The Daily Dispatch: September 14, 1863., [Electronic resource]

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The night assault on Sumter.

further particulars — additional particulars of the evacuation of Morris Island, &c.

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The Charleston papers of Thursday bring us the particulars of the repulse of the enemy in their assault on Fort Sumter Wednesday. The assault was not made without a demand by the enemy for the surrender of the fort, which is stated in the following correspondence:

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Forth Sumter, Sept. 7, 1863.

A flag of truce from Admiral Dahlgren, demanding the surrender of this fort, has been received by Lieut. Brown, of the Palmetto State.

(Signed) Major Elliott.

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Headq'rs, Sept. 7, 1863.
To this the following reply was sent:

Inform Admiral Dahlgren that he may have Fort Sumter when he can take and hold it; that such demands are puerile and unbecoming; also, that no further flags of truce will be received from him or General Gillmore until they satisfactorily explain their firing on flags of truce from these headquarters on several recent occasions.

(Signed) Thomas Jordan,
Chief of Staff.

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To Major Stephen Elliott, Major commanding Fort Sumter.

The Mercury, of Thursday gives the following account of the assault and its repulse:

‘ For several nights past it is known that expeditions in barges have been sent out from the fleet to reconnoitre the inner harbor and prepare the way for an assault upon Fort Sumter. The manner in which these expeditions are organized may be understood from the following orders which we select as instances, from a budget of similar Yankee official documents which have fallen into our hands:

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Flag steamer Philadelphia,

You will proceed, without delay, to organize a volunteer party of not more than (200) two hundred men, under proper officers, for special service.

You will also procure a sufficient number of boats to transport them; the whole to be inside the bar at an early hour this evening.

The commanding officers of the vessels off Charleston are hereby directed, on the presentation of this order, to furnish you the number of boats, men and officers that may be allotted as the proportion to come from their vessels. Signal No. 72 will annul this.

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Order.

Lieutenant-Commander E. P. Williams is instructed to organize a force of sailors for special service — and the commanding officers of the following vessels will place under his command — men (volunteers preferred) and boats properly officered as follows:

Powhatan--50 men, 3 boats.

Housatonic--30 men, 2 boats.

Wissahickon--20 men, 2 boats.

Mahaska--30 men, 1 boat.

Lodona--20 men, 2 boats.

Memphis--20 men, 2 boats.

If the Canandaigua arrives off the bar in time Captain Green will send 40 men and 3 boats.

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It was by one of these barge expeditions that the boat sent to Morris Island for Major Warley was captured. This information is of an authentic character. Major Warley is safe, but a prisoner in the hands of the enemy.

At about half-past 1 o'clock yesterday morning the prevailing quiet was rudely broken by a sudden and very rapid cannonade in the direction of the harbor entrance. The brief intervals between the reports of the heavy guns were filled by the roll of musketry, and all who heard the firing in the city thought that warm work had begun at Fort Sumter. It appears, from the accounts that we have received, that at half-past 1 A. M. yesterday, a number of barges, variously estimated at from twenty to thirty, and containing about fifty men each, were descried through the darkness pulling rapidly to wards the fort. They were steered towards various portions of the ledge of rocks outside the fort, (known, technically, we believe, as the berm,) but most of them directed their course, towards the gorge face, which, being now a sloping mass of bricks and rubbish, seemed to afford the most inviting opportunity for the assault.

As soon as the barges were seen by our vigilant sentries on the parapet three rockets were thrown up to notify their comrades at the other batteries of the danger at hand.--With commendable alacrity the guns of Fort Johnson, battery Simkins, Fort Moultrie, and the steamer Chicora, opened upon the barges, and simultaneously the infantry, judiciously posted within the fort, poured into the crowded boats of the assailants a rapid and spirited fire of musketry. The foremost boats of the enemy, however, soon gained the ledge, and the Yankees sprang to the assault with vigor and determination. They were met, however, by resolute men. The Charleston battalion, Major Blake commanding, had been advantageously posted at the threatened points, and repelled the foe with a gallantry worthy the name which the battalion won so dearly at Secessionville, and afterwards at battery Wagner. When their muskets had been discharged, instead of losing precious time in reloading, they buried hand grenades against the foe, and when these were exhausted, had recourse to the brick bats which lay everywhere around them, and rained them down the slope.

This storm of miscellaneous missiles was too much for the storming party, and the forlorn hope fled in confusion to the base of the fort. Meantime the barges in the rear, terror stricken by the severe concentrated fire they had encountered, had abandoned the attack and gone off, leaving the Yankees who had landed wholly without support. It is scarcely necessary to add that these last, foiled in their effort to surprise the garrison, and not daring to take to their boats, surrendered at discretion, and announced the fact in tones which could be heard high above the splashing of the waves and the din of the engagement.

The receding barges were soon lost to sight in the darkness, the prisoners were marched into the fort and secured, and silence again reigned in the harbor.

In this brilliant repulse of the enemy we captured thirteen Yankee naval officers and 102 men, besides three stands of colors, four fine barges, etc. Among the flags taken was the original (United States) flag of Fort Sumter, which floated over the work at the time when Major Anderson held command there. Upon the surrender of the fort in April, 1861, it will be remembered, Major Anderson was allowed to salute, haul down, and carry off this identical flag. Admiral Dahlgren, it seems, had undertaken to "repossess" the fort, and to "restore the old flag" to the flag-staff from which South Carolina tore it at the opening of the war. But the poetic justice of the Admiral's scheme has not saved the scheme itself from collapse; and whatever may be the fate of Fort Sumter in the future, that "old flag" will surely never again wave over its walls.

Of the enemy's loss in killed and wounded we have no authentic account. Two of them were found dead at the fort and nineteen wounded; but from the fact that several barges, riddled by shot, have been seen floating about, capsized, many believe that the enemy's loss was much greater. It is rumored that the naval officer named Meade, who was captured, is a son of Gen. Meade, the successor of Hooker. On our side there was no casualty of any kind during the fight.

We captured in all 115 men belonging to the U. S. Navy, or Marine Corps. Amongst them were the following officers:

E. P. Williams, commanding gunboat Wissahickon.

Robt. L. Meade, Lt. U. S. Marines.

C. P. Hovey, Master Mate U. S. steamer Powhatan.

Benjamin H. Porter, Ensign U. S. frigate New Ironsides.

Edwin T. Brewer, Lieut. U. S. sloop-of-war Housatonic.

Lieut. S. W. Preston, U. S. Admiral Flagship Philadelphia.

Lieut. Geo. C. Roamey, gunboat Canandaigua.

Ensign S. C. McCanley, gunboat Canandaigua.

Lieut. Chas. H. Bradford, U. S. Marines wounded.

E. G. Dayton, Executive Officer on board the gunboat Wissahickon.

The prisoners reached the city last night and were marched through the city, under strong guard, to the jail.

During yesterday, the enemy's guns were almost wholly silent. The Yankees are evidently working hard at Cummings's Point, where they have strengthened and enlarged our works. They are also bringing up their heavy ordnance (Parrott guns, we suppose,) to be placed at that point.

Last night our batteries were keeping up a steady fire upon the enemy's newly acquired positions, and as we go to press the reports are still heard at regular intervals.

The Mercury gives some additional particulars of the evacuation of Morris Island. It says:

‘ The barges containing the troops all left the island in safety, but it is now ascertained that three of them were captured. Of these, two were army barges and contained about fifteen men each; the other was a barge belonging to the Chicora, and contained no troops, excepting the boat's crew from the Chicora. For nearly two hours after the last of our barges had pushed off from the beach, the enemy kept up a heavy fire from their land batteries against batteries Wagner and Gregg and along the intervening beach. At the end of that time it is supposed they began to suspect that they were shelling abandoned works, for their fire rapidly slackened, and soon ceased altogether. Soon after four o'clock they crossed the sand parapet, which had so long defied their fleets and artillery, and took possession of battery Wagner.

’ The 54th Massachusetts (negro) regiment was placed there to garrison the post, and their regimental colors — the State flag of Massachusetts--was soon waving over the battery. The enemy, however, were not suffered long to hold their newly acquired domain in quiet. Before day Fort Moultrie had opened upon them from the opposite side of the harbor, and the indefatigable gunners of battery Simkins had turned their pieces against the now hostile precincts of Wagner. During the morning a party of mounted Yankee officers galloped along the beach towards battery Gregg and rode upon the parapet of that work, gazing into the harbor and at the city, which they doubtless have come to regard as a "promised land." Their meditations were soon rudely interrupted by a shell from Capt. Mitchell's battery. As the shell burst one of the number was seen to fall from his horse, and the others scampered from their lookout with the most undignified haste.