Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[321] command of Lieutenants Yates and Harleston; from Fort Moultrie, commanded by Colonel Ripley; from a powerful masked battery on Sullivan's Island, hidden by sand-hills and bushes, called the Dahlgren Battery,¹ under Lieutenant J. R. Hamilton; and from nearly all the rest of the semicircle of military works arrayed around Fort Sumter for its reduction. Full thirty heavy guns and mortars opened at once. Their fire was given with remarkable vigor, yet the assailed fort made no reply. The tempest of lightning, wind, and rain that had just been skurrying through the heavens, leaving behind it heavy clouds and a drizzling mist, and the angry storm of shot and shell, seemed to make no impression on that “Bastion of the Federal Union.” For two hours and more, Fort Sumter seemed to the outside world as silent as the grave, bravely bearing the brunt of assault with wonderful fortitude or the stolidity of paralysis. This silence mortified the insurgents, for they longed for the glory of victory after resistance. A contemporary poet sang:--

The morn was cloudy, and dark, and gray,
     When the first columbiad blazed away,
Showing that there was the devil to pay
     With the braves on Morris Island;
They fired their cannon again and again,
     Hoping that Major, Anderson's men
Would answer back, but 'twas all in vain,
     At first, on Morris Island.²

It had been plainly seen by Anderson and his officers that the barbette and area guns could not be used, if all the batteries of the insurgents should open upon the fort at the same time.³ This was a fatal misfortune, for the barbette gulls could have hurled heavy crushing shot upon the Floating Battery and the armored work on Cummings's Point. On the parade, in the fort, were five heavy columbiads, arranged for throwing shells. These, too, would have been effective, but they could not be manned with safety. For this reason, Anderson gave his orders for the men to remain in the bombproofs. He had men sufficient to work only nine guns well, and it was necessary to guard against casualties as effectually as possible.

At half-past 6 o'clock, the garrison were summoned to breakfast in the usual manner, and they ate as hearty a meal as their scanty supplies would allow, little disturbed by the terrible uproar around them. It was now broad daylight. The officers and men in Fort Sumter were arranged in three reliefs. The first was commanded by Captain Doubleday, the second by Surgeon Crawford, and the third by Lieutenant Snyder. Thus prepared they went to work, under the most trying disadvantages. They had plenty