74
jiarapet. The gun as it appeared on the parapetseemed to the Confederates as if in position forfiring, and a large amount of ammunition wasneedlessly expended upon it.
From the hour of 1 o’clock on the afternoon ofAugust 21st, when Lieutenant Sellmer’s detach-ment started for the battery, thirteen guns andmortars, among which were two 10-inch Colum-
T1IE “ SWAMP ANGEL” MOUNTED AS A MONUMENT,IN TRENTON, NEW JERSEY .
biads and two 10-inch sea-coast mortars, were try-ing to prevent the manning of the gun, and, after ithad commenced firing, to silence it. But they didlittle damage to the battery and none to the men.The mortar shells, with long-time fuses, did notexplode until they had stuck in the mud, and the
j After tlio capture of Batteries Wagner and Gregg,guns were mounted on the latter fortification. GeneralGillmore , in his exhaustive work on “Engineer andArtillery Operations against the Defenses of Charleston
shells from the Columbiads burst in front of theparapet and did no damage.
No other guns were mounted in the marsh bat-tery until September 7th, when Battery Wagnersurrendered to the Union troops. J Then two 10-inch sea-coast mortars were placed there to drawoff the fire of the batteries on James Island.
Colonel Serrell says that the distinctive featuresof the marsh battery as a work of engineeringwere “that the gun-platform was placed upon agun-deck resting upon vortical sheet piling, outsideand around which there was a grillage of logs. Ifthe gun and the other weights upon the gun-deckwere heavy enough to tend to sink in the mud, theweight upon the grillage, in the form of sand inbags, which formed the parapet and epaulementof the battery, by boing increased, counterpoisedthe gun-deck. It was simply a force meetinganother force of a like amount in an opposite di-rection.” The English journal, “Engineering,” inits review of tlio operations of the Federal andConfederate armies at the close of the war, speaksof the construction of this battery as one of themost important engineering works done by eitherarmy. It was a successful piece of difficultengineering, and a practical method of inflictingdamage on a city nearly five miles distant, regard-less of its army, its cannon, and its great fortifica-tions, which were within close sight and easy range.
The “Swamp Angel” was purchased after thewar with some condemned metal and sent to Tren-ton, New Jersey , to be melted, but, having beenidentified, was set up on a granito monument inthat city on tho corner of Perry and Clinton streets.
in 1863” (Now York, Van NoHtrnml, 1865), gives tile rec-ord of one 30-poumler Parrott that sent 4253 shells to-ward tlio city of Charleston , many of them reaching it,others falling short.—W. S. S.
fr
THE OPPOSING LAND FORCES AT CHARLESTON, S. C.
The composition, losses, and strength of each army as hero stated tfive the gist of all the data obtainable in the OfficialRecords. K stands for killed ; w for wounded; m w for mortally wounded; m for captured or missing ; c for captured.
Union: Moj.-Gtm. Quincy A. Gillmore , commanding Department of tlie South.
Confederate: General G. T. Beauregard, eommandiiiK Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida . |
Battery Wagner, July 18th.
UNION.
first division, Brig.-Gen. Truman Seymour (w).
First llriyade, Brig.-Gen. George C. Strong (m w): Ot.liConn., Col. John I,. Chntficld (in w), Capt. John N.Tracy; 9th Me., Col. Sabine Emery (w); 54th Mass,(colored). Col. Robert. G. Shaw (k), Capt. Luis E.Emilio; 3d N. II., Col. John II. Jackson (w); 48th N. Y. ,Col. William B. Barton (w); 7Gt.h Pa., Capt. John S.Littell. Second llriyade, Col. Ilaldimaml S. Putnam (k):7th N. II., Lieut.-Col. Joseph C. Abbott; 100th N. Y. , Col.
George B. Dandy; 02d Ohio , Col. Francis B. Pond; 67 thOldo, Col. Alvin C. Voids. Artillery, Lieut.-Col. BichardW. Jackson and Capt. Loomis L. Langdon (in charge ofHioge-botteries); C, 3d R. L, Capt. Charles K. Brayton;E, 3d U. 8., Lieut . John It. Myrick.
Total Union loss : killed, 240 ; wounded, 880; capturedor missing, 380 = 1515. Tho strength of tho assaultingcolumn (exclusive of Stevenson’s brigade, held in re-serve) is estimated at 5000.
CONFEDERATE.
Garrison, Brig.-Gen. William B. Taliaferro: 32d fin.,Col. George P. Harrison, Jr.; 31st N. C., Lieut.-Col. C.W. Knight; 51stN. C.,Col. Hector McKethan; Charles-ton (8. C.) Battalion, Lieut.-Col. P. C. Guillnrd (w); 7t,hS. C. Battalion, Maj. .1. H. Rion. Artillery, Lieut.-Col.J. C. Simkins (k): 63d Ga. (2 co’s), Capts. J. T. Buckner