Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

We shall leave the North Atlantic squadron, which has lost one vessel only, the Sumter—foundered accidentally on the 24th of June—to pass on to the squadron blockading Charleston, and of which Admiral Dahlgren, arrived on the 4th, has just taken the command on the 6th of July. Henceforth it shall not have to fight alone against the formidable works which defend the approaches to Charleston. The Washington Government, taught by experience, has decided to undertake a regular siege of that place, in which the land and sea forces shall render mutual assistance. It has understood that, despite their precious qualities, the monitors cannot, like the fabled salamander, move with impunity in the midst of fire and defy all the offensive and defensive engines of the besieged in order to reach the docks of the rebel city. It is necessary to reduce the forts, and not merely to brave them; to do which the Unionists cannot dispense with the steady fire of siege batteries, nor with the bayonets of soldiers, who at the decisive hour will take possession of the hostile works.

The circumstances were particularly favorable to the operations that Gillmore and Dahlgren were going to undertake. When DuPont attacked Charleston in the month of April, Beauregard, who commanded the forces on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, had more than thirty thousand men under his orders: the garrison at Charleston was upward of eleven thousand. But to create Johnston's army in Mississippi and reinforce Lee's to attempt to save Vicksburg and invade Pennsylvania, it had been necessary to weaken a portion of the coast garrisons, and, on July 10, Beauregard's total forces were reduced to 15,318 men, of whom there were 5206 infantry, 5794 artillery, and 4316 cavalry; the latter could not be of help to him. The garrison at Charleston had dwindled to 2462 infantry, 2839 artillery, and 560 cavalry—say, adding the officers, about six thousand men. It is true that it could be promptly reinforced by two or three thousand from the garrison at Savannah. It was, withal, full of ardor