6o

THE ARMY BEFORE CHARLESTON IN 1863.

hospital under excellent attendance. But lie was seized witli a yearning desireto go home, and, without my knowledge, took the first steamer for the North.Being the senior officer on hoard, the excitement of the trip, aggravated bythe chase and capture of a blockade-runner, brought on lock-jaw, of whichhe died shortly after reaching New York. Colonel John S. Chatfield wasmortally wounded; Colonel Haldimand S. Putnam and Colonel Robert Gf.Shaw were killed; and Brigadier-General Truman Seymour and several regi-mental commanders were wounded.

It may be said that in making this assault the traditions and maxims ofthe engineer and his reverence for the spade and shovel as weapons of warwere placed in abeyance. Although no dissenting voice was raised amongthe subordinate commanders called into council, it may be doubted by somewhether a step so grave in character and so uncertain in results was theunquestionable outcome of existing military necessity. Perhaps only an engi-neer would doubt this. At all events its full justification was assumed to reston the presumption that Fort Sumter must be destroyed by guns placed asnear to it as to the site of Battery Wagner, and that every hour’s delay in cap-turing that work permitted the enemy to strengthen his interior defenses,and thus render the entrance of our fleet more difficult.

To meet the contingency brought on by the failure it was determined tochange slightly the prearranged order of operations by attempting the demo-lition of Fort Sumter with our heavy rifles, at a distance of two miles andupward, by firing over Battery Wagner and its garrison from ground alreadyin our possession. It was urged adversely to this plan that there existed noprecedent for it. This was true, the nearest approach to it being the reductionof Fort Pulaski |) the year before by breaching at the distance of one mile andmore. [See Yol. II., p. 9.] But the fact that we could throw heavier metal anddo heavier work now than we could then, promised success, and the placingof guns in position against Fort Sumter was promptly begun. For thispurpose 16 Parrott rifles and two Whitworth rifles were placed in batteriesat distances from Fort Sumter ranging from 3428 to 4290 yards. The slow,tedious, and hazardous labor of moving into position and mounting theseheavy guns and their carriages could be performed during the night-timeonly, under a constant and galling fire from the front and one flank. Therewas great danger that guns and carriages, as well as the appliances forputting them in position, would be destroyed. As contemporary with theseoperations, arrangements had been perfected for pressing the siege of Bat-tery Wagner, and the work was fairly under way. And here the limitationsof the books had to be irreverently set aside. Instead of our being able toenvelop any portion of the work, we were practically enveloped by it. Itpresented to us an armed front of four times the average width of the lowbeach over which we had to force our way, and as we neared the work thisratio reached as high as ten to one. It was now known, from the latest infor-

JJ At that siege the engineer and his devices had onr men was struck during the eight weeks of prep-full sway. So perfect, indeed, were the arrange- aration and the two days’ engagement, and he lostmcnts for the safety of the troops, that only one of his life through disregard of instructions.— Q. A. G.