THE CONFEDERATE DEFENSE OF FORT SUMTER.

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already stated, by General Pemberton to prevent a near approach from thesouth end of Morris Island. It was pierced for eleven guns, only three ofwhich were heavy pieces. These were two 10-inch Columbiads and one 32-pounder rifled, which was of but slight service, for it burst after firing a fewrounds and was never replaced. The other guns were 32-pounder earronadesand 12-pounder mortars, placed on the “ curtain ” of the battery, facing theapproach from the south. Most of these had been disabled by the terribleAre opened upon them. The remaining ones were field-pieces and two 8 and10 inch mortars, the latter being used as “ coehorns ” against the enemy’strenches. The work was strengthened and improved, its plan gradually modi-,tied; traverses and merlons, and bomb-proofs capable of sheltering some 750men (not 1600, as General Gillmore says, p. 74 of his book), were added to itby my orders, partly before the attack, partly after, and while the enemyWas still making his advance. By the addition of a light parapet whichI had caused to be thrown across its gorge, Wagner had thus become aclosed battery, protected from a surprise on the rear. But it never wasa “formidable work”; and, in fact, it fought the enemy from the 10th ofJuly, 1863, to the 6th of September of the same year, with men, artillery,a nd with sand.

The defense of Battery Wagner, with the great difficulty of access to it andthe paucity of our resources, while those of the enemy were almost unlim-ited, Avill bear a favorable comparison with any modern siege on record.The last bombardment of Wagner began on the morning of the 5th of Sep-tember, and lasted 42 hours, during which were thrown by the Federalland-batteries alone 1663 rifle projectiles and 1553 mortar-shells. The totalnumber of projectiles thrown by the land-batteries against Foil Sumter up toSeptember 7th was 6451, and against Battery Wagner, from July 26th to Sep-tember 7th, 9875, making in all 16,326. And yet only Wagner was taken.Sumter, though a mass of ruins, remained ours to the last, and Charleston Was evacuated by the Confederate troops near the close of the war, namely,°n the 17tli of February, 1865, and then only to furnish additional men to thearmy in the field.

THE CONFEDERATE DEFENSE OF FORT SUMTER.BY MAJOR JOHN JOHNSON, C. S. ENGINEERS.

\ /T Y tost recollections of Fort Sumter date backto iny boyhood, about 1844, when the walls'*Hl not yet been begun, and the structure wasa few feet above high-water mark. Captain' U■ Bowman, of the Corps of Engineers of theluted States Army, was in charge of works inlarleston harbor, and it was my fortune toVl sit the fort very frequently in his company.

y eai ' ,ln d throe months of my life were after-'vaid spent in the fort, as engineer-in-charge, dur-'*g the arduous and protracted defense by the°nfederate forces in the years 1803 and 1804.n the beginning of 1803 the fort was garri-soned by the greater part of the 1st South Carolina e giment of artillery, enlisted as regulars, and com-

manded by Colonel Alfred Rliett, Lieut.-ColonelJoseph A. Yates, and Major Ormsby Blanding.The drill, discipline, and efficiency of the garri-son were maintained at the height of excellence.A spirit of emulation existed between this garrisonand that of Fort Moultrie, on the opposite side ofthe channel, consisting of the 1st South CarolinaInfantry (regulars), commanded byColonel WilliamButler. The people of the State and city w*ereproud of the two regiments; and the Charlestoni-ans thought of no greater pleasure for their visitorsthan to give them an afternoon trip down the har-bor to see the dress-parade and hear the band playat Fort Sumter. The flue record of this garrison,beginning with the 7tli of April, 1863, when Rear-