when I saw it, I think there can be no harm in describing the fort as it
then stood.--Nov. 1863.
* * * * *
_10th June_ (Wednesday).--I dined with Mr and Mrs H---- this afternoon,
and after dinner they drove me to the Battery, which is the popular
promenade. A great many well-dressed people and a few carriages were
there, but the H----s say it is nothing to what it was. Most of the
horses and carriages have been sent out of Charleston since the last
attack. Mrs H---- told me all the ladies began to move out of Charleston
on the morning after the repulse of the Monitors, the impression being
that the serious attack was about to begin. I talked to her about the
smart costumes of the negro women on Sundays; she said the only
difference between them and their mistresses is, that a mulatto woman is
not allowed to wear a veil.
* * * * *
_11th June_ (Thursday).--General Ripley took me in his boat to Morris
Island. We passed Fort Sumter on our left, and got aground for five
minutes in its immediate neighbourhood; then bearing off towards the
right, we passed Fort Cummins Point, and (after entering a narrow creek)
Fort Wagner on our left. The latter is a powerful, well-constructed
field-work, mounting nine heavy guns, and it completely cuts across
Morris Island at the end nearest to Fort Sumter. General Ripley pointed
at Fort Wagner with some pride.
We landed near the house of the colonel who commanded the troops in
Morris Island,[47] and borrowed his horses to ride to the further
extremity of the island. We passed the wreck of the Keokuk, whose turret
was just visible above the water, at a distance from the shore of about
1500 yards. On this beach I also inspected the remains of the so-called
"Yankee Devil," a curious construction, which on the day of the attack
had been pushed into the harbour by one of the Monitors. This vessel,
with her appendage, happened to be the first to receive the fire of Fort
Sumter, and after a quarter of an hour Monitor and Devil got foul of one
another, when both came to grief, and the latter floated harmlessly
ashore. It seems to have been composed of double twenty-inch beams,
forming a sort of platform or stage fifty feet long by twenty broad,
from which depended chains with grappling irons to rake up hostile
torpedoes. The machine was also provided with a gigantic torpedo of its
own, which was to blow up piles or other obstacles.
Morris Island is a miserable, low, sandy desert, and at its further
extremity there is a range of low sandhills, which form admirable
natural parapets. About ten guns and mortars were placed behind them,
and two companies of regular artillery were stationed at this point
under the command of Captain Mitchell (the "patriot's" son), to whom I
was introduced. He seemed a quiet, unassuming man, and was spoken of by
General Ripley as an excellent officer. He told me he expected to be
able to open fire in a day or two upon the Yankees in Folly Island and
Little Folly; and he expressed a hope that a few shell might drive them
out from Little Folly, which is only distant 600 yards from his guns.
The enemy's large batteries are on Folly Island, 3400 yards off, but
within range of Captain Mitchell's rifled artillery, one of which was a
twelve-pounder, Whitworth.
A blockade-runner, named the Ruby, deceived by some lights on Folly
Island, ran ashore at one o'clock this morning in the narrow inlet
between Morris Island and Little Folly. The Yankees immediately opened
fire on her, and her crew, despairing of getting her off, set her on
fire--a foolish measure, as she was right under Captain Mitchell's
guns--and whenever a group of Yankees approached the wreck, a shell was
placed in their midst, which effectually checked their curiosity. The
Ruby was therefore burning in peace. Her crew had escaped, all except
one man, who was drowned in trying to save a valuable trunk.
After having conversed some time with Captain Mitchell and his brother
officers, we took leave of them; and General Ripley, pursuing his tour
of inspection, took me up some of the numerous creeks which intersect
the low marshy land of James Island. In one of these I saw the shattered
remains of the sham Keokuk, which was a wooden imitation of its equally
short-lived original, and had been used as a floating target by the
different forts.
In passing Fort Sumter, I observed that the eastern face, from which
the guns (except those _en barbette_) had been removed, was being
further strengthened by a facing of twelve feet of sand, supported by
logs of wood. There can be no doubt that Sumter could be destroyed if a
vessel could be found impervious enough to lie pretty close in and
batter it for five hours; but with its heavy armament and plunging fire,
this catastrophe was not deemed probable. General Ripley told me that,
in his opinion, the proper manner to attack Charleston, was to land on
Morris Island, take Forts Wagner and Cummins Point, and then turn their
guns on Fort Sumter. He does not think much of the 15-inch guns. The
enemy does not dare use more than 35 lb. of powder to propel 425 lb. of
iron; the velocity consequently is very trifling. He knows and admires
the British 68-pounder, weighing 95 cwt., but he does not think it heavy
enough effectually to destroy ironclads. He considers the 11-inch gun,
throwing a shot of 170 lb., as the most efficient for that purpose.
In returning from Morris Island, we passed two steamers, which had
successfully run the blockade last night, besides the luckless Ruby,
which had also passed the blockading squadron before she came to grief.
The names of the other two are the Anaconda and Racoon, both
fine-looking vessels.
I dined at Mr Robertson's, at the corner of Rutledge Street, and met
Captain Tucker of the navy there. He is a very good fellow, and a
perfect gentleman. He commands the Chicora gunboat, and it was he who,
with his own and another gunboat (Palmetto State), crossed the bar last
February, and raised the blockade for a few hours. He told me that
several Yankee blockaders surrendered, but could not be taken possession
of, and the others bolted at such a pace as to render pursuit hopeless,
for these little gunboats are very slow. They made the attack at
daylight, and though much fired at were never struck. They seem to have
taken the Yankees by surprise, and to have created great alarm; but at
that time the blockading squadron consisted entirely of improvised
men-of-war. Since this exploit, the frigate Ironsides, and the sloop of
war Powhattan, have been added to its strength.
It poured with rain during the evening, and we had a violent
thunderstorm. General Beauregard returned to Charleston this afternoon.
[47] This must have been about the spot from whence Fort Sumter was
afterwards bombarded. I cannot help thinking that the Confederates made
a great mistake in not fortifying the further end of Morris Island and
keeping a larger garrison there, for when the Federals landed, they met
with no fortification until they reached Fort Wagner.
* * * * *
_12th June_ (Friday).--I called at an exchange office this morning, and
asked the value of gold: they offered me six to one for it. I went to a
slave auction at 11; but they had been so quick about it that the whole
affair was over before I arrived, although I was only ten minutes late.
The negroes--about fifteen men, three women, and three children--were
seated on benches, looking perfectly contented and indifferent. I saw
the buyers opening the mouths and showing the teeth of their new
purchases to their friends in a very business-like manner. This was
certainly not a very agreeable spectacle to an Englishman, and I know
that many Southerners participate in the same feeling; for I have often
been told by people that they had never seen a negro sold by auction,
and never wished to do so. It is impossible to mention names in
connection with such a subject, but I am perfectly aware that many
influential men in the South feel humiliated and annoyed with several of
the incidents connected with slavery; and I think that if the
Confederate States were _left alone_, the system would be much modified
and amended, although complete emancipation cannot be expected; for the
Southerners believe it to be as impracticable to cultivate cotton on a
large scale in the South, without forced black labour, as the British
have found it to produce sugar in Jamaica; and they declare that the
example the English have set them of sudden emancipation in that island
is by no means encouraging. They say that that magnificent colony,
formerly so wealthy and prosperous, is now nearly valueless--the land
going out of cultivation--the Whites ruined--the Blacks idle, slothful,
and supposed to be in a great measure relapsing into their primitive
barbarism.
At 12 o'clock I called by appointment on Captain Tucker, on board the
Chicora.[48] The accommodation below is good, considering the nature and
peculiar shape of the vessel; but in hot weather the quarters are very
close and unhealthy, for which reason she is moored alongside a wharf on
which her crew live. Captain Tucker expressed great confidence in his
vessel during calm weather, and when not exposed to a plunging fire. He
said he should not hesitate to attack even the present blockading
squadron, if it were not for certain reasons which he explained to me.
Captain Tucker expects great results from certain newly-invented
submarine inventions, which he thinks are sure to succeed. He told me
that, in the April attack, these two gunboats were placed in rear of
Fort Sumter, and if, as was anticipated, the Monitors had managed to
force their way past Sumter, they would have been received from
different directions by the powerful battery Bee on Sullivan's Island,
by this island, Forts Pinckney and Ripley, by the two gunboats, and by
Fort Johnson on James Island--a nest of hornets from which they would
perhaps never have returned.
At 1 P.M. I called on General Beauregard, who is a man of middle
height, about forty-seven years of age. He would be very youthful in
appearance were it not for the colour of his hair, which is much greyer
than his earlier photographs represent. Some persons account for the
sudden manner in which his hair turned grey by allusions to his cares
and anxieties during the last two years; but the real and less romantic
reason is to be found in the rigidity of the Yankee blockade, which
interrupts the arrival of articles of toilette. He has a long straight
nose, handsome brown eyes, and a dark mustache without whiskers, and his
manners are extremely polite. He is a New Orleans creole, and French is
his native language.
[Illustration: GENERAL G. T. BEAUREGARD.]
He was extremely civil to me, and arranged that I should see some of
the land fortifications to-morrow. He spoke to me of the inevitable
necessity, sooner or later, of a war between the Northern States and
Great Britain; and he remarked that, if England would join the South at
once, the Southern armies, relieved of the present blockade and enormous
Yankee pressure, would be able to march right into the Northern States,
and, by occupying their principal cities, would give the Yankees so much
employment that they would be unable to spare many men for Canada. He
acknowledged that in Mississippi General Grant had displayed uncommon
vigour, and met with considerable success, considering that he was a man
of no great military capacity. He said that Johnston was certainly
acting slowly and with much caution; but then he had not the veteran
troops of Bragg or Lee. He told me that he (Beauregard) had organised
both the Virginian and Tennessean armies. Both are composed of the same
materials, both have seen much service, though, on the whole, the first
had been the most severely tried. He said that in the Confederate
organisation a brigade is composed of four regiments, a division ought
to number 10,000 men, and a _corps d'armée_ 40,000. But I know that
neither Polk nor Hardee have got anything like that number.[49]
At 5.30 P.M. the firing on Morris Island became distinctly audible.
Captain Mitchell had evidently commenced his operations against Little
Folly.
Whilst I was walking on the battery this evening, a gentleman came up
to me and recalled himself to my recollection as Mr Meyers of the
Sumter, whom I had known at Gibraltar a year ago. This was one of the
two persons who were arrested at Tangier by the acting United States
consul in such an outrageous manner. He told me that he had been kept in
irons during his whole voyage, in the merchant vessel, to the United
States; and, in spite of the total illegality of his capture on neutral
ground he was imprisoned for four months in Fort Warren, and not
released until regularly exchanged as a prisoner of war. Mr Meyers was
now most anxious to rejoin Captain Semmes, or some other rover.
I understand that when the attack took place in April, the garrison of
Fort Sumter received the Monitors with great courtesy as they steamed
up. The three flagstaffs were dressed with flags, the band from the top
of the fort played the national airs, and a salute of twenty-one guns
was fired, after which the entertainment provided was of a more solid
description.
[48] I have omitted a description of this little gunboat, as she is
still doing good service in Charleston harbour--November 1863.
[49] A division does nearly always number 10,000 men, but then there are
generally only two or three divisions in a _corps d'armée_.
* * * * *
_13th June_ (Saturday).--Colonel Rice, aide-de-camp to General
Beauregard, rode with me to "Secessionville" this morning. I was mounted
on the horse which the General rode at Manassas and Shiloh. We reached
James Island by crossing the long wooden bridge which spans the river
Ashley. The land of James Island is low and marshy, and is both by
repute and in appearance most unhealthy. Three years ago no white men
would have dreamed of occupying it at this time of year; but now that
the necessity has arisen, the troops, curiously enough, do not appear to
suffer.
"Secessionville," the most advanced and most important of the James
Island fortifications, is distant by road eight miles from Charleston
bridge, with which it is connected by a chain of forts. It was surprised
by the enemy just a year ago (June 1862), and was the scene of a
desperate conflict, which resulted in the repulse of the Federals with a
loss of nearly 800 men. The Confederates lost 150 men on this occasion,
which as yet has been the only serious loss of life at Charleston during
the war. Colonel Lamar, who commanded the garrison with great gallantry,
was one of the few victims to yellow fever last year. The Yankees
attacked the fort three times with much bravery and determination, and
actually reached the superior slope of the parapet before they were
driven back. They were within an ace of being successful; and although
they deserved great credit for their behaviour on that occasion, yet it
is understood that the officer who organised the attack has either been
dismissed the service or otherwise punished.
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, the commandant, who showed me over the fort
and bomb-proofs, is quite young, full of zeal, and most anxious to be
attacked; he has ---- artillerymen to man this and the neighbouring
works, and two regiments of infantry are also encamped within a short
distance.
At the time of the attack on Charleston last April there were 30,000
men to defend it; since that time 20,000 had been sent into Mississippi
to reinforce Johnston. I imagine that, as the fortifications are so very
extensive, the Charleston garrison ought to consist of at least 30,000
men.
* * * * *
_14th June_ (Sunday).--I went to church at St Michael's, which is one of
the oldest churches in America, and is supposed to have been built a
hundred and fifty years ago. The Charlestonians are very proud of it,
and I saw several monuments of the time of the British dominion.
This morning I made the acquaintance of a Mr Sennec, an officer in the
Confederate States navy, who, with his wife and daughter, were about to
face the terrors and dangers of running the blockade, Mr Sennec having
got an appointment in Europe. The ladies told me they had already made
one start, but after reaching the bar, the night was not considered
propitious, so they had returned. Mr Sennec is thinking of going to
Wilmington, and running from thence, as it is more secure than
Charleston.
I dined at Mr Robertson's this evening, and met a very agreeable party
there--viz., two young ladies, who were extremely pretty, General
Beauregard, Captain Tucker of the Chicora, and Major Norris, the chief
of the secret intelligence bureau at Richmond.
I had a long conversation with General Beauregard, who said he
considered the question of ironclads _versus_ forts as settled,
especially when the fire from the latter is plunging. If the other
Monitors had approached as close as the Keokuk, they would probably have
shared her fate. He thought that both flat-headed rifled 7-inch bolts
and solid 10-inch balls penetrated the ironclads when within 1200 yards.
He agreed with General Ripley that the 15-inch gun is rather a failure;
it is so unwieldy that it can only be fired very slowly, and the
velocity of the ball is so small that it is very difficult to strike a
moving object. He told me that Fort Sumter was to be covered by degrees
with the long green moss which in this country hangs down from the
trees: he thinks that when this is pressed it will deaden the effect of
the shot without being inflammable; and he also said that, even if the
walls of Fort Sumter were battered down, the barbette battery would
still remain, supported on the piers.
The Federal frigate Ironsides took up her position, during the attack,
over 3000 lb. of powder, which was prevented from exploding owing to
some misfortune connected with the communicating wire. General
Beauregard and Captain Tucker both seemed to expect great things from a
newly-invented and extra-diabolical torpedo-ram.
After dinner, Major Norris showed us a copy of a New York illustrated
newspaper of the same character as our 'Punch.' In it the President
Davis and General Beauregard were depicted shoeless and in rags,
contemplating a pair of boots, which the latter suggested had better be
eaten. This caricature excited considerable amusement, especially when
its merits were discussed after Mr Robertson's excellent dinner.
General Beauregard told me he had been educated in the North, and used
to have many friends there, but that _now_ he would sooner submit to the
Emperor of China than return to the Union.
Mr Walter Blake arrived soon after dinner; he had come up from his
plantation on the Combahee river on purpose to see me. He described the
results of the late Yankee raid up that river: forty armed negroes and a
few whites in a miserable steamer were able to destroy and burn an
incalculable amount of property, and carry off hundreds of negroes. Mr
Blake got off very cheap, having only lost twenty-four this time, but he
only saved the remainder by his own personal exertions and
determination. He had now sent all his young males two hundred miles
into the interior for greater safety. He seemed to have a very rough
time of it, living all alone in that pestilential climate. A
neighbouring planter, Mr Lowndes, had lost 290 negroes, and a Mr
Kirkland was totally ruined.
At 7 P.M. Mr Blake and I called at the office of General Ripley, to
whom Mr Blake, notwithstanding that he is an Englishman of nearly sixty
years of age, had served as aide-de-camp during some of the former
operations against Charleston. General Ripley told us that shelling was
still going on vigorously between Morris and Folly Islands, the
Yankees being assisted every now and then by one or more of their
gunboats. The General explained to us that these light-draft armed
vessels--_river-gropers_, as he called them--were indefatigable at
pushing up the numerous creeks, burning and devastating everything. He
said that when he became acquainted with the habits of one of these
"critturs," he arranged an ambuscade for her, and with the assistance of
"his fancy Irishman" (Captain Mitchell), he captured her. This was the
case with the steamer Stono, a short time since, which, having been
caught in this manner by the army, was lost by the navy shortly
afterwards off Sullivan's Island.
News has just been received that Commodore Foote is to succeed Dupont in
the command of the blockading squadron. Most of these officers appeared
to rejoice in this change, as they say Foote is younger, and likely to
show more sport than the venerable Dupont.
* * * * *
_15th June_ (Monday).--I called on General Beauregard to say good-bye.
Before parting, he told me that his official orders, both from the
Government and from the Town-Council, were, that he was to allow
Charleston to be laid in ashes sooner than surrender it; the
Confederates being unanimous in their determination that, whatever
happened, the capital of South Carolina should never have to submit to
the fate of New Orleans. But General Beauregard did not at all
anticipate that such an alternative was imminent. In answer to my thanks
for his kindness and courtesy, he said that the more Europeans that came
to the South, the more the Southerners were pleased, as _seeing_ was the
only way to remove many prejudices. He declared everything here was open
and above board, and I really believe this is the case. Most certainly
the civil law is not overruled by the military, except in cases of the
strongest emergency. The press is allowed the most unlimited freedom,
and even licence. Whenever excesses take place, and the law is violated,
this is caused by the violence of the people themselves, who take the
law into their own hands.
General Beauregard sent his love to Sir James Fergusson, who had visited
him during the early part of the war; so also did General Jordan, Chief
of the Staff.
Before taking my departure from the hotel, I was much gratified by
meeting M'Carthy, who had just returned from Richmond. He had had the
good fortune to cross the Mississippi a little later than me, and he had
encountered comparatively few obstacles.
I left Charleston by rail at 2 P.M., in company with Mr Sennec, his
wife, and daughter; and Major Norris, who was extremely kind and useful
to me. I declined travelling in the ladies' car, although offered that
privilege--the advantage of a small amount of extra cleanliness being
outweighed by the screaming of the children, and the constant liability
of being turned out of one's place for a female.
Major Norris told me many amusing anecdotes connected with the secret
intelligence department, and of the numerous ingenious methods for
communicating with the Southern partisans on the other side of the
Potomac.
We reached Florence at 9 P.M., where we were detained for some time
owing to a break-down of another train. We then fought our way into some
desperately crowded cars, and continued our journey throughout the
night.
* * * * *
_16th June_ (Tuesday).--Arrived at Wilmington at 5 A.M., and crossed
the river there in a steamer. This river was quite full of
blockade-runners. I counted eight large steamers, all handsome
leaden-coloured vessels, which ply their trade with the greatest
regularity. Half these ships were engaged in carrying goods on
Government account; and I was told that the quantity of boots, clothing,
saltpetre, lead, and tin, which they bring into the country, is very
great. I cannot suppose that in ordinary times there would be anything
like such a trade as this, at a little place like Wilmington, which
shows the absurdity of calling the blockade an efficient one.