward with the commissioners, had been profitably employed by it in naval and other preparations for its meditated blow on the Southern coasts. Unusual activity was perceptible in all the dock-yards, armories, and military depots throughout the North. The arsenals of Troy and Watertown were constantly occupied, and the creaking of blocks, the clang of hammers, and the hum of midnight labor resounded through every manufactory of arms. Numerous large transports were employed by the government for the conveyance of soldiers and war material, and the signs of the times betokened that the administration was preparing for a long and bloody struggle. Within ten days from the first of April, over eleven thousand men were sent from Fort Hamilton and Governor's Island. The recruiting offices in New York were daily engaged in enrolling men for the Federal service. On the 6th of April, the frigate Powhatan was ready for sea, and, with her armament of ten heavy guns and four hundred men, prepared as convoy to the transports Atlantic, Baltic, and Illinois. On the 8th, the Atlantic sailed with Barry's battery (four guns and ninety-one men), four hundred soldiers and a large store of supplies. The same morning the steam-cutter Harrict Lane, Captain J. Faunce, eight guns and one hundred men, sailed for Charleston harbor. Late at night, the transport Baltic, with twenty surf-boats, stores, and two hundred recruits from Governor's Island, and the transport Illinois, with five hundred cases of muskets, stores, three hundred soldiers, and the steam-tug Freeborn, sailed from New York harbor. On the whole, besides the Powhatan, eleven vessels were ordered to be got in readiness, with an aggregate force of 285 guns and 2400 men. There was now not the slightest doubt that the first blow of the rival forces would be struck at Sumter. The fleet dispatched to Charleston harbor consisted of the sloop-of-war Pawnee, the sloop-of-war Powhatan, and the cutter Harriet Lane, with three steam transports. No sooner was the hostile fleet of the Federal government safely on its way to the Southern coasts, than the perfidy of Abraham Lincoln and his advisers was openly and shamelessly consummated. The mask was dropped. The Southern commissioners who had been so long cozened, were distinctly rebuffed; and simultaneously with the appearance of the Federal fleet in the offing of the Charleston harbor, an official message, on the 8th day of April, was conveyed to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, by Lieutenant Talbot, an authorized agent of the Lincoln government, announcing the determination of that government to send provisions to Fort Sumter, "peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must." The message was telegraphed by General Beauregard to Montgomery, and the instructions of his government asked. He was answered by a telegram from Mr. Walker, the Secretary of War, instructing him to demand the evacuation of the fort, and, if that was refused, to proceed to reduce it. The demand was made; it was refused. Major Anderson replied that he regretted that his sense of honor and of his obligations to his government prevented his compliance with the demand. Nothing was left but to accept the distinct challenge of the Lincoln government to arms. The most intense excitement prevailed in Charleston. No sooner had the official message of Mr. Lincoln been received, than orders were issued to the entire military force of the city to proceed to their stations. Four regiments of one thousand men each, were telegraphed for from the country. Ambulances for the wounded were prepared; surgeons were ordered to their posts, and every preparation made for a regular battle. Among the portentous signs, the community was thrown into a fever of excitement by the discharge of seven guns from the Capitol Square, the signal for the assembling of all the reserves ten minutes afterwards. Hundreds of men left their beds, hurrying to and fro towards their respective locations. In the absence of sufficient armories, the corners of the streets, the public squares, and other convenient points formed places of meeting. All night long the roll of the drum and the steady tramp of the military and the gallop of the cavalry, resounding through the city, betokened the progress of preparation for the long-expected hostilities. The Home Guard corps of old gentlemen, who occupied the position of military exempts, rode through the city, arousing the soldiers and doing |