648

THE DEFENSE OF FORT FISHER.

1: : /

'H'iV*. J,*l VfJM K

wrnmi

‘"M" rj

■r^TtfOyT

WHgMftg

Hisi

INTERIOR VIEW OF THE THREE TRAVERSES OF THE NORTH-WEST SALIENT, ADJOINING THE RIVER ROAD.

[SEE MAP, P. 615.] FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.

none came except a few useless bolts designed forthe Armstrong gun. In the former fight we hadfired 1272 shot and shell; leaving about 2328,exclusive of grape and shrapnel, to resist a pas-sage of the ships and an assault by land. I wasobliged to husband my ammunition even morethan in the previous battle, and therefore gave thesame orders that each gun should be fired onlyonce every half-hour until disabled or destroyed,except when special orders were given to concen-trate on a particular vessel, or in case an attemptwere made to cross the bar and run in, when everyavailable gun should be used with all possibleeffectiveness. It was this slow firing from thefort, at times not over forty-four guns in thirtyminutes, compared to the naval fire of from one totwo guns a second, that gave the navy the errone-ous idea that they had silenced the fort. Butno attempt was made to run by the fort, whichwas a great surprise to us. Occasionally a woodenvessel, more daring than her consorts, would comeclose in, when the guns of several batteries wouldbe concentrated upon her and she would be quicklywithdrawn more or less injured.

All day and night on the 13th and 14th of Jan-uary the navy continued its ceaseless torment; itwas impossible to repair damages at night on theland-face. The Ironsides and monitors bowledtheir eleven and fifteen inch shells along the para-pet, scattering shrapnel in the darkness. We couldscarcely gather up and bury our dead without freshcasualties. At least two hundred had been killedand wounded in the two days since the fight be-gan. Only three or four of my land guns were ofany service. The Federal army had been approach-ing on the river side during the day; but they weremore or less covered by the formation of the land,and we could only surmise their number. I hadseen them pass Craig’s Landing near my cottageand occupy the redoubt about half a mile from thefort. We had fired some shot and shell at theirapproaching columns, but it was at a fearful costof limb and life that a land gun was discharged;for to fire from that face was to draw upon thegunners the fury of the fleet. Early in the after-noon, to my astonishment, I saw a Confederateflat-bottomed steam-transport, loaded with stores,

approaching Craig’s Landing, which was now inthe enemy’s lines. I had a gun fired toward herto warn her off, but on she came, unconscious ofher danger, and she fell an easy captive in theenemy’s hands. Shortly after, the Confederatesteamer Chickamauga, which had been annoyingthe enemy from the river, fired into and sank thestupid craft. This incident gave me the first inti-mation that we were deserted. From the con-formation of the Cape Fear River , General Braggcould have passed safely from Sugar Loaf towardSmithfield, and with a glass could have seen every-thing on the beach and in the fort, and in personor through an aide, with the steamers at his com-mand, could have detected every movement of theenemy; but now, thirty-six hours after the fighthad commenced, several hours after Craig’s Land-ing had been in the possession of the enemy, he

.111111111 ill'll

LIEUTENANT WILEY H. WILLIFORD, C. S. A.

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.

sent into the enemy’s lines a steamer full of sorelyneeded stores, which at night could have gone toBattery Buchanan in safety. We had both tele-