Horace Porter, ordnance officer, were both busy under Captain
Gillmore's direction. Neither mud and water, nor rain or darkness
seemed to discourage them; and they would come in, after a night on
Jones' island, wet, weary, and famished, but as lively and talkative as
ever. Wilson was afterward a cavalry general, and it was a part of his
command that captured Jeff Davis in his flight through Georgia in 1865,
the last brilliant exploit of the war. Porter also became a general,
and served on the staff of General Grant through the Petersburg
campaign. Both were transferred to the batteries at Tybee island after
finishing their work on Daufuskie. General Viele's troops remained, to
keep up the river blockade, and prevent further supplies reaching Fort
Pulaski.
Our own headquarters had been shifted by this time to a dwelling-house
on the extreme southernmost point of Daufuskie, about a mile from the
regimental camps. It was a spacious well-built mansion, and from a
sort of open veranda on the roof there was a wide prospect, including
the mouth of the Savannah river, with Tybee island and Fort Pulaski on
the opposite shore, a little over three miles away. I sometimes went
up into this crow's nest before sunrise, to watch the strange effect
of the morning mist. At that hour the landscape for miles around was
often covered by a low-lying bank of white cloud, with a few clumps
of trees or small hillocks emerging from it here and there like so
many scattered islands, and everything looking cool and still, without
a sign of animal life or human habitation. Afterward, when the warm
sunbeams began to touch the surface of this cloudy sea, the mists
would slowly melt away into vapor, and I could see the outlines of the
roads and fields and inlets and watercourses coming out, one after
another, like the markings on a map. On two sides of the house was a
flower-garden with carefully trimmed beds and walks, that had evidently
been a favorite with the owner. Roses and camellias were in full bloom
there in February and March, and many other flowering shrubs followed
as the season went on. The cardinal grosbeak nested among them almost
within reach of the windows, and the brown thrush and mocking-bird
reared their broods but a short distance away.
There was a similar house toward the eastern side of the island, which
we occupied for a brigade hospital. After obtaining the necessary
stores and appliances from Hilton Head, it made a very convenient and
useful establishment. Here we placed all the sick or disabled men,
likely to need a prolonged treatment; thus relieving the regimental
hospitals of all but their temporary cases, and giving the chronic
invalids a better chance for convalescence and recovery.
We had a new topic of interest about this time in the rebel iron-clad
steamer _Atlanta_, said to be approaching completion at Savannah.
The country had just passed through a spasm of terror and relief
at the unexpected performances of the _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_ at
Hampton Roads; and after that, every one had a realizing sense of
the devastation an iron-clad might accomplish in case there were no
_Monitor_ to oppose her. We knew that such a vessel was getting ready
at Savannah; and for some weeks it appeared doubtful whether our
control of Venus Point and Bird island might not at any moment come to
a sudden termination. As a matter of fact, the _Atlanta_ was getting
on very slowly, and it was not until some weeks after the fall of Fort
Pulaski that she could be put in condition to move. By that time the
monitor _Weehawken_ was in waiting for her; and on her approaching
and opening fire, disabled and captured her in fifteen minutes.
Nevertheless she was the cause of no little foreboding on Daufuskie
during the months of March and April.
Meanwhile Captain Gillmore was erecting his batteries on Tybee island
along the western side of the sand ridge, toward the fort. Every
night, under the cover of darkness and silence, his working parties
traversed a narrow causeway of fascines and brushwood to the advanced
positions, returning before daybreak to their camps on shore. As the
low parapets and bombproofs gradually rose above the surface, they were
shielded from view by clumps of bushes carefully distributed along the
front; and lastly the heavy guns and ammunition were transported with
the same precautions to their destination. After seven weeks of this
labor, everything was ready. Eleven batteries, mounting sixteen mortars
and twenty guns, were arranged along a sinuous line following the
edge of the morass. From the lookout on our house-top all was in full
view, Fort Pulaski on the right and Tybee island with its concealed
batteries on the left. At that distance nothing was visible to show the
preparations on either side; but the first gun would be seen and heard
from our position almost as well as on the spot.
Early on the morning of April 10th it began. A mortar at one of the
batteries gave the signal, and the rest chimed in, one after another,
as fast as the gunners could get their range. By ten o'clock all were
in operation, mortars, columbiads, and rifled guns throwing their
shells at the parapet or into the interior of the work, or battering
its nearest wall, at the rate of four discharges per minute. They were
answered with equal activity by the guns of the fort. This kept up all
day long; the volumes of white smoke rolling out from both sides, and
the reports, mellowed a little by the distance, following each other
across the river in almost uninterrupted succession till nightfall.
Then the heavy cannonading was suspended; but every five minutes a
shell from one of the mortar batteries was sent into the fort, to keep
its defenders uneasy and prevent their repairing the damages of the day.
From our point of observation we could not tell what effect had been
produced thus far on the walls or parapets of either side; but neither
the fire of the fort nor that of the batteries appeared seriously
impaired. It seemed likely that several days might pass before a
decisive result, and we waited patiently to see what the morrow would
bring forth. We could not cross directly to Tybee island without coming
under the guns of the fort, and could only get there by the circuitous
route of Hilton Head, which would take far too much time, and would
not, after all, give us so good a view of both sides as we already had.
Moreover, a new mortar battery was to be established that night, from
General Viele's command, on an island above the fort, to bombard it
from the rear.
Next morning the music of the great guns began again. Neither side
seemed disabled or disheartened, and the cannonading went on much as
it had done the day before. But we had our own duties to perform, and
however interesting the spectacle we could not watch it continuously.
Early in the afternoon I was at a little distance from the house, when
I missed all at once the sound of the guns. One five minutes passed
by, and then another, but the silence continued. What did it mean?
Were the batteries silenced, and the game played out and lost? That
was hardly likely, because then the fort would no doubt become the
attacking party and keep on worrying the batteries till they could be
abandoned at nightfall. Still this was only a surmise, and we knew
not what reason there might be against it. Hastily regaining our
observatory on the roof, every available telescope was leveled at the
parapet of the fort, where a white flag was visible in place of the
rebel ensign. Pulaski had surrendered.
I do not think any one expected the end so soon. The fire of the fort
had been nearly as vigorous the second day as the first. Its means of
active defense were evidently far from exhausted; and yet it had given
up the fight, as it were on a sudden, while still able to hold its own
and perhaps tire out the enemy at last. But there was a reason for
this, which we learned soon afterward on our visit to the place.
Of course every one was anxious to see the captured fort. On the
following day General Viele with his staff went on board a small
steamer and started for the trip. This time we were no longer obliged
to take the crooked route through Wall's Cut and around Jones' island,
but steamed directly down into the Savannah river opposite the fort. As
we approached this frowning stronghold that had so long held us at bay,
its effect was something to be remembered. Its massive walls covering
five or six acres of ground, and its double row of heavy guns, seemed
well able to repel intruders. For nearly three months we had looked
at it with a mingled feeling of desire and dread. It would have been
dangerous at any time to show ourselves within a mile of it; and it
would have been a prison to any who should venture within a few hundred
yards. Now we could tie up at the steamboat landing, and walk over the
long pathway to its gorge, unchallenged by any but our own sentries.
Inside, it was a strange sight; the parade ground was scored with deep
trenches to receive the falling shells, and the interior walls were
fenced with great blindages of square hewn timbers at an angle of
forty-five degrees. For the garrison had been at work on their side,
almost as hard as the besiegers. In many places the blindages were
splintered by shot and shell, and the passage-ways beneath obstructed
with the torn fragments.
The main effect of the cannonading was to be seen at the southeast
angle of the fort. The outer wall was crumbled and ruined to such a
degree that two of the casemates were open at the front and their guns
half buried in the fallen débris; and the ditch, forty-eight feet wide,
was partly filled with a confused heap of shattered masonry. Here it
was that Captain Gillmore had concentrated the fire of his breaching
batteries. As an army engineer, he was acquainted with the construction
of Fort Pulaski; and he knew that the powder magazine was located at
its northwest angle. This would bring it, after the breaching of the
opposite wall, in the direct line of fire; and when the shells from his
rifled guns began to pass through the opening and strike the defenses
of the magazine, no choice was left to the garrison but surrender. They
found themselves in momentary danger of explosion, and wisely lost no
time in bringing the contest to an end.
The siege of Fort Pulaski was a very different affair from the battle
of Port Royal. One was a naval, the other a military victory. At
Hilton Head the troops could not have landed anywhere except under the
protection of the navy; and after the reduction of the forts there
was no longer any enemy to oppose them. At Pulaski the troops took
possession of Tybee island, which the rebel commander had neglected
or thought it unnecessary to protect, and planted their batteries on
the only ground from which the fort could be attacked. Some valuable
assistance was rendered by the gunboats in patrolling the neighboring
sounds and inlets, but the main part of the work throughout was that of
the artillerist and engineer.
I do not know why the enemy failed to interrupt this work by shelling
the narrow strip of land, more than a mile in length, over which all
the material for the batteries had to be transported. They must have
known that something of this kind was the sole purpose for which our
forces had occupied Tybee island; and their elaborate preparations for
defense inside the fort showed that they were fully aware from what
direction the attack would come. Perhaps after the fort was invested
from above, they wished to economize their ammunition for the final
struggle. Still one would think that a few shells expended while the
batteries were in progress would be of more service than an equal
number after their completion.
But perhaps the enemy were not very well acquainted with Tybee island,
and supposed that our troops could reach the front by some other route
than the one they were really compelled to follow. Notwithstanding the
proximity of the island, it is possible that the rebel commander did
not know its important features for military operations. In General
Barnard's Report on the Defences of Washington in 1861, it appears that
at that time the engineer corps of the regular army had no accurate
surveys of the region south of the Potomac river opposite the national
capital; so that the proper location for a number of the defensive
works could not be fixed upon until after our troops were in possession
of the ground. He even says that many of our engineer officers were
more familiar with the military topography of the neighborhood of Paris
than with that surrounding the city of Washington. If the defenders of
Fort Pulaski in 1862 were equally ignorant of Tybee island, it might
account for their apparent inactivity during the siege operations.
Captain Gillmore did not rest satisfied with the reduction of Fort
Pulaski. He made it the means of further information in gunnery and
military engineering. His records showed the number of shots fired from
each gun and mortar during the bombardment, the percentage of those
which were effective or failed to reach the mark, and the depth of
penetration of the different kinds of projectiles in the walls of the
fort; and he compared the results with those given by the best military
authorities. It was the first time that rifled cannon had been used
in actual warfare against masonry walls; and he found that they could
do more execution at longer range and with less weight of metal, than
any of the older forms of artillery. He showed that, with such guns,
walls of solid brickwork, over seven feet thick, could be breached at
the distance of nearly one mile; more than twice as far as it had ever
before been thought practicable. Had it not been for his confident and
steady persistence in this design, it is likely that the occupation of
Tybee island would have been a useless enterprise.
After the fall of Fort Pulaski the troops on Daufuskie island were
released for other duty. General Viele was ordered north, and became
the military governor of Norfolk on its recapture from the enemy early
in May. Before the end of that month, I was again at Hilton Head,
acting as medical director for the troops at that point.
* * * * *
[Here the manuscript ends, unfinished.]
_After Surgeon Dalton's service with the Seventh Regiment of Infantry
of The National Guard of the State of New York, he was commissioned
by President Lincoln, August 3, 1861, Brigade Surgeon of Volunteers
(afterwards Surgeon United States Volunteers); served as Surgeon
in Chief to General Viele's command in South Carolina; as Medical
Inspector of the Department of the South; and as Chief Medical officer
on Morris Island, South Carolina._
_His health became seriously impaired by his long continued service in
the malarial regions of the South, so as to incapacitate him for duty,
and he consequently resigned from the Army, March 5, 1864._
_As soon as his health, never fully restored, permitted, he resumed
his work as Professor of Physiology at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of New York; resigned in 1883; was elected President of the
College in 1884, and so continued until his death, which occurred in
New York, February 12, 1889, at the age of sixty-four years and ten
days._
MILITARY HISTORY OF JOHN CALL DALTON, M. D.
LATE SURGEON U. S. VOLS.,
_As shown by the records on file in the Office of the Surgeon General
U. S. Army, War Department, Washington, D. C._
August 3, 1861:
Appointed Brigade Surgeon of Volunteers from New York.
September 22, 1861:
Reports from New York as awaiting orders.
September 23, 1861:
Assigned to General McClellan's command, Headquarters Army of
Potomac, S. O. 257, A. G. O. September 23, 1861.
September 30, 1861:
Reports awaiting further orders. [Had asked to be assigned to
General Viele's command.]
October 8, 1861:
Reported at Headquarters, General Viele's Brigade, Sherman's
Division, Annapolis, Md., by orders from A. G. O. to November,
1861.
December 31, 1861:
Is reported at Hilton Head, S. C., with General Viele's command.
January 31, 1862:
Is reported sick at Washington, D. C.
February to June, 1862:
On duty at Daufuskie, S. C., and in South Carolina with Viele's
command.
July 2, 1862:
Transferred from Brigade Surgeon to Surgeon U. S. Vols.
July to August, 1862:
Acting Medical Director at Hilton Head, S. C.
September 8, 1862:
To report to Medical Director in New York. S. O. 228, War
Department, September 8, 1862.
September 20, 1862:
Reports from Boston, Mass., as being on sick leave of absence.
September 30, 1862:
Still sick at Boston, Mass.
October 18, 1862:
Reports to Medical Director at New York city, and is assigned to
duty as Medical Director of Transportation to August, 1863.
August 26, 1863:
Ordered to report to the Department of the South by direction of
the Medical Director Department of the East, New York, August 26,
1863.
September 8, 1863:
Reports from Morris Island, S. C., that he has reported to Medical
Director of the Department of the South.
September 15, 1863:
Medical Director C. McDougall, Department of the East, requests
that Surgeon Dalton be returned to that Department as soon as the
public interest will permit.
September 30, 1863:
Dr. Dalton reports from Morris Island, S. C., as Chief Medical
Officer.
October 10, 1863:
Reports that he has been relieved from duty in the Department of
the South and ordered to report to Medical Director Department of
the East at New York.
October 15, 1863:
Reports at New York city.
October 24, 1863:
Forwards copy of order relieving him from duty in the Department
of the South and ordering him to report at New York city. [S. O.
558, dated Department of the South, Headquarters in Field, Folly
Island, S. C., 10th October, 1863.]
October 31, 1863:
Reports that he is stationed at New York city and assigned to duty
as Medical Attendant on Volunteer Officers, and Medical Director
of Transportation.
November 30, 1863:
Same as above.
December 31, 1863:
Same.
January 31, 1864:
Reports on duty at New York as Examining Surgeon of Recruits, and
Medical Director of Transportation.
February 29, 1864:
Same as above.
March 7, 1864:
Resignation accepted by the President; to take effect March 5, 1864.
Transcriber's Notes:
Page 20
regimeet would have carried _changed to_
regiment would have carried
Page 62
reconnaisance to the north _changed to_
reconnaissance to the north
Page 70
and their decendants _changed to_
and their descendants
Page 73
arrivals, reconnoisances, or projected _changed to_
arrivals, reconnoissances, or projected
Page 75
after a short reconnoisance _changed to_
after a short reconnoissance
Page 82
must be night reconnoisances _changed to_
must be night reconnoissances
Page 104
On duty at Dawfuskie _changed to_
On duty at Daufuskie
Page 104
with Veile's command _changed to_
with Viele's command
End of Project Gutenberg's John Call Dalton, M.D., U.S.V., by John Call Dalton