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These are essential to the success as to the health of the army, and, without them, we cannot long expect to be victorious; but with them, we can march forward to new fields of honor and glory, till this wicked rebellion is completely crushed out, and peace restored to our country." The same day, General Halleck addressed the following communication to Secretary Stanton :-"Sir: It is the unanimous opinion here that Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman saved the fortune of the day on the 6th, and contributed largely to the glorious victory of the 7th. He was in the thickest of the fight on both days, having three horses killed under him, and being wounded twice. I respectfully request that he be made a major-general of volunteers, to date from the 6th inst." Connecting the battle with the contemporary brilliant successes at Pea Ridge and Island No. 10, Secretary Stanton issued from the War Department, on the 9th of April, the following bulletin: "Ordered-First, That at meridian of the Sunday next after the receipt of this order, at the head of every regiment in the armies of the United States, there shall be offered by its chaplain a prayer giving thanks to the Lord of Hosts for the recent manifestations of his power in the overthrow of the rebels and traitors, and invoking the continuance of his aid in delivering this nation by the arms of patriot soldiers from the horrors of treason, rebellion, and civil war. Second, That the thanks and congratulations of the War Department are tendered to MajorGeneral Halleck for the signal ability and success that have distinguished all the military operations of his department, and for the spirit and courage manifested by the army under his command under every hardship and against every odds, in attacking, pursuing, and destroying the enemy wherever he could be found. Third, That the thanks of the Department are also given to Generals

Curtis and Sigel, and the officers and soldiers of their command, for matchless gallantry at the bloody battle of Pea Ridge, and to Major-Generals Grant and Buell, and their forces, for the glorious repulse of Beauregard at Pittsburg, in Tennessee, and to Major-General Pope, and his officers and soldiers, for the bravery and skill displayed in their operations against the rebels and traitors intrenched at Island No. 10, in the Mississippi river. Their daring courage, diligent prosecution, persistent valor, and military achievements are unsurpassed. Fourth, That there shall this day be a salute of one hundred guns from the United States arsenal at Washington in honor of these great victories."

President Lincoln, also, on the 10th of April, issued the following Proclamation, enjoining thanksgiving for the recent victories:-"It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of intervention and invasion. It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at their next weekly assemblages, in their accustomed places of public worship, which shall occur after the notice of this proclamation shall have been received, they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings; that they then and there implore spiritual consolations in behalf of all those who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war, and that they reverently invoke the Divine guidance for our National Counsels to the end that they may speedly result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders, and hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the Countries of the Earth."

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CHAPTER LXII.

BOMBARDMENT AND SURRENDER OF FORT PULASKI-COMMODORE DUPONT'S OPERA

TIONS ON THE FLORIDA COAST-FEBRUARY-APRIL, 1862.

Roads gave to the fort full command of both channels of the Savannah river. There were, however, other means of

As early as the end of November, the month of the occupation of Hilton Head, General Gilmore had, under the orders of General Sherman, made a military re-approach from the ocean, by water to connoissance of Tybee Island with reference to the reduction of Fort Pulaski, and had, on the 1st of December, reported the undertaking as practicable by batteries of mortars and rifled guns established on the island. "I would have," said he, "enough mortars to throw one shell a minute into the fort, and as many guns as mortars." In a communication a few days later he proposed an armament for the batteries of twenty heavy mortars, eight rifled guns, and eight Columbiads. The project thus submitted was seconded by General Sherman and approved by the War Department, where the necessary preparations were immediately set on foot to carry it into effect. Early in December, Colonel Rosa's 46th regiment, New York volunteers, occupied Big Tybee Island, the base of operations.

Fort Pulaski, which was thus to be invested and reduced, is described in the report of General Gilmore, as a brickwork of five sides or faces, including the gorge; casemated on all sides; walls seven and a half feet thick and twentyfive feet high above high water; mounting one tier of guns in embrasures, and one en barbette. The main work was surrounded by a wet ditch forty-eight feet wide. At the time of the siege the fort contained forty-eight guns, of which twenty bore upon the batteries on Tybee. Cockspur Island, on which the fort was built, was composed wholly of marsh, about a mile long and half a mile wide. The situation at the head of Tybee

the river above the fort, by creeks, and passages among the sea islands on the north and south. One of these on the north had long been used for an interior communication between Charleston and Savannah. It entered the Savannah by an artificial channel, named Wall's Cut, from New river above, by Wright and Mud rivers on either side of Jones' Island, which was nothing more than a mud marsh, covered with reeds and grass, with its general surface about on the level of ordinary high tide-a mere refuge for alligators and pregnant breeder of miasmata, utterly uninhabitable by any human being. A few spots rose a little higher and were covered only by extraordinary tides. On one of these, called Venus Point, on the Savannah, it was presently resolved to construct a battery to cut off the communication of Savannah with Pulaski by the river. mixed land and naval force, for the operations in this quarter, was fitted out at Port Royal, and assembled in January at the rendezvous at Dawfuskie Island, at the entrance to the channels which we have described. The land force, commanded by Brigadier-General Egbert L. Viele, consisted of a detachment of the 3d Rhode Island artillery, a detachment of volunteer engineers, a battalion of the 8th Maine regiment, the 6th regiment Connecticut volunteers, the 48th New York volunteers, and a full supply of heavy ordnance, and intrenching tools. A naval force of three gunboats, coöperating with the military expedition, was

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commanded by Commander John Rogers. the battery on Venus point by landing Before anything could be undertaken on them on the island from Mud river, and the Savannah river, it was necessary first hauling them over its marshy surfaceto remove a formidable obstruction in an undertaking, it may be imagined, of the sunken hulk of a brig secured by sufficient difficulty, when a single man heavy piles, placed by the rebels in the could not readily move without sinking connecting channel of Wall's cut. To knee-deep in the oozy, slimy mud. The clear away this obstacle so as to admit low surface of the island, moreover, of the passage of gunboats and light- brought any movement upon it within draught steamers, occupied, General view of the enemy, whose armed boats Viele, tells us, three weeks of uninter- were passing up and down the river; mitting night labor in close proximity to and, consequently, whatever was to be the rebel forces. The work was accom-done could be undertaken with possible plished by Major O. S. Beard of the 48th success only in the darkness of the New York volunteers, with the aid of a night. The guns to be located on the company of the volunteer engineers. point were of no mean weight, being The piles were sawed off below the three 30-pounder and two 20-pounder water, on a level with the bottom of Parrott rifles and an 8-inch siege howthe stream, and the hulk swung round itzer. They were embarked at the renagainst the sides of the cut. This being dezvous of the expedition in lighters, accomplished, the way appeared open which were towed by row-boats through for the passage of the gunboats, and the Mud river to a wharf constructed of erection of the batteries on the Savan- poles and sand bags on Jones' island. nah river under their protection. Whilst The guns being landed were to be transthese operations were going on, another ported a distance of some thirteen hunmixed force, the troops commanded by dred yards across the marsh to their Brigadier-General H. G. Wright, the place of destination. The only way to gunboats by Fleet-Captain Davis, were accomplish this was by fatigue parties endeavoring to enter the Savannah river dragging them over planks laid on the by its southern approaches from Warsaw surface of the morass and shifted from sound. the rear to the front of the wheels as progress was made. On the night of the 10th of Februrary, the guns were thus dragged about three hundred yards into the marsh, whilst a platform for the battery at Venus point was commenced by laying planks on a foundation of sand carried in bags to the spot for the purpose. The work, concealed by a covering of reeds and grass, was left at daybreak to to be be resumed the next night, when "a drenching storm added to the difficulties-the men often sinking to their waists in the marsh, and the guns sometimes slipping from the team-ways. Early on the morning, however, of the 12th, the skillfully directed laborious undertaking was com

Planting a battery on Jones' Island, proved an undertaking of no ordinary difficulty. It was at first proposed to carry the guns to Venus point by the river passage of Mud river in flats or lighters, towed by a small steamer, under convoy of the armed vessels. As Mud river, however, was but a foot and a half in depth at low water, the operation could be attempted only at high tide-nor could it be safely undertaken with the risk of interruption from the enemy's gunboats during the day. The first effort to enter it of a dark night failed in consequence of a furious storm, which severely taxed the resources of the naval party, who were glad to get back to their old anchorage in safety. It was then resolved to transport the guns for

* General Viele's Report to Lieutenant A. B. Ely, As

sistant Adjutant General. Savannah river, April 11, 1862.

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