Newspaper Page Text
the FIRST GUI OF THE WAR.
WHO FIRED IT, AMD WHERE FftOM.
HOW FORT SUMTER WAS RoSfBARDED
AND SURRENDERED.
from the Detroit Free Frees.
Daylight is breaking over Charleston.
lc is th® mor»>ng -of the 12th of
April- 1861 —the most momentous
morning in the history of America.
Fifteen thousand citizens of Charles
lott have crowded liown to the esplan
ade, and every man has his face turned
towards the sea. To the right, as they
look down the harbor, is Morris Island ;
to the left Sullivan's, and midway be
tweeP i« Fort Sumter, grim and silent
« a d hot etett showing its flag.
Tbe great *ctowd trembles with ex
citement and speaks in whispers. A
bloody civil war is about to open. The
young uieu are read y to over
the'prospect, but the older ones look
grave, as they realize what war means.
>\>w the gray mut creeps up from
tbe waters of the harbor and floats
away, and the eastern horizon becomes
tinned with red. You can see more
plainly now. At the head of Sullivan’s
Island is the floating iron battery, and
it is to fire the first gun. Its echoes
will awaken the huge iron monsters
asleep in Forts Moultrie and Johnson
—at Cunnnings’ Point —at Point Pleas
ant, and other localities. There is a
fla< r over each Confederate fort and
battery, and with a good glass you can
see men on the ramparts.
From December to April the Con
federates have been busy trying to get
possession of tbe grim and silent fort
rising out of the waters of the harbor.
All demands for surrender have been
refused, and the only other way is now
to be tried. Day by day batteries and
forts have been erected almost within
rifle-shot of Sumter’s walls, and Mjij.
Anderson has been powerless. His
orders are to hold the fort, ami he has
no authority to fire a gun until it be
comes an act of self-defense. He has
«een the forts rise—the great guns
landed and mounted —the volunteers
march in—the ammunition brought
down from Charleston, and yet Federal
policy kept his guns silent.
THE BELL STRIKES.
Silence now 1 In floating bat
tery is an old, gray-haired man—Ed
mund Ruffin. He has sought the priv
ilege of firing the first gun ol the war.
The lanyard he holds in his hand is the
rope which will ring the belief destiny.
When that bell strikes a mighty Re
public will fall in fragments, and it will
take the blood of a hundred battles to
cement it.
•* Boom
The bell has struck. At the word
the old man has pulled the lanyard,
and a solid shot whirrs across the wa
ter and strikes the brick wall of Fort
Sumter with a heavy thud. For along
minute no one speaks. The echoes of
that gun are fraught with mighty issues
—the whirr of that shot means death
to a quarter of a million soldiers. As
the thunder rolls up and down the har
bor and dies away twenty thousand
people cheer. The war has begun.
There can be no backward step now.
Old and youug cheer and shout and
ahake hands and feel a glad relief,
THE ATTACK,
The Confederates had been all ready
for a week. Every one of the fifty
gons and mortars in position had been
trained with mathematical precision to
reach certain points with their fire.
Order was to fire from left to right, be
ginning with the floating battery, and
the gun which Edmund Ruffin fired was
soon answered by the next, and the
fire swept clear around the circle until
it came back to the same gun. The
projectiles used were solid shot, shell,
and bombs, and every gun had the fort
within easy range. At the time the
first gun was fired a reporter of the
Charleston Mercury—now on the staff
of the News—was standing directly
behind Mr. Ruffin, and to him I am in
debted for many particulars of that at
tack never 1 before published. He was
one of the first in the fort after the
surrender, and what he saw and made
a note of can be depended on even
when it clashes with the traditions of
the historian. Taking up the firing in
the order named, each gun was soon
busy at work, and the tremendous can
nonade shook Charleston from center
to circumference. One standing on the
eaplan'hde, three miles away, felt the
ground tremble under his feet as if an
earthquake was struggling to reach the
•'■wfacte. 'there was no excitement
among the Confederates after the first
five minutes. The guns were loaded
and fired with coolness and regularity,
The Hartwell Sun.
By E. B. BENSON.
VOL. VII., NO. 5.
and officers sought positions from which
they could note with their glasses the
work of every shot.
IN THE FORT.
i Maj. Anderson was not only expect
ing the attack, but was ready for it.
, With tbe echoes of the first gun all the
I tnen turned oat, and tlie morning roll
was called and the flag run up, with the
iron balls pounding away on the walls,
i each one jarring the masonry for seve
ral yards around and sending up a
■ cloud of dust. It was just after roll
call that a gun fired from Sullivan’s
Island dismounted one of the monsters
en barbette on the fort. The ball which
struck and dismounted tbe gun broke
in three pieces, two of which fell inside
■ the fort.
Anderson knew that it would be an
all-day fight, and his first move was to
send his men to breakfast. There was
no particular excitement within the
' walls, as each one had been looking for
the climax. It was during the morn
ing meal, over an hour after tbe first gun
was fired, that the first bomb-shell fell in
side the walls. Others had fallen short
or passed over, but the exact range had
finally been obtained.
THE FORT REPLIES.
After breakfast the handful of men
were divided into reliefs, and tlie first
went to the guns and opened fire in re
ply. As soon as the fort answered, the
Confederate guns were ordered to fire
one-third faster, and the result was that
within an hour not one of the barbette
or upper tier of guns in the fort could
be used. One was struck in the muz
zle and split down for four feet, and
three or four were upset and hurled a
dozen feet. Those left intact could not
be worked on account of the enemy’s
fire. When a shell struck the wall any
where within thirty feet of a gun a
shower of mortar and pieces of brick
wete iraiUXl vieiii vuo rv.v,
solid shot were continuously passing
over and around the guns. The dis
mounting of the guns was plainly noted
by a hundred men with glasses, and the
announcement called forth cheers all
around the circle.
FIGHTING SLOWLY.
Anderson could not have had the
faintest hope of saving Sumter, and he
seems to have fought more to gain time
or in the way of duty, than to silence
aay of the guns opposed. His firing
for the first two hours was very wild,
and even in the afternoon not one shot
hit where four missed. With the ord
nance of 1M64 he might have damaged
Moultrie and the floating battery, but
he could not have silenced them or in
flicted any great loss of life. So little
were his cannon balls feared that hun
dreds of Confederates stood outside
the works to get a better view of the
fight. With so few men in the fort
only a few guns could be worked, and
those but slowly.
HOT SHOT.
Before noon the Confederates began
» < « J iLa add «r|»lf*h
i using not
j entered the fort set a building on fire.
This emergency had been provided for,
' and the flames were quickly extinguish
ed, but to be kindled again and again I
during the day by the same means.
After the men had orders to desert the
upper tier of guns and serve the next'
they were well protected, and fired with ,
more regularity. When Fort Sumter
’ was ready for occupancy it was pro
nounced by engineers and artillerists,
to be impregnable. From twenty to,
thirty feet of brick, stones, sand and
earth stood between the balls of an
enemy and tbe defenders within. M ith
’in an hour after the first gun was fired
tbe fort was not only being knocked to j
pieces by old-fashioned ordnance, but <
was menaced by a danger never dream
ed of by its builders —that of the mor
tar firing. While subsequent events
proved that the stronghold could not be
battered so badly but that it could be
defended, it was a dozen times’ shown
that bombs could be dropped into it
from the sea as well as the land.
AS NIGHT CAME DOWN.
As night fell, Anderson called his
! men from the guns, and preparations
were made for what was likely to occur
during the long night. The last gun
fired from Sumter that day was at the
floating battery. The ball struck the
water a hundred feet short, jumped
Devoted to Hart County.
V
over the battery, and missing a small
boat by only two or three feet, sank
out of sight. Some believed that be
cause the fort had ceased firing it had
surrendered, and there was intense in
terest to learn the truth. No one could
set off in a boat and approach the fort
on account of the Confederate fire,
which did not slacken in the least rs
the target was lost sight of in the
gloom of night. When a shell struck
the walls and exploded a bright flash
dispelled tbe darkness for au instant,
and twice before midnight the bombs
and hot shot renewed the conflagration
inside. From the first gun in the
morning until 7 o’clock in the evening,
Fort Sumter had been struck over 1,200
times. Every barbette gun was dis
mounted, almost every foot of the walls
scarred and pounded, and there were
several spots where the walls were dug
out to a distance of ten feet. During
the day many a bomb fell into the iu
closure, and it seemed a miracle that
half the garrison bad not been wiped
out. U ■
THE MORROW.
When day broke again 20,000 pairs
of eyes were strained to catch sight of
the fort. The flag was rippling in the
morning breeze. Twenty-four hours of
the most terrific pounding had failed to
bring down the stars and stripes or
weaken the brave hearts of the defend
ers. The men went to breakfast, as
before, were again tolled off into reliefs,
and as day broke in all its glory’ the
guns began bellowing defiance. Long
before noon hot shot rekindled the fires,
and at noon the barracks were burning
fiercely. From this hour the guns were
fired only at long intervals, every man
in the fort being wanted elsewhere.
Much of the powder was thrown out of
the embrasure into the sea, followed by
all the loaded shells which could be got
at. but tllP PYnkiaiona in
were plainly beard in Charleston. Tbe
flames from the burning barracks could
be seen from Moultrie and other ele
vated points, and the Confederate fire
was redoubled to push the garrison to
desperation.
THE BATTLE WITHIN.
Utterly unmindful of the fight with
out, the garrison battled against the
danger within. At one time during
the afternoon the shell-room was on fire,
the barracks burning, the main gate
ablaze, and every wooden bnilding in
side the fort walls ready to go. Every
four or five minutes a great bomb drop
ped from the sky and exploded with
terrific violence, and it seemed wonder
ful that the garrison did not give up in
despair. The remainder of the powder
was wet down or thrown out, then
the men could only stand by and let
the flames have full sweep.
“ Have they surrendered ?” was the
query in the Confederate forts and bat
teries as the clouds of smoke bid the
flag, bnt now and then the query was
answered as the wind rolled the stifling
curtain aside and the old flag was seen
streaming out to the breeze.
THE SURRENDER.
Anderson would have held Fort
Sumter another night at least had it
rested with him to raise the white flag.
But the flag came from the Confeder
ates, borne by Wigfall. That the Sen
ator was acting solely on his own ac
count, and that he had not even con
ferred with Beauregard, was shown by
the fact that he rowed to the fort under
the fire of his friends, and that several
1 balls fell around him as he waited at
an embrasure for admittance. He had
I come to propose a surrender, and An
' derson was ready to come to terms.
' Federal history finds the Major in full
j uniform, clanking sword and stern dig
nity. He was begrimed with smoke,
covered with cinders and received
Wigfall with courtesy. The terms
agreed upon had to be sanctioned by
' Beauregard, and they were far better
terms than were ever subsequently ac
corded on either side.
Maj. Anderson’s position was an em
i barrassing one in every sense,* and Lis
surrender was probably considered the
only alternative. Had he maintained
i the fight he could not have been bom
barded out in -a fortnight, but at the
same time he could have inflicted no in
jury on the Confederates, and there
was not a vessel in the Federal navy at
I that time which could have run the
gauntlet and brought him succor.
M. Quad.
HARTWELL. GA.. OCTOBER 7, 1882.
I • Why I’e Didn't Explain.
: Some eight or ten years ago a silvery-
• tongued chap who claimed to be a fruit-
I tree agent swindled the farmers of this
• county in * shameful manner, aud one
resident of Nankin was so mad about
it that he catne to Detroit, searched the
, rascal out, and gave him a pounding on
i the street. After he got through his
i work he told the fellow that he would
lick him twice as bad if he ever put
eyes on him again, and it was a threat
to be remembered and nursed. About
three weeks ago the Nankin man was 1
traveling in Washtenaw vjountv, and
as he Journeyed along the highway he 1
met a travejer who so closely resembled
the fruit-tree swindler that he baited
and called out:
“Here you are again, you bold faced
rascal!”
“Yes, I'm here,” was the calm reply. 1
“Well, so’m I, and I'm going to lick
you until you can’t holler! I said I’d 1
do'itj -and I always keep my word,
(■limb down here I” .
The stranger “ dumb ” witbent a
protest, shedding coat as he struck
the ground, and a fight began. In about
twy minutes he hud used up the farmer
and was coolly replacing his coat.
“See here.” said the man from Nankin
as he wiped his nose with a burdock,
“you fight better than you did eight
years ago.”
“Well, I dunno. This is rny first
affair with you.”
“Didn’t I wollop you in front of the
Detroit Postoffice eight years ago ?”
“No. sir! I was in Australia up to a
year ago."
“And you never saw me before ?”
“Never!” "
“And was never in Nankin ?"
“Never!’’
“Well, I’ll behanged I Come to look
at you I can see that you ace not the
or ask me to? You must have thought
me mistaken.”
“Oh, yes, I knew you were
but I had just discovered that I had
driven seven miles on the wrong road
and was wishing some one would come
along and give me two words of sass.
I didn’t want any explanations about
it. A rotten sweet apple will cure that
black eye in three or four days, and
salt aud water will tighten your front
teeth in a week or so. 1 feel filly per
cent, better, and I’m ever so much
obliged. So long to you 1”
Monkeys.
The monkeys seem to amuse the peo
ple most. I like a monkey myself.
Do you know I believe it is a positive
loss to human beings that they haven't
got tails like monkeys ? Why a mon
key can hold anything with his tail,
just like you can with your hands. It’s
really a third hand. Now, s’posin’ you
had such a tail ? If you had to hang
on to the platform of a crowded horse
car with your hands, you could hold
your umbrella with your tail. If y ou
were walking up and down the room
at night with the baby, you could carry
him in your arms and give him a spoon
ful of paregoric with your tail. If you
wanted to take your family out for an
airing, you could grab a child with each
band and pull the baby coach with your
tail. I tell you, sir, it’a a dead loss to 1
you that you’re not built like tbe mon
key.— Max Adeler.
A Ward Net.
There is nothing like telling tbe
truth in a prayer, and when one prays
he ought to go directly to the point,
instead of rambling all over creation.
Wo always took a hearty interest in
the following: The Beaver family up
among the mountains, were a hard set.,
One day the youngest of the boys was
bitten by a rattlesnake and the old
folks were so scared that they sent at
once for the minister, who knelt down
and praj’ed : “O, Lord ! we thank thee j
for rattlesnakes ! We thank thee that
a rattlesnake bit Jim. We pray thee i
to send one to bite John; send another
to bite Bill; and O Lord! send tbe
biggest of thy rattlesnakes to bite the
old man, for nothing but rattlesnakes
. will bring the Beaver family to repent
l ance! Amen I”
> ■ 1 ■ - ""*
i A true strvugvlieiiiiig medicine and
■ health renewcr is Brown's Iron Bitters.
Terms, ft LOO in Advance.
An Old Timer.
Upon our table has been placed by
Captain John Butler a map, or rather
an ailna, of Georgia, printed in 1796.
At that time Jared Irwin was governor
of the State and George Washington
serving the last year of his second jhta*
identia! term.
There were but thirteen counties:
Fraukiin, Elbert, Wilkes, Columbia,
i Richmond, Burke, Effingham, and
Chatham were located between tbe
I Ogeechee and the Savannah riyecs;
•Greene, Washington aud Liberty be
tween the Oconee, Althamnha and the
Ogeechee; Glynn and Camden south
jof the Altamaha and the St. Mary’s
river.
There we.rc but twelve towns and til
lages : St. Mary’s, Brownville, Darien,
Sunbury, Savannah. Ebenezer, Elber
ton, Waynesboro, Louisville, Augusta,
Washington and Petersburg. Ixniis
ville, on the Ogeechee, was the most
wtetern white settlement. The map
shows ail of the territory of the State,
which embraced all of the country
westward between the thirty-first mid
thirty-second degrees of latitude, and a
large tract between the St. Mary's river
and the thirty-first degree—from the
Savannah river and the sencoast to the
Mississippi river. The only town in
this extensive tract west of Louisville
was Natchez, on the Mississippi river.
The nations of Indians whose towns
dotted this vast region were the Chick
asaw* and Choctaws west of the Al
abama and Tombigbee rivers; tlie
Creeks east of the Alabama and Coosa
to the Ocouee river ; north of the Creek
natii/n were the Cherokees and south of
them the Sem moles.
The map can be seen at the Public 1
Library in the American Atlas, pub
lished in 1796, which is un interesting
curiosity at this time.— Macon Trleyrttjth.
“BeaaHnnaewesfies.
There is a touching legend of why
the Jewish women preserve their beau
ty, while tiiat of the men has somewhat
departed. An ancient writer tells the
story quaintly: “When ye Christos
was driven to Golgotha, ye men of Ju- 1
dea Him execrated, wounded and de
rided, but ye women, oh ye women '
bowed their beauteous heads and veiled '
their eyes in their raven hair, aud wept
salt tears of grief to see ye Lamb so 1
tortured and slain; ami ye Christus 1
decreed that henceforth, yea and for- •
ever, ye eyes that wept should retain I
their beauty, ye foreheads that bowed
should shine as ye moon, and ye hair '
that was wet with ye dew of pity should
grow thick and lustrous on ye heads ot I
their children and their children’s Chil- I
dren to ye last generation."— N. I. !
C&n narcial Advert liter.
Toombs Canes a Man.
Tuesday last, Gen. Toombs caned 1
one of Barlow, Wilson & Co.’s min
strels at the Kimball House. Mr.
Robert Mclntyre, of the company,
picked np a roll of money in the rotuu-
Ida which contained SSOO. It was Gen. 1
! Toombs’ aud the money was turned I
over to him. At once the old General 1
1 purchased a handsome gold-headed cane
and presenter! it to the burnt cork ar
tist with an appropriate inscription. 1
When he goes North, he will show to '
*l*l
i his friends what southern gratitude is
composed of.— Atlanta Phowrgraph.
The wicked editor: A Little Rock
newspaper man while out in the coun
try stopped at a rude farm house for
dinner. Thinking that his profession
would insure extra attention, be re
marked to the farmer : “ Needn’t put
yourself to extra trouble for me, for I
am an editor." “A what ?” asked the
fanner, regarding the visitor with newly
awakened interest. “ A newspaper
man.” “ Wall, I reckon you can git
suthing to eat, anyhow. Some folks
rnout not giff you nothin’ on this ac
j count, but I never was very particular.
’ But hold on. Editor did I understand
! you to say ?” “ Yes, sir, lam an edi
tor, and however unfavorable it may
strike you, I must say that I am proud
of my calling.” “ I’ll bet SIOO that
you are one of the fellows that helped
to take hell outen tbe Bible. Reckon
I you’d better travel. Never mind that
. corn bread and buttermilk, Jute.”
WHOLE NO. :07.
WANTED BPIRITIAL AID.
A W»»» Prayed fwcNtreSirtM'Kwwwßlt
Io
Tbe Rev. Mr. Eagle sat in bis study
preparing a sermon on tbe “DiMKie
Mission of Moeen," when BUI Bluke
entered without ceremony. BluMe's
face did not wear a hippy expresamo.
“ do you uv, sir, “ said the dm*’
i.-tur arising. * What is Rajme.
please ?”
“I am Bill Bluke, the boxer of Dry
Fork. I dou’t reckop yon recollect
’ , jtijM»
“No, I don’t think that I ever had
the pleasure of meeting you before.*
“Some time ago," said the visitor,
sentiug himself and wiping his face
with a tidy cat Oeaign, worked by a
young lady and presented to U>e rev
erend gentleman, “you came out to
Dry Fork and got up u. revival.”
“Yes, I remember.” • , 1
“Yes, I reckon so. You jx rmmded
me to come up to the bench, and I
staid till you pulled me through I
shouted aa loud as-uuxybody . and done
everything 1 could for the good of the
concem.*’ ■ eutw
“Oh, yea, I remember nmr; tt wm a
bright conversion.”,
“And when I jinod (he church -
taHud to mo a tong time about the
wickedoess of the world. You. toid
that whenever I was weak, to pray and
I would receive strength. Wall, the
other day I had oecaston io fight a nig-
X*jr. He was too strong fin ms, and
Iwat me up pretty bad. Remembering
what you said, I went off aud prayed
for more strength. Then I tackled the
niggr*’ agiu. but he whipped me. Then,
thinkin’ that I didn’t prayed with enough
heat, I prayed agin, and agin tackled
the nigger, but ho got away with me.
1 hen I found out that the nigger had
been prayin’, too. Now sir, I want to
know if a nigger is to have more influ
ence than I've got. I know that he
got strength, for each time he bit me
harder. It struck me that I didn’t git
the right kind of religion, and as my
reputation as a boxer depends on whup
pin’ that nigger, I thought I’d come in
and git you to pray fbr me. Wish
you’d represent how important it is for
me to whop that fellow. Throw in a
few words about my standin' among the
“I cannot grant your absurd request
my friend,” exclaimed tbe miuiater.
“Such a thing is unheard of among
civilized people.
“You don’t seem to got at tbe spirit
of the thing," said tbe viwtor, leaning
over and spitting on the floor. “But
can’t you write me a pra'r ? Just say
how important it is fiir ree to get away
with the nigger. Throw in sometliiDg
about good croja am) thankfulness, and
many blessings, and wind np by re
questing strength enough to lay the nig
ger out.”
“You shock me, sir, and I greatly
desire to be left alone."
“Wall, parson, I’ll have to try my
band on you, I reckon. Git down and
pray for me, or I’ll have to mix with
you. You led me into this thing and
you’re got to help me out. Git down
now and send up a few petitions."
“You are blasphemous, sir. Leavo
my presence.” x
“I’ll have to jump on yon, captain.”
“Are you going ?*
“I say I’ll have to mingle with vou/*
“All right,” exclaimed the mrtiiscer,
and pulling out a drawer he seized a
pistol. "Don’t be in a hurry," remarked
the preacher, cocking the weapon.
“Yas, I’ve got to go. Reckon I’ll
have to take out license to poeaab be
fore I can get away with tlie nigger.
Good day," and the ministet was alone.
Smiling blandly, he returned tho- pistol
and resumed his sermon.
Dr. Ike was called in to see aae of
old Jake’s children. The next day
after Dr. Ike called tbe child died,
“ It’s mighty fortnnate d»t yer called
me in,” said the doctor to the bereaved
father. “ Why so, ssh ?" “Yer see,
I was called yesterday an’ deebiiedied
ter-day.” “Yes.” “ Wall, es I hadn’t
come de child would bab died day be
fore yisterday.”— Arkantnnv Traveler.
It is very comforting to a man who
is just recovering from a “rasssl" with
chills and fever, and has managed to
crawl out to the gate on a warm, sun
shiny day to get tbe air, to have a
neighbor come along and shoot cheerily:
“Hello ’• Been away, haven’t you ?
Had a good time? You are looking
well.”
If you are sick and troubled with
dyspepsia, Brown’s Iron Bitters will
; cure you.
Subscribe tor The Sun.