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Rosecrans (search for this): chapter 8
er could not be breached until after Wagner had been reduced; but Gillmore thought differently, and bent all his energies to make good the faith that was in him. The engineers commenced work on the night of the 25th of July, and by the 16th of August the batteries were completed. They were eight in number — the nearest one being thirty-four hundred yards from Sumter, and the farthest forty-two hundred and thirty-five yards. Seven of these batteries bore the distinctive names of Brown, Rosecrans, Meade, Hayes, Reno, Stevens, and Strong, mounting the following guns, viz.: one three-hundred-pounder, six two-hundred-pounders, nine one-hundred-pounders, two eighty-four-pounder Whitworth, two thirty and four twenty-pounders; all Parrotts except two guns, and the whole of them rifled. Never before had such a weight of metal been directed against any fortress in one attack since the art of war began. Those who have not engaged in such operations can have only a faint idea of the labor
Swamp Angel (search for this): chapter 8
atteries mostly built, but all the guns were mounted, at night. Most of the work was done under fire. At this period there sprang into existence a battery built in the marsh between Morris and James Islands, which has become famous as the Swamp Angel, and as such will go down to history. Its construction was early determined upon, and the suggestion, we believe, was that of Colonel Serrell, commanding the New York Volunteer Engineers. It was expected that shells thrown from it would reacNothing of the kind was used during the siege. Three shells filled with pieces of ordinary port-fire were fired into the city of Charleston; but everything beyond this was due to the fancy of newspaper correspondents. The distinctive name of Swamp Angel is said to have been suggested by Sergeant Feller, of the New York Volunteer Engineers. Meanwhile, the enemy had not been idle. We contended against a foe as brave and vigilant as ourselves, and they taxed every resource of the profession
Vauban (search for this): chapter 8
ty over every other arm in use. It was all that was required to make the United States the first nation in the world in all things that pertain to the art of war. That part of the operations devoted to Sumter opened a new chapter in military engineering. Hitherto batteries to breach walls of masonry had seldom, if ever, been erected one mile from the place to be battered down, and a gun that carried a projectile that weighed sixty-four pounds was the heaviest metal used. In the days of Vauban, in his time the first military engineer in the world, and almost the father of the present system of permanent fortification, as well as the system of attack and defense of fortified places, it was laid down as a rule that the first parallel should not be opened at a greater distance than six hundred yards from the salient angle of the covered way. With him it was customary to establish breaching batteries on the glacie. General Gillmore overturned the theories and practice of the schools
P. G. T. Beauregard (search for this): chapter 8
duced by regular siege. As the guns of Sumter would be a great annoyance to the men in the trenches, commanding them by a plunging fire, he determined to destroy that fortress over the head of Wagner. This was contrary to the usual course of military engineering, but necessity compelled its adoption. The distance at which the breaching batteries had to be erected was unprecedented, and the task was pronounced impracticable. None but the boldest engineer would have undertaken the work. Beauregard assured his troops that Sumter could not be breached until after Wagner had been reduced; but Gillmore thought differently, and bent all his energies to make good the faith that was in him. The engineers commenced work on the night of the 25th of July, and by the 16th of August the batteries were completed. They were eight in number — the nearest one being thirty-four hundred yards from Sumter, and the farthest forty-two hundred and thirty-five yards. Seven of these batteries bore the
George G. Meade (search for this): chapter 8
not be breached until after Wagner had been reduced; but Gillmore thought differently, and bent all his energies to make good the faith that was in him. The engineers commenced work on the night of the 25th of July, and by the 16th of August the batteries were completed. They were eight in number — the nearest one being thirty-four hundred yards from Sumter, and the farthest forty-two hundred and thirty-five yards. Seven of these batteries bore the distinctive names of Brown, Rosecrans, Meade, Hayes, Reno, Stevens, and Strong, mounting the following guns, viz.: one three-hundred-pounder, six two-hundred-pounders, nine one-hundred-pounders, two eighty-four-pounder Whitworth, two thirty and four twenty-pounders; all Parrotts except two guns, and the whole of them rifled. Never before had such a weight of metal been directed against any fortress in one attack since the art of war began. Those who have not engaged in such operations can have only a faint idea of the labor and fatig
Robert Morris (search for this): chapter 8
the Navy gave him to understand that if these things were accomplished, the iron-clads would go in and finish what remained to be done in the capture of Charleston. General Gillmore reached Hilton Head on the 12th of June, 1863, at which time we had a small force on Folly Island, holding it as a base of future operations. The General immediately proceeded hither to examine the situation. From the jungles on the north end of the island he looked across the inlet on to the sand-hills of Morris, crowned with Confederate guns. From where he stood Sumter was in plain view. He saw everything with the eye of a practical engineer, and decided at a glance where to erect his batteries, and the use he would make of them. Necessity compelled their erection within a few hundred yards of a vigilant enemy; discovery would defeat the enterprise. The engineers were immediately set to work, and a dense thicket served to conceal our operations. The laborers, materials, guns, and, in fact, eve
Parrott (search for this): chapter 8
t. It was commenced on the 4th and completed on the 19th of August. The sand-bags cost five thousand dollars. The battery was mounted with a two hundred-pounder Parrott, and great labor was required to put it in position. It was hauled to the edge of the marsh, where it was embarked on a raft in the creek, and thus floated down r batteries erected against the city were in such state of completeness that fire was opened and thirteen shells were thrown into Charleston from a thirty-pounder Parrott. The next day a one hundred-pounder was opened from near the same point, which threw fourteen shells into the city. From that hour to its surrender the firing w as discarded engines of war, fit to be laid up as bruised monuments, but no longer to figure in war's active operations. He chose instead the new projectiles of Parrott, and hurled at this proud fortress of the sea shot and shell that weighed two and three hundred pounds each. His operations astonished both friend and foe. Then,
April, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 8
nth of water-courses, which separates it from James Island. At a few points the tide breaks entirely across it. It is an island of fine white sand. A watchful enemy had carefully guarded this approach to Charleston, where the late rebellion had its birth. A strong earthwork, known as Battery Gregg, had been erected on Cumming's Point, at the north end of the island, mounting four ten-inch columbiads and one ten-inch mortar. This battery had been used in the siege of Fort Sumter, in April, 1861; but the work had been altered and strengthened, and some of its guns now pointed down the island. About the narrowest part of the island, where Vincent's creek approaches the sea, was erected Battery Wagner, on which were mounted sixteen guns and mortars, most of them of heavy calibre. This was one of the strongest earthworks ever built, and gave evidence of the highest order of engineering ability. The bomb-proof would accomodate a garrison of fourteen hundred men, and was strong en
25th (search for this): chapter 8
ards and fatigue in the trenches were sent to their respective localities. On the top of the magazine a soldier was stationed to watch the firing of the enemy's batteries, and when he pronounced the significant words, Johnson, cover! or Simpkins, cover! every one sought the friendly shelter of the neighboring sand-bags. In front of the parallel was constructed a wire entanglement to trip up assailing parties in the dark. Firing was resumed between the enemy's batteries and our own on the 25th, and there were numerous casualties. On the night of the 26th a shell from James Island burst amid a fatigue party mounting a gun, and wounded twenty-one men. The third parallel, four hundred and fifty yards from Wagner, was opened on the 9th of August. The approaches were pushed forward as rapidly as possible, sometimes by the full, and at other times by the flying, sap. The fourth parallel was opened on the 22d within three hundred yards of the fort. Immediately in front was a sand
September 1st (search for this): chapter 8
tapsco directing their fire at the for, while the others engaged Wagner. When the firing ceased on the 23d, the fort was practically destroyed for all offensive purposes. The barbette guns were dismounted and buried up in the debris. The gorge-wall and sea-face were so badly breached that in many places the arches of the casemates were exposed. The lines were entirely destroyed, and it appeared a shapeless mass of brick and mortar. Our batteries were occasionally reopened until the 1st of September, when the first bombardment terminated. In this time we threw six thousand two hundred and fifty projectiles, of which two thousand one hundred and sixty-five were solid shot and four thousand and eighty-five percussion shell. They were of the calibre of one, two and three hundred-pounders. The enemy replied feebly to our fire, and did but little damage. The sight was a fine one; the artillery practice as good as ever was seen. The scream of the shot and shell, as they took their c
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