DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. 463 A terrible explosion followed, by which the city was shaken to its foundations. The building was converted, in an instant, into an immense volume of fire, smoke, and fragments, shooting high in air. Full two hundred persons were destroyed. At least one hundred and fifty dead bodies were taken from the ruins of the depot, from which point the fire spread rapidly through the adjoining buildings; and, before the flames were subdued, four squares, embracing an area bounded by Chapel, Alexander, and Washington Streets, were consumed. That night, the last of Hardee's troops left ruined Charleston. They had made the destruction of property as complete as possible. Cotton warehouses, arsenals, quartermaster's stores, railroad bridges, two iron-clad steamers, and some vessels in the ship-yard, were destroyed. Many of the cannon about the city were temporarily disabled; and a 600-pounder Blakely gun, stationed at a huge mound which had been thrown up at the angle of East Bay and South Battery, for the purposes of a magazine and battery, was exploded that it might not fall into the hands of the Nationals. The shock of that explosion nearly ruined a fine mansion opposite. The remains of the great gun were at Adger's wharf when the writer sketched them, BREECH OF THE BLAKELY GUN. 1 This was the appearance of a portion of the burnt district of Charleston, mentioned in the text, as it appeared when the writer visited that city, in April, 1966. The ruins of the Roman Catholic Cathedral are seen, in the distance, toward the left of the picture. 464 CHARLESTON REPOSSESSED at the close of March, 1866. The dimensions of the breech (four feet three inches in diameter) are indicated by the figure of a man, standing by the side of it. The projectile of this monster rifled cannon, weighing six hundred BLAKELY BOLT. GRAINS OF POWDER. pounds, is also here delineated, together with three grains of the powder employed in projecting the bolt, drawn the exact size of the original. The evacuation of Charleston was not known to the Nationals until the next morning, when Lieutenant-Colonel A. G. Bennett, commanding on Morris Island, having hints to that effect, dispatched a boat toward Fort Moultrie for information. When near Fort Sumter, it was met by another, containing some musicians, which Hardee had left behind. They attested the truth of the rumor. Major J. A. Hennessy was immediately sent to Fort Sumter to raise the National flag over the ruins of that notable fortress, where it had been so dishonored nearly four years before. It was done at 1865. nine o'clock in the morning. Flags were also raised over Forts Feb 18, Ripley and Pinckney; and at 10 o'clock, Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett arrived at Charleston. He found some of the Confederates still lingering, and engaged in incendiary work, while a portion of the city was a glowing furnace of flame. Mayor Macbeth gladly surrendered the city, that the remainder of it might be saved. The act was promptly done, when a small force was hurried up from Morris Island, and set to work, with the negroes of the city, who were impressed for the purpose, in extinguishing the flames. By their exertions the arsenal was saved, and a large quantity of rice, which was distributed among the poor. On that day, the city of Charleston, and all its defenses and dependencies, were "repossessed" by the Government, with over four hundred and fifty pieces of artillery, mostly in fair condition, and consisting chiefly of 8 and 10-inch columbiads; a large amount of powder, and eight locomotives and other rolling stock of railways. Georgetown, on Winyaw Bay, was evacuated on the same day; and when Gillmore took possession of Charleston, Hardee was making his way, with his troops, as speedily as possible, across the Santee and Pedee rivers, to avoid a crushing blow from Sherman, who pushed on rapidly from Columbia, in a northeasterly course, into North Carolina, with Goldsboro' as his destination. The gallant Colonel Stewart L. Woodford, of the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York (afterward Lieutenant-Governor of the State of New York), was appointed military governor of Charleston, and by kind, |