141. On the night of September 6, the sapper crowned the crest of the counterscarp on the east front, masking all the guns of the work. The following order, to carry the place by assault at the hour of low tide on the following morning, was issued late in the evening:

142.

SPECIAL ORDERS,

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
In the Field, Morris Island, September 6, 1863.

*

I. Fort Wagner will be assaulted at 9 a. m. to-morrow, the 7th instant, by troops. to be designated by Brigadier-General Terry, who will command in person. The artillery fire on the work will be kept up until the troops mount the parapet, and will then cease at a given signal.

The assault will be in three columns, as follows:

First. A column of two small regiments of picked troops will debouch from the advanced trenches, mount the parapet of the sea front and the bomb-proof and traverses, spike the guns, and seize and hold the sally-port.

Second. A column of one brigade drawn up right in front in the trenches, in rear of the first column, will debouch upon the beach by regiments, pass the sea front of the fort, file sharp to the left, and mount the parapet of the north and west faces, regiment after regiment, as they gain the requisite distances.

Third. A column of one brigade, left in front, will follow behind the second column, and deploy across the island in rear of Fort Wagner, facing Cumming's Point, with skirmishers well out in front.

II. The guards of the trenches will be held in reserve at their appropriate stations. The balance of the infantry force of General Terry's command will be kept under arms from and after 8 o'clock in the morning near the Beacon House. The batteries of field artillery will be held ready for action near the lookout. By order of Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore:

ED. W. SMITH, Assistant Adjutant-General.

143. About midnight on the 6th, it was reported to me that the enemy was evacuating the island, and such was the celerity of his flight, that nearly the whole of his force made its escape. Seventy men were intercepted on the water and taken.

Our forces at once occupied the north end of the island. Eighteen pieces of ordnance of various calibers were captured in Fort Wagner and seven in Battery Gregg.

144. Fort Wagner was found to be a work of the most formidable. character; far more so, indeed, than the most exaggerated statements of prisoners and deserters had led us to expect. Its bomb-proof shelter, capable of containing from 1,500 to 1,600 men, remained practically intact after the most severe bombardment to which any earthwork was ever exposed. (See Plate III. t) The history of sieges furnishes no parallel case.

145. The attempt to form an opening in the bomb-proof by breaching failed for want of time. The heavy projectiles were slowly eating their way into it, although their effect was astonishingly slight. Indeed. the penetration of rifle projectiles into a sand parapet, standing at the natural slope, or approximately so, is but trifling. They are almost invariably deflected along the line of least resistance, or departing but slightly from it, scooping out in their progress a small hollow, the contents of which are scattered but a short distance.

Under such circumstances, the general effect produced by firing a large number of successive shots within a small area of, say, from

*For General Terry's detailed instructions, see addenda to Gillmore's reports of operations on Morris Island.

Reference is to the "Plan of a portion of the siege operations against the defenses of Charleston Harbor prior to the capture of Fort Wagner," &c., which is to appear in Atlas.

15 to 20 feet square, is by no means commensurate with the expenditure of ammunition involved.

[146.] The section, Plate V,* is taken along the line where this two days' firing upon the bomb-proof produced the greatest effect; in other words, along the axis of the breach produced.

Tabular statement of firing at Fort Wagner from the breaching guns during the two days' bombardment, September 5 and 6, 1863.

The total quantity of sand removed to such a distance that it no longer afforded the bomb-proof shelter any protection against the projectiles from the breaching guns, is estimated, from a close personal examination, at 165 cubic yards. It requires, as will be seen from the above tables, 544 gross tons of metal to effect it.

147. Meanwhile, at the request of Admiral Dahlgren, three days' firing, commencing August 30, from a portion of our breaching guns, had been expended on Fort Sumter, and it was known that all the barbette guns of that work had been dismounted. Deserters and prisoners reported that but one casemate gun remained serviceable, and that was located on the northwest face, near its junction with the gorge, and consequently looked up the harbor.

148. Early on the morning of September 7, Rear-Admiral Dahlgren sent a flag of truce to Fort Sumter, demanding its surrender, notifying me, at the same time, by signals, that if the summons was not complied with, he should "move up with all the iron-clads and engage it. The demand was refused.

149. During the night of the 8th of September a naval force attempted to carry Sumter by assault, and was repulsed with considerable loss. Before I was informed by the admiral of his intentions to storm the work, I had made arrangements to do the same thing, but the force assembled for that purpose was detained by low tide at its rendezvous in the creek west of Morris. Island, until after the naval attack had failed. The project was then abandoned.

The only arrangements for concert of action between the two parties that were finally made, were intended simply to prevent accident or collision between them. Each party was deemed in itself sufficiently strong for the object in view.

150. The capture of all of Morris Island and the demolition of Fort Sumter completed those portions of the plan of joint operations against the defenses of Charleston in which the land forces were to take the lead.

*See plate, opposite.

VERTICAL SECTION ON LINE AB.

THE APPROXIMATE RESULTANT OF FIRE FROM THE SEVERAL BATTERIES SEPT. ST 6 SCALE DOT,-Im

PLATE V.

Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg were at once strengthened, and additional defensive works on the island constructed. A powerful armament of mortars and rifled guns was placed in position on the north end of the island, to be held in readiness to co-operate with the iron-clads whenever they should be prepared to move in, and also to be used as occasion might require, to prevent the mounting of guns on the ruins of Sumter.

151. The three days' firing on Fort Sumter with a portion of the breaching guns in the left batteries and second parallel, ending September 1, did not materially change the appearance of the work, a shown at the close of the first bombardment, August 23. Only the gorge wall was breached. The southeast face, the only one seen from our position, excepting the gorge, remained standing, although badly shattered in many places. All the barbette guns of the fort had been either dismounted by our fire or removed by the enemy, and most of the parapet had been knocked away.

SECOND BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER.

152. In consequence of the reports of prisoners and deserters, from time to time, that the enemy were at work mounting some guns on the southeast face of Sumter, and also with the intention to cut down that face so as to enable us, with the fire from our guns, to take more completely in reverse the casemates on the channel fronts, the heavy rifled guns in Wagner and Gregg were opened on the work on the 26th of October.

153. In a few days the southeast face was more completely a ruin than the gorge wall. The débris formed a continuous and practicable ramp reaching from the summit of the breach to the level of the water. (See the supplementary report of Brigadier-General Turner, chief of artillery.*)

154. With the second bombardment of Fort Sumter ended all aggressive operations for the season against the defenses of Charleston. A slow and irregular fire upon the fort was kept up for some time to prevent the mounting of guns on the ruins pending the completion of the naval preparations for entering the harbor, .which, for various reasons, had been delayed greatly beyond the expectations of the admiral.

On the 20th of October, I learned from Admiral Dahlgren that there would probably be no attempt made to remove the obstructions and enter the inner harbor until more turret iron-clads arrived. Several were expected.

155. The bombardment of the city of Charleston, which began from the Marsh Battery on the night of the 21st of August, was not resumed after the bursting, at the 36th round, of the 8-inch Parrott rifle, which formed the entire armament of that battery, until we were able to establish guns on Cumming's Point. No military results of great value were ever expected from this firing. As an experiment with heavy guns to test their endurance under the severest trial to which they could possibly be subjected in service, the results were not only highly interesting and novel, but very instructive.

None but Parrott rifles and shells were used for this purpose. Some of them were incendiary shells prepared at the West Point Foundry; others contained pieces of port-fire in addition to the explosive charge, while others contained powder only.

* Printed as No. 3, Operations on Morris Island.

There is, perhaps, no better system of rifled cannon than Parrotts; certainly none more simple in construction, more easily understood, or that can with more safety be placed in the hands of inexperienced men for use.

The enormous and constant demand under which it has been rap, idly developed, particularly among the larger calibers, to its present state of efficiency and excellence, gives promise of a degree of perfection that will leave little to be desired at no distant future.