SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF FORT PULASKI.

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of Fort Pulaski to sustain a siege had been absolute. General Henry C.Wayne, of the Confederate army, who was in Savannah at the time, was oneof the first to doubt, and met with the usual fortune of prophets of evil intimes of intense popular feeling. He had been an officer in the regular army,and his experience had taught him to distinguish the sound of guns at dif-ferent distances and fired in opposite directions. As his trained ear notedhow, from hour to hour, the guns pointed toward the city kept up their steadyvolume, while the intervals of reply grew longer and longer, he told thecitizens on the second day that the guns of the fort were being graduallysilenced, and that it could not hold out. Out of incredulity grew a suspicionthat “ the wish was father to the thought,” and indignation was fast tendingtoward personal violence, when the truth became known, and the wrath ofthe people was lost in their fears.

The result of this victory was to close the Savannah River entirely to block-ade-runners, and to set free for service elsewhere the naval force which hadbeen employed there.

the whole of the bombardment on that day, andleft as the flag was lowered [not being a memberof the garrison], making his'way to the southwharf as the enemy’s steamer was approachingthe north landing. When the bombardment com-menced on Thursday none of the enemy’s batterieson Tybee were visible, except from the smokewhich pointed out the different localities to ourgarrison. . . . The firing of the enemy on

Thursday was not so effective as to create anapprehension that the work would fall. Theenemy were obtaining the range of their guns forthe operations of night and the day following.. . . The north-east casemates were all in whichthe garrison could bunk with any security what-ever through Thursday night, though but littlesleep was enjoyed, as the enemy threw twelveshells per hour into the fort until daylight. . . .Corporal Law witnessed the whole of Friday’sfight for himself, mingling freely with the garrisonthroughout the terrible scene. ... At the closeof the fight all the parapet guns w r ere dismountedexcept three — two 10-inch Columbiads, known as‘Beauregard’ and ‘Jeff Davis,’but one of whichbore on the island, and a rifle-cannon. Everycasemate gun in the south-east section of thefort, from No. 7 to No. 13, including all thatcould be brought to bear upon the enemy’s batter-ies except one, were dismounted, and the casematewalls breached, in almost every instance, to thetop of the arch — say between five and six feetin width. The moat outside was so filled withbrick and mortar that one could have passed overdry-shod. The officers’ quarters were torn topieces, the bomb-proof timbers scattered in every

direction over the yard, and the gates to the en-trance knocked off. The parapet walls on theTybee side were all gone, in many places down tothe level of the earth on the casemates. The pro-tection to the magazine in the north-west angle ofthe fort had all been shot away; the entire cornerof the magazine next to the passage-way was shotoff, and the powder exposed, while three shots hadactually penetrated the chamber. Of this, CorporalLaw is positive, for he examined it for himselfbefore leaving. Such was the Condition of affairswhen Colonel Olmstead called a council of officersin a casemate; and, without a dissenting voice, theyacquiesced in the necessity of a capitulation, inorder to save the garrison from utter destructionby an explosion, which was momentarily threat-ened. Accordingly, at 2 o’clock, p. M., the menwere called from the guns and the flag was lowered.Early in the day Colonel Olmstead had no doubt ofhis ability to silence every battery on the island,and to this end he determined, when night came andthe enemy’s fire slackened, to change the positionof all his heavy guns, so as to bring them to bearon the enemy. As the day progressed, however,his situation became desperate. . . • Every mandid his duty with alacrity, and, there being fewguns that bore on the enemy, there was a con-tinued contest as to who should man them. Whenvolunteers were called for to perform any labo-rious duty, there was a rush of the men from everycompany in the fort. . . . Among the last gunsfired were those on the parapet, and the menstood there exposed to a storm of iron hail to thelast.” [Correspondence of the Savannah “Repub-lican” of April 23d, 1862.] Editors.