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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.