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Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones) 15 1 Browse Search
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Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Letters from Fort Sumter in 1862 and 1863. (search)
Letters from Fort Sumter in 1862 and 1863. By Lieut. Iredell Jones, First Regiment S. C. Regulars. No. 2. Fort Sumter, July 20, 1863. My Dear Father, —Since my last to mother much of interest has transpired, and all before my eyes. I have seen a desperate battle fought, preceded, as it was, by one of the most furious bombardments of the war. About 9 o'clock on Saturday morning, the five monitors, the Ironsides, and five gunboats moved up in front of Wagner and immediately opened a most terrific shelling, and they had not fired long before the enemy's batteries (two in number) joined in, and all together poured forth their missiles of death for ten long hours on our little fort, containing only one gun with which we were able to reply. The rest of the guns in the fort are of light calibre and useful only against an assaulting party. Our men took refuge in their bomb-proofs, and, having sustained only a few casualties, quietly awaited the time when they would be afford
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Letters from Fort Sumter. (search)
f they would like to go faster, into the bomb-proof. The enemy have some little mortars that shoot shrapnel shells, and with these they do a good deal of damage. The sharpshooters on both sides keep up a constant duel. Whenever a man shows his head over the parapet at the Battery, he is sure to get a shot at him. And they are constantly practicing all kinds of tricks, such as holding up their hats on sticks to be shot at, &c. Evidently the object of the enemy is now to endeavor to take Wagner by gradual approaches, and ours seems to be to dispute every inch of ground. General Beauregard was here again yesterday evening. The enemy are far ahead of us in skill and energy. In an open field fight I believe we can whip them with any sort of showing, but when you come to regular operations requiring engineering skill, we can't compare with them. But the want of energy in this department, on our side, has surely been unpardonable. But I have already said too much on this subject,
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Letters from Fort Sumter. (search)
of what has been done in four days. Who, on Sunday last, would have thought that even the weakest face of this fort could have been knocked down by guns at distances ranging between two miles and three miles? I expected them to knock it down when Wagner fell, but I admit my surprise when I saw them open on us from such distances. The enemy seems to have abandoned the attack on Wagner for the present, and concluded, justly, that they were unable to take it, but at the same time knowing that the Wagner for the present, and concluded, justly, that they were unable to take it, but at the same time knowing that the only way to make it fall was to reduce this place, and we may expect all their hatred to be raised to its highest pitch towards us until they accomplish their object. * * As yet we are all in fine spirits. Like others under similar circumstances, we have become accustomed to the shelling, and there is always some one to crack a joke. We slip in any corner that we can find—every one for himself—while we know not when we may be slapped side the head with a brickbat. Nearly every officer has be
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Letters from Fort Sumter. (search)
by being cut off, but rest assured that there is not the remotest probability of any such occurrence. You know by this time that I always tell you exactly what I think. We cannot be taken otherwise than by a storming party, and though the Yankees are smart enough to undertake almost any job, I give them credit for being a little too smart to take the contract. Probably it would not pay. Wednesday Morning.—Yesterday evening at dusk the enemy made an attack on our rifle pits in fiont of Wagner, and after a sharp little fight, were repulsed. They have advanced their saps to within 400 yards of the battery. Our loss was six killed and twenty-five wounded. The firing continued on us all day yesterday, but nothing like so rapidly as previously; and while I write this morning, the firing is going on slowly again. Last night two of our companies were relieved from here and sent to the batteries on James's Island. Their place was supplied by two picked Georgia companies. There ar
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Morris Island. (search)
d-thus Battery Cheves was named after Capt. Langdon Cheves, of the Engineer Corps, who was killed at Battery Wagner; Battery Simpkins, after Major John Simpkins, of the Regulars, who also fell at this post; Battery Haskell and Battery Kringle, on James Island, after Captain Charles Haskell, of the Regulars, and Captain Robert Kringle, besides many others, which cannot all be enumerated. In this way the most important and famous of all these earthworks, Battery Wagner, was called after Major Tom Wagner, of the Regulars, who was killed at Fort Hamilton by the bursting of a gun. This excellent and valued officer was much regretted, and his name has been handed down to history by the heroic defence of this noted battery. The fighting for Charleston, which was to continue without cessation until the evacuation of the city, almost at the close of the war, began at the southern point of Morris Island, July 10th, 1863, where Captain John C. Mitchel, with a handful of men, held the enemy i
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Letters from Fort Sumter. (search)
ard the honor of the fallen fortress. We have three barbette guns to fight, but of these one has its trunnion cracked, and the other two have the parapet knocked away from in front of them. After the fight on the night of the 26th in front of Wagner, in which the enemy took our rifle-pits and captured nearly the whole of our picket, the detested monitors came sneaking close up to the fort, and it would have made the blood boil in the coldest hearted coward to have seen the men rush to batte It takes a whole company to manoeuvre one gun. We know very little about them, having been shut out from the scientific world for the last two and a half years, but I hope they will prove a success. The enemy are within three hundred yards of Wagner, but if our men act properly, I have no idea that they will take the Fort, as the remaining portion is a low, flat, wet plain, thoroughly flanked, and commanded. Sunday Morning.—A bright Sunday morning as this is, I had hoped we would enjoy in