From Savannah.
bombardment of Fort Pulaski!
Executive Proscription.
the draft.
&c., &c., &c.,
[Special Correspondence of the Dispatch.]
Savannah, April 10, 1862.
To-day the enemy commenced the long expected attack on Fort Pulaski.
The bombardment was opened about 6 A. M., and during the forenoon continued without intermission, the fire being quite rapid, and the explosion of the shells audible and visible throughout the city.
until this hour, (4 P. M.,) the firing is still kept up, but the intervals are greater, and apparently the range is batter.
From the lower part of Savannah, the bursting of the shells high in mid air, and the condensed volume of vapor from them, could be plainly seen by the numerous spectators, who thronged every commanding position from which the engagement could be witnessed.
At one moment several explosions could be seen, as if the fire proceeded from different positions, and again some minutes would elapse before the sulphurous cloud would be again observed.
The distance from the city, as the crow files, to Pulaski, must be fourteen miles, and a wall- wooded point of land, not more than two miles from the city, intervenes to obstruct the view; over this point the shells could be distinctly perceived bursting high in mid air, which could not have resulted from any but inexperienced gunners.
It is very likely that the effort of the morning was especially devoted to finding the proper ranges and elevation, as the effect was much better during the afternoon.
I have been informed that from observation at Fort Jackson, five Federal mortar batteries opened on the fort from diverse points; the garrison of Pulaski were replying cautiously and with precision.
It is impossible to tell when any information can be received from the fort; no doubt the Federal force will be more watchful now to intercept any communication.
We have no fears of the present safety of the fort, but how long this state of stringent blockade may last, and a galling and harassing fire of the enemy be kept up, no one can answer for, nor for the contingencies that are possible.
Yesterday we had a very heavy rain shower, such as seldom occurs at this season; but it has been opportune for the garrison, since a month of dry weather must have lowered their cisterns considerably.--Why the fort has not been supplied with condensers, I have not been able to learn; nor are there many who appear to think sufficiently of the importance of the matter of a good supply of water.
Fort Sumter, within the harbor of Charleston, and easily communicated with in case of a naval attack, has been so supplied by the foresight of the commanding officer, and the sinking of an artesian well has been attempted, and is now progressing, with every chance of an adequate supply from it.
General Lawton went down to the Fort [Jackson, not Pulaski] to observe the progress of the engagement, and came back again well satisfied, no doubt, with the judgment displayed by the besieged in replying so deliberately.
Should any further accounts arrive of the effect of the enemy's fire, I shall not fall to write.
The enemy ascended Mud River a few days ago and threw a number of shell at the batteries in the vicinity of Fort Jackson, but elicited no reply, as all fell short, and it would have been into to expose the nature and range of our guns.
The Federal lies which have lately found their way South are as huge as ever.
Their late successes in Tennessee appear not to have rendered them a article more magnanimous, but they lie to the furthest stretch of their ability to add one cubic more to their vanity.
The reporter who detailed the account of the expedition to Thunderbolt battery, which he so accurately places at five miles from Savannah, and a fine shell road sending to it, and which he declared was destroyed, the magazine exploded, and the guns spiked, would be in a very hot place should be venture near the dismantled ruins.
No one hereabouts has been able to guess where the scenes of the other exploits he reports can be. It no doubt was made up to fill the fancy sketch with which he wished to delight his Gotham admirers.
A large rifle gun, the manufacture of the Tredegar Works, burst on Tuesday afternoon, at Cansten's Bluff, shattering the leg of one private.
This gun has been held in much respect, for it was hoped that the Federal battery on Cakland Island might be dislodged with it, as it possessed a range of nearly four miles. It is a great loss at this time, and can distributed to nothing else than the defective shot which had been prepared for it; the lead around the bass of the shot was prepared to fit the grooves of the gun, and could be forced down only by great exertion on the part of the gunner, and when rapidly fired no certainty of its having been sent home could be felt, save by measurement.
This vacuum in the gun caused it to burst; only a day before orders had been given to change the shot, as it was considered dangerous.
The draft of last Thursday proved, like the preceding one of the 4th of March, a failure, the quota of Savannah not being made up.
It must not be supposed that Savannah is unpatriotic, or has in her duty; she has now in the service forty-three companies, numbering thirty-six hundred men; while, her voting population is only twenty-six hundred enrolled, and has never gone beyond twenty-two hundred polled at the most favorable time.
The commercial communities of this country have always been the object of attack by the country representation in our Legislatures, which appears to be supremely ignorant of the advantages which they and their section derive from their extended facilities of intercourse.
The Governor, to-morrow, will, through Gen. Jackson, proclaim martial law, and the 1st regiment of Georgia militia will be recruited VI at armiesby raising all who promenade the streets, and, placing arms in their hands, compel them to serve their country.
A last poor devils, they will be done over brown by this last imperial mandate.
‘"The sun is dying like a eleven thing In his own brood"’
In the West while the fiery missiles of the enemy fly about the walls of Pulaski on the East.
All day has this heavy and continued fire lasted, and the darkness now begins to veil one half the night.
Mercury. 