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system of coast defense devised by me as early as April, 1861, but also of tlieone said to have been projected by General It. E. Lee while in command of thesame department from December, 1861, to March, 1862. For these had beensubstituted another and an interior system, rendering our lines vulnerable atvarious points, and necessitating more labor and a greater armament than wecould command. The inspection made by me a few days later confirmed thatopinion; for the works in and around Charleston , most of which had beenbadly located, were not in a state of completion, nor was their armament byany means adequate to the dimensions of some of them.
The defenses of the harbor existing at that time consisted of : 1. Fort Sumter,with an armament of 79 guns of diverse caliber, from 32-pounders to 8-inchColumbiads, and seven 10-inch mortars, and manned by 350 effectives of theFirst South Carolina Artillery (regulars). 2. Fort Moultrie, with 38 guns,ranging from 24-pounders to 8-inch Columbiads, and having a garrison of300 effectives belonging to the First South Carolina Infantry (regulars).These works were in very good condition, though repairs were then in prog-ress in the former. 3. Battery Beauregard, across Sullivan’s Island, the loca-tion of which I had selected in the spring of 1861, in advance of Fort Moultrie,with a view to protect the approach from the east. It was armed with fiveguns. 4. Four sand batteries, en barbette , erected at the west end of Sulli-van’s Island, and bearing on the floating boom then in process of constructionacross the Fort Sumter channel. These batteries were not completed, andhad at the time only four guns, two of them being 10-inch Columbiads. Nomagazines had been constructed for them. 5. The “ Neck ” battery, on MorrisIsland, afterward called Battery Wagner, an open work erected to defend theapproach to Fort Sumter. It was intended for eleven guns, and was not entirelyfinished, even as originally designed. 6. A small work (Fort Ripley) equidis-tant from Castle Pinckney and Fort Johnson, not yet armed, but planned forfour heavy guns en barbette [only two put in.— Editors]. 7. Castle Pinckney,armed with nine 24-pounders and one 24-pounder rifled, a work of no valuefor the defense of the city. 8. Fort Johnson, near the north-east end ofJames Island, with one rifled 32-pounder, likewise of very little importance.
Some batteries had also been arranged and begun for the defense of thecity proper, but no heavy guns had been procured for them, and none weredisposable. The floating boom was incomplete, and was destined to remainso. I never looked upon it as a serious barrier to the enemy’s fleet. Thedefensive line on James Island from the Wappoo to Secessionville consistedof “ a system of forts, redoubts, redans, and cremailleres ,” very injudiciouslylocated, except Fort Pemberton on the Stono and some few of the redoubts.There were also two batteries on the Ashley River, for its protection and thatof the entrance of Dill’s Creek and the Wappoo. One of them had no guns;the other, at Lawton’s, was armed with four 32-pounders, but could be of lit-tle use. The works at Secessionville, which were poorly devised and poorlyexecuted, were still unfinished. Their armament was two 8-inch na val guns,one 18-pounder howitzer, six 32-pounders, one 32-pounder rifle, two 24-pounder rifles, and two 10-inch mortars.