Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 1.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[56] fort, with the blackness of the smoke, made the scene indescribably terrific and grand. This continued for several hours. Meanwhile, the main gates were burned down, the chassis of the barbette guns were burned away on the gorge, and the upper portions of the towers had been demolished by shells.

There was not a portion of the fort where a breath of air could be got for hours, except through a wet cloth. The fire spread to the men's quarters, on the right hand and on the left, and endangered the powder which had been taken out of the magazines. The men went through the fire and covered the barrels with wet cloths, but the danger of the fort's blowing up became so imminent, that they were obliged to heave the barrels out of the embrasures. While the powder was being thrown overboard, all the guns of Moultrie, of the iron floating battery, of the enfilade battery, and the Dahlgren battery, worked with increased vigor.

All but four barrels were thus disposed of, and those remaining were wrapped in many thicknesses of wet woollen blankets. But three cartridges were left, and these were in the guns. About this time the flag-staff of Fort Sumter was shot down, some fifty feet from the truck, this being the ninth time that it had been struck by a shot. The man cried out, “The flag is down; it has been shot away!” In an instant, Lieut. Hall rushed forward and brought the flag away. But the halliards were so inextricably tangled, that it could not be righted; it was, therefore, nailed to the staff, and planted upon the ramparts, while batteries in every direction were playing upon them.

A few moments after, and a man was seen with a white flag tied to his sword, and desiring admission. He was admitted through an embrasure. In a great flurry, he said he was Gen. Wigfall, and that he came from Gen. Beauregard, and added that he had seen that Sumter's flag was down. Lieut. Davis replied, “Oh, sir! But it is up again.” The cannonading meanwhile continued. Gen. Wigfall asked that some one should hold his flag outside. Lieut. Davis replied, “No, sir! we don't raise a white flag. If you want your batteries to stop, you must stop them.” Gen. Wigfall then held the flag out of an embrasure. As soon as he had done so, Lieut. Davis directed a corporal to relieve him, as it was Gen. Wigfall's flag.

Several shots struck immediately around him while he was holding it out, when he started back, and putting the flag in Wigfall's face, said, “D----n it; I won't hold that flag, for they don't respect it. They struck their colors, but we never did.” Wigfall replied, “They fired at me three or four times, and I should think you ought to stand it once.” Wigfall then placed the white flag on the outside of the embrasure, and presented himself to Major Anderson, and said that Gen. Beauregard was desirous that blood should not be unnecessarily shed, and also stated that he came from Gen. Beauregard, who desires to know if Major Anderson would evacuate the fort, and that if he would do so he might choose his own terms.

After a moment's hesitation Maj. Anderson replied that he would go out on the same terms that he (Maj. Anderson) had mentioned on the 11th. Gen. Wigfall then said: “Very well; then it is understood that you will evacuate. That is all I have to do. You military men will arrange every thing else on your own terms.” He then departed, the white flag still waving where he had placed it, and the stars and stripes waving from the flag-staff which had become the target of the rebels.

Shortly after his departure Maj. Lee, the Hon. Porcher Miles, Senator Chesnut, and the Hon. Roger A. Pryor, the staff of Gen. Beauregard, approached the fort with a white flag, and said they came from Gen. Beauregard, who had observed that the flag had been down and raised again a few minutes afterward. The General had sent over, desiring to know if he could render any assistance, as he had observed that the fort was on fire. (This was perhaps a delicate mode of asking for a surrender.) Maj. Anderson, in replying, requested them to thank Gen. Beauregard for the offer, but it was too late, as he had just agreed with Gen. Beauregard for an evacuation. The three, comprising the deputy, looked at each other blankly, and asked with whom? Maj. Anderson, observing that there was something wrong, remarked that Gen. Wigfall, who had just left, had represented himself to be aide of Gen. Beauregard, and that he had come over to make the proposition.

After some conversation among themselves, they said to Maj. Anderson that Wigfall had not seen Gen. Beauregard for two days. Maj. Anderson replied that Gen. Wigfall's offer and its acceptance had placed him in a peculiar position. They then requested him to place in writing what Gen. Wigfall had said to him, and they would lay it before Gen. Beauregard.

Before this reached Gen. Beauregard, he sent his Adjutant-general and other members of his staff, including the Hon. Roger A. Pryor and Gov. Manning, proposing the same conditions which Major Anderson had offered to go out upon, with the exception only of not saluting his flag. Major Anderson said that he had already informed Gen. Beauregard that he was going out. They asked him if he would not accept of the terms without the salute. Major Anderson told them, No; but that it should be an open point.

At this interview a rather amusing incident occurred. The Hon. Roger A. Pryor of Virginia, being very thirsty, and seeing something in a glass that looked very much like a cocktail, without any remark, took a large tumblerfull. The surgeon, observing it, said to him, “Col. Pryor, did you drink any of that?” Pryor, looking very pale answered, “Yes, quite an amount; a good deal.” The surgeon said it was poison. Pryor turned paler yet, and asked what he should do. The surgeon told him to go with him to the hospital.

The last that was seen of Pryor by the officers — he was going out leaning upon the surgeon's arm, presenting a somewhat comical appearance, as he was dressed in a colored shirt, large spurs, belt and sword, with revolver and bowie knife. The doctor gave the great bowie-knife hero a dose of ipecac, which produced the desired effect. Pryor did not express himself as having had a peculiarly pleasant visit to Fort Sumter.

Gen. Beauregard sent down to say that the terms had been accepted, and that he would send the Isabel or any other vessel at his command to convey Major Anderson and the troops to any port in the United States which he might elect.

The evacuation took place about 9 1/2 o'clock on Sunday morning, after the burial with military honors of private Daniel Hough, who had been killed by the bursting of a gun. The men had been all