OPERATIONS ON FORT WAGNER. suspend the bombardment until 11 o'clock P. M., to-morrow, thus giving you two days from the time you acknowledge to have received my communication of the 21st inst." General Gilmore, also, cordially acceded to the request of the Spanish Consul to suspend the bombardment for twenty-four hours, to allow the subjects of his government to depart from the city. 257 life, the country cannot afford to lose such men. Of a kind and generous nature, he was always prompt to give relief when he could. I have directed that all respect be paid to his remains and the country will not, I am sure, omit to honor the memory of one who has not spared his life in her hour of trial." determined to be closer to the enemy if possible. My attention was called off immediately to a position for the Weehawken, and soon after it was reported the Kaatskill was going out of action with a signal flying that the Captain was disabled. He had been killed instantly. It is but natural that I should feel deeply the loss thus sustained for the close and confidential relations which the duties When General Gilmore, on the morn- of fleet captain necessarily occasioned, ing of the 17th opened all his batteries, impressed me deeply with the worth of Admiral Dahlgren moved up the entire Captain Rodgers. Brave, intelligent, available naval force for an attack upon and highly capable, devoted to his duty Wagner and Sumter. Wagner was si-and to the flag under which he passed his lenced shortly after 9 o'clock in the forenoon, when the rifle-guns of the Passaic and Patapsco were brought to bear at a distance of 2,000 yards upon the south-east front of Sumter. In the afternoon a fire was kept up upon Wagner. All went well with us," says Admiral Dahlgren, in his report to Secretary Welles, "save one sad exception, Captain Rodgers, my Chief-of-Staff, was killed, as well as Paymaster Woodbury, who was standing near him. Captain Rodgers had more than once asked on this occasion if he should go with me, as usual, or resume the command of his vessel, the Kaatskill, and he repeated the question twice during the morning, the last time on the deck of the Weehawken, just while preparing to move into action. In each instance, I replied, 'Do as you choose.' He finally said, 'Well, I will go in the Kaatskill, and the next time with you.' The Weehawken was lying about 1,000 yards from Wagner, and the Kaatskill, with my gallant friend, just inside of me, the fire of the fort coming in steadily Observing the tide to have risen a little, I directed the Weehawken to be carried in closer, and the anchor was hardly weighed when I noticed the Kaatskill was also under way, which I remarked to Captain Calhoun. It occurred to me that Captain Rodgers detected the movement of the Weehawken, and was Fort Sumter having been thus disabled, it remained for General Gilmore to perfect his operations against Fort Wagner. The siege was pressed with vigor. Offensive and defensive works were constructed by the engineers, important points were courageously seized and the saps, spite of the constant fire of the enemy, were pushed forward to the immediate vicinity of the fort, which was now within close range of Gilmore's formidable heavy artillery. In the first week of September a vigorous bombardment was kept up from the Ironsides and other vessels of the fleet and the batteries on the shore. For several days, particularly on the day and night of the 5th, the firing, as described by the Charleston Mercury, "raged with the greatest fury-the shots, many of them coming together as from the broadside of a ship, being often more than sixty to the minute. It is almost impossible to describe the terrible beauty of the scene in Charleston harbor as witnessed on Saturday night from the city. From Moultrie almost to Seces Battery Gregg by between 100 and 200. Fort Wagner is a work of the most formidable kind, its bomb-proof shelter, capable of holding 1,800 men, remaining intact after the most terrible bombardment to which any work was ever subjected. We have captured nineteen pieces of artillery and a large supply of sionville a whole semi-circle of the horizon was lit up by incessant flashes from cannon and shell. As peal on peal of artillery rolled across the water, no one could scarcely resist the belief that not less than a thousand great guns were in action. It was a grand chorus of hell, in which Moloch might have assisted, and over which Satan might have pre-excellent ammunition. The city and sided. All this went on beneath a waning September moon, which, with its warm Southern light, mellowed by a somewhat misty atmosphere, brought out softly, yet distinctly, the most distant outlines of the harbor. The loss of Wagner during this awful bombardment was considerable. Up to 8 o'clock on Sunday, the 6th, it amounted to one hundred and fifty in killed and wounded. Probably many more were added to these casualties in the course of the day. At Gregg there were but eight casualties on Saturday night during the skirmish with the barges. Among them was a Captain of the Twenty-seventh Georgia Volunteers. Under cover of their ceaseless fire, the Yankees had approached on Sunday within forty yards of Wagner." At length, after a fortnight's persevering labor, General Gilmore's operations were crowned with success. On the 7th September he wrote to General Halleck from his headquarters in the field, "I have the honor to report that Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg are ours. Last night our sappers crowned the crest of the counterscarp of Fort Wagner on the sea-front masking all its guns; and an order was issued to carry the place by assault at 9 o'clock this morning, that being the hour of low tide. About 10 o'clock last night the enemy commenced evacuating the island, and all but seventy-five of them made their escape from Cummings' Point in small boats. Captured dispatches show that Fort Wagner was commanded by Colonel Keitt of South Carolina, and garrisoned by 1,400 effective men; and harbor of Charleston are now completely covered by my guns." Several additional pieces of artillery were subsequently found, making with the eleven guns taken when the troops first landed an aggregate of thirty-six pieces captured on the island. The Charleston Mercury of the 7th, which we have already cited, thus narrates the circumstances attending the evacuation of the island: "To sum up the events through which we have just passed, Battery Wagner has been subjected during the three last days and nights to the most terrific fire that any earthwork has undergone in all the annals of warfare. The immense descending force of the enormous Parrott and mortar shells of the enemy had nearly laid the wood-work of the bombproofs entirely bare, and had displaced the sand to so great a degree that the sally-ports are almost entirely blocked up. The parallels of the enemy yesterday afternoon had been pushed up to the very mouth of Battery Wagner, and it was no longer possible to distinguish our fire from that of the enemy. During the entire afternoon the enemy shelled the sand hills in the rear of Battery Wagner, (where our wounded lay), very vigorously. Under these circumstances, and in view of the difficulties of communication with Cummings' Point, the impossibility of longer holding Morris Island became apparent, and it was determined that strenuous efforts should be made at once to release the brave garrison of the island, who seemed to be almost within the enemy's grasp. This desirable result was accomplished with the most commendable promptitude and EVACUATION OF MORRIS ISLAND. 259 An attempt, on the night of the 8th, to take possession of Fort Sumter by a boat expedition from the squadron failed of success. Its failure was announced in the following dispatch, on the 9th, from General Beauregard to Adjutant-General Cooper: "Last night thirty of the launches of the enemy attacked Fort Sumter. Preparations had been made for the event. At a concerted signal all the batteries bearing on Sumter, assisted by one gunboat and a ram, were thrown open. The enemy was repulsed, leaving in our hands 113 prisoners, including 13 officers. We also took four boats and three colors.” success. About 6 o'clock, yesterday longed far beyond what was deemed afternoon, the orders for the evacuation possible at first, and the brave garrisons were delivered to Colonel Keitt, com- who have held it deserve the admiration manding our forces on the island. of their countrymen. The aggregate of Every thing was at once made ready for casualties in the struggle for the island the abandonment of Batteries Wagner have been on our side, about 700and Gregg. The dead were buried, killed, wounded and missing. The enand at nightfall the wounded were care- emy's loss is estimated at about six fully removed in barges to Fort John- thousand. The successful evacuation, son. The guns, which for so many after the glorious defense of forty-eight weeks had held the foe at bay, were days is, under all the circumstances, a double-shotted, fired and spiked; the most gratifying military event." heavier pieces were dismounted, and the carriages rendered worthless. The preliminary preparations being thus completed, the work of embarkation was noiselessly begun, and the brave men of the garrison, in 40 barges, were soon gliding from the beach they had held so stoutly and so long. The evacuation was conducted by Colonel Keitt, assisted by Major Bryan, A. A. G.; and the success with which what has always been considered one of the most difficult feats of warfare has been performed, is worthy of the highest praise. Batteries Gregg and Wagner had both been carefully mined, with a view to blowing them up. It was about 1 o'clock this morning when the last three boats, containing Colonel Keitt and a number of his officers, just left the island. The slow match was lighted by Captain Hugenin at Wagner, and by Captain Lesesne at Gregg; but, owing to some defect in the fuses, no explosion took place at either fort. During the evacuation the enemy was not idle. A constant fire of shell was kept up against Wagner, and his howitzer barges were busily plying about this side of Morris Island, to prevent the retreat of our men. But, fortunately, the night was murky, and all our barges, with the exception of one containing about twelve or fifteen men, passed in safety. Thus ends the defense of Morris Island. The issue has been foreseen since the enemy's first success on the 10th of July. The defense of the island had been pro * On the 15th General Gilmore celebrated the conclusion of the long struggle for the possession of Morris Island in the following General Order: "It is with no ordinary feeling of gratification and pride that the Brigadier-General commanding is enabled to congratulate this army upon the signal success which has crowned the enterprise in which it has been engaged. Fort Sumter is destroyed. The scene where our country's flag suffered its first dishonor, you have made the theatre of one of its proudest triumphs. The fort has been in the possession of the enemy for more than two years, has been his pride and boast, has been strengthened by every appliance known to military science, and has defied the assaults of the most powerful and gallant fleet the world ever saw. But it has yielded to your courage and patient labor. Its walls are now crum bled to ruins, its formidable batteries are silenced, and, though a hostile flag still floats over it, the fort is a harmless and helpless wreck. Forts Wagner and Gregg, works rendered memorable by their protracted resistance, and the sacrifices of life they have cost, have also been wrested from the enemy by your persevering courage and skill, and the graves of your fallen comrades rescued from desecration and contumely. You now hold in undisputed possession the whole of Morris Island, and the city and harbor of Charleston lie at the mercy of your artillery from the very spot where the first shot was fired at your country's flag and the rebellion itself was inaugurated. To you, the officers and soldiers of this command, and to the gallant navy which has co-operated with you, are due the thanks of your commander and your country. You were called upon to encounter untold privations and dangers; to undergo unremitting and exhausting labors; to sustain severe and disheartening reverses. How nobly your patriotism and zeal have responded to the call, the results of the campaign will show, and your Commanding General gratefully bears witness." Though Sumter was not yet occupied, nor the other powerful forts in the harbor reduced, the army and navy, in the possession of Morris Island, held the key of the position. The firing was kept up at intervals upon the city and Sumter, which now barely enjoyed the barren privilege of flying the rebel flag in the face of the Union army. Forts Wagner and Gregg were enlarged and strengthened by General Gilmore, so as more effectually to command Sumter-which was battered anew, from time to timeand the entrance to the harbor. On the night of the 6th of October, the monotony of the blockading service was varied by the descent from the city of a nondescript steamer with a cigarshaped hull, carrying a formidable torpedo suspended to her bows. She bore down upon the Ironsides, and, bringing the torpedo against the sides of the frigate, an explosion took place, throwing up a great body of water, and jarring the vessel, but inflicting no serious injury. At the close of the year, Secretary Welles, in the annual report of the Navy Department, thus summed up the results of the operations of the season in the Southern Department "Since the fleet, under Admiral Dahlgren, has remained inside the bar, and we have had possession of Morris Island, the commerce of Charleston has ceased. Not a single blockade-runner has succeeded in reaching the city for months, and the traffic which had been to some extent, and with large profits, previously carried on, is extinguished. As a commercial mart, Charleston has no existence; her wealth, with her trade, has departed. In a military or strategic view the place is of little consequence; and whether the rebels are able by great sacrifice and exhaustion to hold out a few weeks, more or less, is of no importance." CHAPTER XCV. NATIONAL AFFAIRS TO THE CLOSE OF 1863. THE ample provision made by the Thirty-seventh Congress for the support of the Government and carrying on the war, opportunely strengthened the hand of the Executive. It was at an anxious moment when they adjourned, when the nation was committed to great military enterprises, especially in the two departments of the Mississippi, upon the success of which the probabilities of an early suppression of the rebellion in a great measure depended. The month of July, bringing the victories of General Grant and General Banks, dispelled all uncertainties which may have hung over the Union prospects in this quarter; while the battle of Gettysburg and the defeat of Morgan in Ohio as effectually extinguished the vaunted rebel expectations of a successful invasion of the North. When the smoke of these engagements, closing so brilliantly the summer campaign, was cleared away, Secretary Seward took advantage of the occasion to present to the foreign governments a statement detailing the progress of the national arms. This communication, dated from the Department of State, August 12th, was addressed to the United States Consuls abroad, with the design to convince those who seek a renewal of commercial prosperity through the restoration of peace in America, that the quickest and shortest way to gain that desirable end is to withdraw support and favor from the insurgents, and to leave the adjustment of our domestic controversies exclusively with the people of the United States." In this document, it was admitted, "that no great progress had been made by our arms in the East," the reason being given that "the opposing forces there have been too equally matched to allow great advantages to accrue to either party, while the necessity of covering the national capital in all contingencies has constantly restrained our Generals, and forbidden such bold and dangerous movements as usually conduct to brilliant military success." The Secretary, looking with more satisfaction to the West, declared, that in the recent campaign, 50,000 square miles had been reclaimed from the insurgents; while, casting his eye over the previous triumphs of the war, he found that "since the breaking out of the insurrection, the Government had extended its former sway over and through a region of 200,000 square miles, an area as large as Austria or France, or the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal." The insurgents, he calculated, had lost in the various military operations of July one-third of their whole forces. To reinstate himself in the field, Jefferson Davis, "the leader of the seditions," had proclaimed a levy of all the able-bodied men within his military lines, from which they expected to gather a force of from 70,000 to 95,000 conscripts. Against this probable reinforcement, the Secretary set off our already superior armies and their expected increase from the draft ordered by President Lincoln for 300,000 more. This was to replace those whose terms of service had expired and to fill up the ranks of the veteran regiments. "The people," added the Secretary, "just so fast as the evidence for the necessity of the measure is received and digested, submit with cheerfulness to the ascer |