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following statement as regards the sinking of the steamer Sumter on the 31st of August last:

He was asleep when the steamer left Cumming's Point with the troops that had been relieved from Morris Island. Just before the steamer reached the Cumming's Point buoy, he was awakened by order of Major Pringle, and went to the pilot-house, where shortly afterward he saw the buoy on the starboard bow. The first shot from Moultrie was fired, he thinks, before the boat rounded the buoy. After 2 or 3 shots were fired he had the whistle blown; it was twice. But as it appeared to do no good, he then thought of having the small boat sent to Sullivan's Island, to have the firing stopped.

Looking for the boat, he found that Captain Riley was getting it ready. He left, with Captain Riley, and when about half way toward Sullivan's Island, saw a light on the steamer, just between the wheel and pilot house on the starboard side. He had seen no light on the steamer before that time. The fort was still firing, however, and continued to until the small boat had actually reached the beach. He accompanied Captain Riley to Fort Moultrie, and the officers. were informed that the steamer they were firing into was the Sumter, one of our own harbor boats. He went back with Captain Riley to the steamer, and afterward used the small boat to go to Fort Johnson, with the hope of getting the steamer Chesterfield to come to the assistance of the troops on board the Sumter. The Chesterfield being out of order, he collected what small boats he could get, and the navy furnishing a few, he made way again toward the Sumter. It was then about 6 a. m. The troops were transferred from the steamer to Fort Sumter, and about two boat-loads to Sullivan's Island.

All the troops being then removed, and it being, as far as he can judge, about 9 a. m., he came back to Charleston.

Lieutenant-Colonel LAY:

BENJAMIN HERNANDEZ.

[Inclosure No. 5.]

BATTERY BEE, September 3, 1863.

COLONEL: In obedience to your request, I have the honor to make the following statement in regard to the steamer Sumter on the night of the 30th August, 1863:

I was aroused during the night of the 30th of August, and from habit looked over the bay to see if there was any change in the condition of things; thought I observed a dark object in the direction of Cumming's Point; brought a strong glass and thought I made out one of our river steamers; went to bed. Some time after heard firing; examined again with the glass, made out the same steamer very far toward the fleet; observed her for some time, and thought she was turning to come in. She showed a light, and I heard what I thought was a feeble whistle; concluded it was one of our steamers, and, not feeling myself responsible, went to bed again. I did not know until the next day that our fire was at that boat.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
JNO. G. K. GOURDIN,

Lieutenant, First South Carolina [Regular] Infantry.

[Inclosure No. 6.]

Statement of J. R Riley, captain of steamer Sumter. INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Charleston, S. C., September 3, 1863. James R. Riley, captain of the steamer Sumter, sunk during the night of August 30, 1863, by the firing of Fort Moultrie, makes the following statement:

It was low tide when he left Morris Island with the troops that had been relieved. The steamer could not come back from point to point, but had to go round the channel way, which is at Cumming's Point buoy. As he rounded that buoy, and at about 50 yards from it, Fort Moultrie opened fire upon the steamer. The first shot fell short, the second went over the steamer, and the third struck her hull under the starboard water wheel. The fourth shot killed 2 men; he does not know how many were wounded. After the third shot, he steered his boat ashore on the east end of fort reef. He then lowered his small boat and went to Fort Moultrie, to stop the firing. The fort kept firing until he landed on the beach. When he did so he begged the officers to stop their firing; that the steamer ahead was the Sumter, one of our harbor transports. A light, called bull'seye light, was shown on the steamer after the first shot was fired. It was held in front, on the upper deck, and on the starboard side of the pilot-house, by Major Pringle in person. That light was so held even after he got on the Moultrie shore, and was very distinct from that point. Besides the light, the whistle was blown also, immediately after the first shot. It was blown in the usual way, three blasts in succession, as when signals are made to Fort Sumter. He had never received orders on that or any other occasion to use signals for Fort Moultrie. After speaking to the officers of Fort Moultrie, he went back to the steamer and sent a small boat to Fort Sumter in charge of Mr. Benjamin Hernandez, with orders to telegraph immediately to Charleston for assistance.

When he reached his steamer after having been at Moultrie, as stated above, he found most of the troops still on board. Some, however, had jumped overboard, and were standing in the water about 2 feet deep. Small boats, nine or ten in all, and one of them from Sullivan's Island, in charge of Captain Pinckney, came to assist the troops. It was about 5 a. m. Several trips were made from the steamer to Fort Sumter, and as the enemy's batteries had begun to open on the fort, the troops rescued from the steamer were transferred from Fort Sumter to Sullivan's Island. Lieutenant-Colonel Dantzler, Major Pringle, and he-the captain of the steamerleft only when all the troops were moved. It was then about 8 a. m. The steamer was a perfect wreck, with about 4 feet water on the lower deck.

JAMES R. RILEY.

[Inclosure No. 7.]

Statement of John A. Wilson, adjutant.

TWENTIETH SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS,
Sullivan's Island, September 2, 1863.

This is to certify that before leaving Cumming's Point, on the steamer Sumter, on the night of August 30, 1863, I heard Maj. M. A. Pringle, quartermaster, remark that he wished Lieutenant-Colonel

Dantzler (then in command of the Twentieth Regiment South Carolina Volunteers, stationed in the sand-hills of Morris Island) would hurry down, as the tide was low, and if he did not hurry up the water would be too shallow to go straight to Fort Sumter, and, therefore, would have to follow the ship-channel, which was dan

gerous.

Respectfully submitted.

JOHN A. WILSON, Adjutant Twentieth South Carolina Regiment.

[P. S.]-The above was not communicated to Lieutenant-Colonel Dantzler, to my knowledge.

[Inclosure No. 8.]

OFFICE A. Q. M., TWENTIETH SOUTH CAROLINA Vols.,
September 3, 1863.

Colonel LAY:

COLONEL: I am the assistant quartermaster of the Twentieth South Carolina Volunteers; was upon Sullivan's Island, in Fort Moultrie, on the night of the 30th August. Slept in the fort at the request of Lieut. D. B. De Saussure, who informed me that the boats of the enemy were expected in that night, being promised the command of a gun in case they came. An order was issued requiring officers and men to sleep at the guns.

I retired to bed in Lieutenant De Saussure's room, he promising to awaken me should anything occur. Between the hours of 12 and 1 a. m., as I supposed, I was aroused by the sound of voices and footsteps inside the fort. Arose at once and hurried to the battery commanded by Captain [J.] Valentine. Found officers in consultation in reference to a boat, which was pointed out to me, and which was approaching cautiously from the direction of the usual anchorage of the enemy's fleet. The vessel, as seen through a glass, was flat at each end and low in the water, while amidships she presented the appearance of a monitor.

At this time a shot was fired from a 10-inch gun in _Captain Valentine's battery, the shot passing very near the boat. I noticed that it continued its course slowly, other shots following, each discharge making the boat more indistinct, as, in addition to the moon being obscured by clouds, the wind was blowing immediately from us to the boat, so that the smoke drifted away in that direction. I noticed lights signaling from Cumming's Point, and also a light at Fort Sumter, and, after some ten or twelve discharges, discovered a small and very dim light upon the boat. It seemed to me that it

was shining through a small hole or crack in the boat.

I omitted to state that at the fourth or fifth discharge I noticed that sparks were emitted from the bow of the boat, showing clearly that iron was struck by the ball. After this the firing was more rapid, as no doubt seemed to exist as to her being an iron-clad. After the light was discerned, the fact was passed around, and the firing ceased, but was afterward resumed, and continued until a small boat was seen approaching the fort from the boat, when all firing was hushed as quickly as possible. The small boat contained an officer of the Twentieth Regiment, the captain of the boat, a negro, and a boy. They gave the first satisfactory information as to the character of the boat. I heard no cries nor whistle, but, after all firing had ceased, heard steam escaping from the boat.

Some time after the small boat arrived, a dispatch by signal was handed Major De Treville from Colonel Rhett, announcing the character of the boat. The captain of the boat promised, upon his return to the boat, to wave his light twice if all was right. After waiting a sufficient time for his return to the boat, and seeing no light, I hurried to the signal station for the purpose of learning the nature of the disaster, and of dispatching to the city, if need be. When I had approached within a hundred yards, more or less, of the station, I heard a hand bell ringing furiously, and heard the sentinel at the guard-house, between the fort and the station, say, "Why don't somebody drag those signal men out of bed? that bell has been ringing this half hour." The bell appears to have been in the hands of a sentinel, whose business it was to notice for lights, and ring when any appeared. When I arrived at the signalhouse I discovered that the inmates were all asleep, and had to be aroused by myself.

Your obedient servant,

T. W. WOODWARD,

Captain, A. Q. M., Twentieth South Carolina Volunteers.

No. 4.

Reports of Maj. Motte A. Pringle, Quartermaster, C. S. Army.

QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, Charleston, S. C., August 31, 1863.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to report that in obedience to paragraph -, Special Orders, I proceeded last night in the steamer Chesterfield to Fort Johnson, for the purpose of embarking the troops intended for Morris Island. On my way there I called on the Chicora for the usual assistance in small boats. I was informed that Commodore Tucker had given strict orders that no boat's crew should leave the vessel. My own crew were not sufficient to perform the transportation, and nothing was left me but to take advantage of the obscure night and proceed directly to Morris Island. The steamer Chesterfield having broken down at Fort Johnson wharf, I was obliged to use the Sumter.

The troops and all their supplies were landed on Morris Island, and those that were relieved were taken on board without any molestation whatever from the enemy, although the night had changed into an exceedingly bright one, and at the upper end of the island there was a powerful calcium light. The tide had become so low that we were unable to cross directly over from Morris Island, and we were obliged to go a considerable distance around Fort Sumter. The commanding officer of Fort Moultrie opened upon us. We immediately stopped the steamer, blew the whistle, and waved a light vigorously, but although all these were seen and heard by several of the officers on Sullivan's Island, the fort continued firing until the vessel was sunk. Two men were killed, and several wounded. I had in the meantime dispatched a small boat ashore to inform them who we were. This boat fortunately got there in time to prevent the entire battery opening upon us, in which event the loss of life would have been terrible.

I would respectfully request that charges be preferred against the commanding officer, for ignorance and incompetency, inasmuch as he should have known that no enemy's vessel would have made the signals which the Sumter did. She did not attempt to proceed on the way; the cries of the men were distinctly heard on the island, as well as the other signals-as said before, seen and heard-and the approach of a miserable little flat like the Sumter should not have created so great a panic in an officer competent to take charge of so important a fortification.

By the extraordinary course pursued by the officer, valuable lives were lost, for I [have] no doubt many men were drowned in their attempt to wade and swim to Fort Sumter, and the most useful transport under my charge destroyed. I further state that, although there were in the cove at Sullivan's Island several small boats, no effort was made on the part of the officers and soldiers of that island to afford us any assistance whatever, and we were indebted entirely. to the officers and crew of the gunboat for our removal from the sunken vessel.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
MOTTE A. PRINGLE,

Major, and Quartermaster.

Capt. W. F. NANCE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

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COLONEL: In compliance with your communication of this date, I have the honor to state the following facts in relation to the sinking of the steamer Sumter, on the night of the 30th of August:

Having been refused any assistance from the gunboats, and my own crews not being sufficient to man enough row-boats to effect the transportation which I was ordered to carry out, nothing remained for me to do but to run the steamer directly to Cumming's Point. I would here state that I was detained two hours at Fort Johnson for the infantry which was to relieve that already on Morris Island, and that the Twentieth South Carolina Regiment, being on picket duty, a delay of two hours also occurred before they could be relieved.

After successfully landing the ordnance and commissary supplies, and disembarking and embarking the troops, I found that the tide had fallen so low as to render it impossible for me to bring the steamer over the flats between Forts Sumter and Johnson. It remained for me either to keep the boat at Cumming's Point till daylight, and run the risk of being shelled by the enemy, or to pursue the course outside of Fort Sumter. Little dreaming of being fired into by our friends, I of course adopted the latter alternative. When approaching Fort Sumter, and abreast of Fort Moultrie, not very far from shore, I was surprised to hear a shot whizzing over our heads. I immediately ordered the steamer stopped, the whistle to blow, and my.. self waved the best lantern (an oil one), I could find, toward the fort. Finding that the first shot was rapidly followed by others, I ordered the captain ashore in the small boat, in order to inform the commanding officer of the nature of the boat they were firing into; also ordered the steamboat to blow off steam, as an additional evidence that we did not mean to proceed on our way or withdraw.

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