20
mm.
KB*
naval officers in command. Two companies remained in Battery Wagner, asa rear-gnard, until all the others were embarked, when they also were with-drawn. Our loss was slight both in men and materials, and the Federalvictory was barren. \
I have dwelt somewhat at length upon the details of the gradual destruc-tion of Fort Sumter for the reason that, apart from the high interest of therecital, the matchless spirit and discipline displayed by its commander andgarrison reacted upon all the commands in my department, and arouseda feeling of pride and emulation among the troops defending Charleston ,which resulted in the greatest heroism. And it is history to say that thedefense of Sumter and Wagner are feats of war unsurpassed in ancient ormodern times.
I now propose, before closing, to review a few passages of General Gill-more’s book, published just after the war, and, as appears on its title-page,“ by authority.” Most of its errors have already been ref uted in my “ MorrisIsland Report,” which is given, in extenso, in the second volume of the“Military Operations of General Beauregard” (Harper & Brothers: pp. 102et seq.) It only remains, therefore, to comment briefly upon certain misap-prehensions and false conclusions of the author. ☆
General Gillmore was considered during the war the first engineer officerin the Federal service. Such is his standing up to this day. He had evi-dently been sent in command of the Department of the South, to effect whatGeneral Hunter had failed to do, to wit, the capture of Charleston .
\ In General Gillmoro’s dispatch to Admiral Dalilgren, dated September 7th, 5: 10 A. m., lie said:“The whole island is ours, but the enemy have escaped us.”—G. T. B.
■jCj- See paper by General Gillmore , written in 1887, to follow.— Editors.