Fort Fisher

 

 

[From the Wilmington, N. C., Weekly Messenger, June 22, 1893]

 

The Battles Fought There in 1864 and '65.

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An Interesting Address by Colonel William Lamb, of Norfolk, Virginia, Written at the Request of Cape Fear Camp, United Confederate Veterans, of Wilmington--The Truth of History Graphically Told.

 

          Colonel William Lamb, of Norfolk, Virginia, commandant of Fort Fisher during the terrific bombardment there during the civil war, read his address on Fort Fisher last week at the Young Men's Christian Association auditorium to a large and appreciative audience. He came here at the invitation of Cape Fear Camp, No. 254, United Confederate Veterans, and his address is the beginning of a series to be given under the auspices of that Camp.

          On the platform with Colonel Lamb were Major James Reilly, one of the heroes of Fort Fisher, Colonel William L. DeRosset, Mr. James C. Stevenson, and the Hon. Alfred M. Waddell. The pleasant task of introducing Colonel Lamb was assigned to Colonel Waddell, and he did so in a few eloquent words. Colonel Waddell thanked the audience for their presence, saying that their attendance was taken as granted that they were in sympathy with the Cape Fear Camp, in having Colonel Lamb here, which was to record the truth of history about the battles of Fort Fisher. These battles he pronounced the most terrific bombardment known to the world up to this time. He said it was universally admitted that the storming of Fort Fisher was the greatest artillery fight in the world's history, and he had once so stated in a speech he had made before a Grand Army Post up North. Up to 1861, the storming of Sebastopol had been the greatest, but he had heard from the lips of an Englishman, who was at Sebastopol, and who was also at Fort Fisher during the battles, that the storming of Sebastopol was absolutely mere child's play in comparison with the storming of Fort Fisher. He had talked with Admiral Porter, of the Federal side, and with other Federal general officers who had participated in the battles of Fort Fisher, and particularly with General N.M. Curtis, the gallant Federal general who led the land attack, and who was shot seven times and lost an eye in the last battle, and they agreed that it is conceded to be the most terrific artillery battle in the world's history.

          In presenting Colonel Lamb, Colonel Waddell said we have one with us who commanded Fort Fisher in the great battles, and in defence of which he fell, desperately wounded--a gallant officer who was once a resident of Wilmington, and whose memory would never be forgotten.

          Colonel Lamb was received with warm applause, and after a few introductory remarks he delivered the admirable address to be found in full in this morning's Messenger.

          He began his remarks with," Mr. Chairman and Comrades of Cape Fear Camp, United Confederate Veterans," and remarked that he had come to Wilmington in the autumn of 1861, and brought with him the little heroine (*) who came to share his fortunes of the war. After he had spoken about how hospitably he and his wife were received by the people of Wilmington, he entered upon the address that the reader can find elsewhere. He was generously applauded throughout, and there was very hearty applause when he alluded to our esteemed citizen, Major James Reilly. Colonel Lamb's exordium was very eloquent, and although the address was lengthy, the audience was disappointed when he concluded.

          In his address Colonel Lamb alluded to his visit to the old fort yesterday. He and his daughter, Miss Madge, and his son, Harry Whiting, accompanied by Major James Reilly, Colonel Wm. L. DeRosset, Colonel John D. Taylor, Mr. James C. Stevenson, Mr. W. M. Cumming, Mr. John W. Reilly and T. W. Clawson, of the Messenger, went down to Fort Fisher yesterday morning. The party took the steamer Clarence at 9:30 A. M, and returned to the city last evening shortly after 6 P. M.

          The party took a trip over the old fort, but little of it now remains except the profile. The land face is completely effaced by the ocean and the elements, but enough of the battery elevations yet remain for them to be correctly pointed out by those familiar with them. Battery Bolles, the first part of the fortifications built, was identified as the second knoll north of what was known as the" Mound Battery." The "Mound," which was sixty feet in height, still remains, but as it was merely a heap of sand it has been blown down to about twenty-five or thirty feet in height. "The Pulpit" was also recognizable, but no magazine or bomb-proof could be seen. The party picked up some pieces of shell and bullets, but even these relics, once so plentiful, have nearly all disappeared. The fact is, the historic old fortress is overgrown with a dense growth of bushes in many places, and blackberries are ripening and daisies are growing where carnage once held sway.

 

THE ADDRESS.

 

          About noon, on the 4th day of July, 1862, while in command of Fort St. Philip, near Orton, on the Cape Fear river, I received a most unexpected order to proceed to Fort Fisher, and take command. I went immediately, assumed command, and before sunset of that day, had thoroughly inspected the works. They then consisted of--first, a recently erected work, with two guns, called Shepherd's Battery. It was on the extreme left, and faced the sea, its rear being close to the river shore. Next, towards the sea, came a quadrilateral field work, known as Fort Fisher. It was a small work, part of it constructed of perishable sand bags, and its longest face was about one hundred yards. Out of its half dozen large guns, only the two eight-inch Columbiads were suitable for seacoast defence. One of the Federal frigates could have obliterated it with a few broadsides. Next to this on its right, facing the sea and opposite the bar, came a very handsome and creditable casemated battery of four eight-inch Columbiads, called after Captain Meade. It was constructed of turfed sand over a heavy timber frame-work, the embrasures of palmetto. Colonel Fremont has informed me since the war that he designed this work. A one-gun battery stood to the right of this, well out on the seashore. It was called Cumberland's battery, and contained a long-ranged rifle gun, the only piece of modern ordinance on Confederate Point. (This gun exploded subsequently when fired at a blockader, without loss of life, and was replaced with a ten-inch Columbiad.) To the right and rear of this and some two hundred yards apart, were two batteries, each having two barbette guns of moderate calibre, one called Bolles and the other I called Hedrick Battery, after the former gallant commander of the fort. There was besides these batteries a large commissary bomb proof. There were only seventeen guns of respectable calibre, including thirty-two pounders. There was on Zeke's Island a small two-gun battery, subsequently washed away by the sea. I thought, on assuming command, and experience afterwards demonstrated, that as a defence of New Inlet against a Federal fleet, our works amounted to nothing.

          I determined at once to build a work of such magnitude that it could withstand the heaviest fire of any guns in the American navy. I had seen the effect of eleven-inch shell, and had read about the force of the fifteen-inch shell, and believed that their penetrating power was well ascertained, and could be provided against. I obtained permission of Major-General French, who had placed me in command of Confederate Point, to commence such a fortification, although he did not altogether concur with me as to the value of elevated batteries, nor the necessity of such unprecedently heavy works. Shortly after obtaining permission, I commenced the new Fort Fisher, and from that time, the summer of 1862, until the morning of 24th of December, 1864, I never ceased to work, sometimes working on Sunday when rumors of an attack reached me, having at times over one thousand men, white and colored, hard at work. In the construction of the mound on the extreme right of the seaface, which occupied six months, two inclined railways, worked by steam, supplemented the labor of men. Although Fort Fisher was far from completed when attacked by the Federal fleet, it was the largest seacoast fortification in the Confederate States. The plans were my own, and as the work progressed were approved by French, Raines, Longstreet, Beauregard and Whiting. It was styled by Federal engineers after the capture, the Malakoff of the South. It was built solely with the view of resisting the fire of a fleet, and it stood uninjured, except as to armament, two of the fiercest bombardments the world has ever witnessed.

          The morning after I took command of the fort, I noticed a blockader lying a little over a mile from the bar, not two miles from the works. I asked if she was not unusually close in, and was answered no. I then remarked that she could have thrown a shot into the fort without warning, and was informed that the enemy sometimes fired on our working parties unexpectedly and drove them from their work, and that the fort never fired on the enemy unless they fired first. I replied that it should never occur again, and ordering a detachment to man the rifle in the Cumberland battery, opened fire on the blockader. The astonished enemy slipped his cable and retreated as fast as possible, and from that day to the final attack no blockader anchored within range of our guns, and no working party was ever molested, not even when hundreds were congregated together in constructing the mound.

           When the Federal fleet appeared off the fort in December, 1864, I had built two faces to the works; these were two thousand five hundred and eighty yards long, or about one and a half miles. The land face mounted twenty of the heaviest sea-coast guns, and was 682 yards long; the sea face with twenty-four equally heavy guns (including a 170-pounder Blakeley rifle and 130-pounder Armstrong rifle, both imported from England) was 1,898 yards in length.

          The land face commenced about 100 feet from the river with a half bastion, originally Shepherd's Battery, which I had doubled in strength, and extended with a heavy curtain to a full bastion on the ocean side, where it joined the sea face. The work was built to withstand the heaviest artillery fire. There was no moat with scarp and counter scarp, so essential for defence against storming parties, the shifting sands rendering its construction impossible with the material available. The outer slope was twenty feet high from the berme to the top of the parapet, at an angle of forty-five degrees, and was sodded with marsh grass, which grew luxuriantly. The parapet was not less than twenty-five feet thick, with an inclination of only one foot. The revetment was five feet nine inches high from the floor of the gun chambers, and these were some twelve feet or more from the interior plane. The guns were all mounted in barbette on Columbiad carriages; there was not a single casemated gun in the fort. Experience had taught that casemates of timber and sand bags were a delusion and a snare against heavy projectiles; and there was no iron to construct others with. Between the gun chambers, containing one or two guns each, there were heavy traverses, exceeding in size any heretofore constructed, to protect from an enfilading fire. They extended out some twelve feet on the parapet, and were twelve feet or more in height above the parapet, running back thirty feet or more. The gun chambers were reached from the rear by steps. In each traverse was an alternate magazine or bomb-proof, the latter ventilated by an air chamber. Passage ways penetrated the traverses in the interior of the work forming additional bomb-proofs for the reliefs for the guns.

          The sea face for 100 yards from the northeast bastion was of the same massive character as the land face. A crescent battery built for four casemated guns joined this. It had been originally constructed of palmetto logs and tarred sand bags and sand revetted with sod; but the logs had decayed and it was converted into a hospital bomb-proof. In its rear a heavy curtain was thrown up to protect the chambers from fragments of shells. From this bomb-proof a series of batteries extended for three-quarters of a mile along the sea, connected by an infantry curtain. These batteries had heavy traverses, but were not more than ten or twelve feet high to the top of the parapets and were built for richochet firing. On this line was a bomb-proof electric battery connected with a system of submarine torpedoes. Further along, where the channel ran close to the beach, inside the bar, a mound battery, sixty feet high was erected, with two heavy guns, which had a plunging fire on the channel; this was connected with the battery north of it by a light curtain. Following the line of the works it was over one mile from the mound to the redan at the angle of the sea and the land faces. From the mound for nearly a mile to the end of the point was a level sand plain, scarcely three feet above high tide, and much of it was submerged during gales. At the point was battery Buchanan with four guns, in the shape of an ellipse, commanding the Inlet, its two eleven-inch guns covering the approach by land.

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          It was constructed after a plan furnished me by Reddin Pittman, an accomplished young engineer officer from Edgecombe county, and, for its purpose, was perfect in design. I remember when he gave me the plan he had named it "Augusta Battery," after his sweetheart, but General Whiting wishing to compliment the gallant hero of Mobile, directed me to call it Battery Buchanan. When completed it was garrisoned by a detachment from the Confederate States Navy. An advanced redoubt with a twenty-four pounder was added after the repulse of Butler and Porter, Christmas, 1864. A wharf for large steamers was in close proximity to this work. Battery Buchanan was a citadel to which an overpowered garrison might retreat and with proper transportation might be carried off at night, and to which reinforcements could be safely sent under the cover of darkness.

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          Returning to the land face or northern front of Fort Fisher, as a defense against infantry, there was a system of subterra torpedoes extending across the peninsula five to six hundred feet from the land face, and so disconnected that the explosion of one would not affect the others; inside the torpedoes, about fifty feet from the berme of the work, extending from river bank to seashore, was a heavy palisade of sharpened logs nine feet high, pierced for musketry, and so laid out as to have an enfilading fire on the centre, where there was a redoubt guarding a sally port, from which two Napoleons were run out as occasion required. At the river end of the palisade was a deep and muddy slough, across which was a bridge, the entrance of the river road into the fort; commanding this bridge was a Napoleon gun. There were three mortars in the rear of the land face.

Having described Fort Fisher as I found it on the 4th of July, 1862, and as it was on the eve of the great battles, I will now take a cursory glance of events on Confederate Point during these two and a half years. Just previous to my going there the British steamer "Modern Greece," laden with provisions, clothing, liquors, and four pieces of artillery, with ammunition, attempted to run into New Inlet. Her draft being too great to enter, the commander of the fort, fearing capture, sunk her outside the bar and proceeded to save her cargo. I completed this work, rescuing four twelve-pounder Whitworth rifle guns, which afterwards bore a conspicuous part in the operations of the war, not only in my command but elsewhere. They were the longest range guns then constructed, throwing a shot five miles when at an angle of twenty, five degrees. After mounting them, the blockaders were obliged to move their anchorage still further from the fort.

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          Blockade running into Wilmington had just commenced. It was first carried on by any light draft sea-going steamer that could be procured and even by small sailing craft, but this was of short duration. The blockade became so effective that to run it successfully was quite a science. The fastest steamers were built for the purpose, side-wheelers or double screws, long, low and narrow, usually nine times as long as wide, and from four hundred to seven hundred tons burthen. They were all painted a light gray, making them as nearly invisible as possible; light lower masts without yards, with a small lookout on the foremast. Funnels could be lowered close to the deck in case of need and when possible smokeless coal was used. No light was permitted to be visible. No animal likely to make a noise was allowed on board, the only exception to the rule being a splendid Arabian steed brought in for President Davis. No precaution was omitted to prevent discovery. During my stay on Confederate Point at least one hundred different steamers were engaged in running the blockade in the Cape Fear river, and very few were captured before making one round trip. The squadron off Wilmington reported sixty-five steam blockade runners captured or destroyed during the war. The most skillful sailors were secured as commanders, and Confederate and British naval officers were engaged when practicable, the latter being on leave under assumed names. One thousand pounds sterling was paid to a captain for a successful trip. The pilots, who were most essential to success, received as high as £750 for the round trip. It was usual to pay half the sum in advance. The most fortunate of the commanders of my acquaintance was Captain John N. Wilkinson, of the Confederate States Navy, who in ten months made twenty-one trips in the British side-wheel steamer "Giraffe," which was purchased by the Confederate Government and named the R. E. Lee. Captain Roberts, whose real name was Hon. Augustus C. Hobart Hampden, and who afterwards as Hobart Pasha commanded the Turkish Navy until his death, was also most successful, running the "Don" between Nassau and Wilmington, with the regularity of a packet boat. Captain Murray, who was C. Murray Aynsley, now a retired admiral in the British Navy, and who received rapid promotion for distinguished and gallant service from the government, after our war, was not only successful, but forced to show more skill and pluck than the others, having to run the gauntlet of the blockade squadron by daylight on two occasions, receiving shot in his vessel each time.

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          As blockade-running was of such vital interest to the Southern cause, I did everything to foster it, and New Inlet, protected by Fort Fisher, became the most popular entrance to the South. Wilmington was the last gateway closed, and during the last year that I commanded the fort, there was scarcely a dark night that I was not called upon the ramparts to admit a friendly vessel. Had I time I would dwell on some of the many interesting events in blockade running at Fort Fisher, but it is quite impossible in the limit necessarily put upon this narrative. The running through the squadron and safely over the bar in daylight of the powder-laden "Cornubia," in 1862, and the "A. D. Vance," with a party of ladies and Dr. Hoge, of Richmond, with Bibles for the soldiers, in 1864 (the latter steamer rescued by a timely shot from a ten-inch Columbiad in the fort), were incidents never to be forgotten. The recapture of the" Kate of London" and the "Nighthawk," the wreck of the "Condor" under the guns of the fort, and the sad drowning of Mrs. Greenhough, the famous Confederate spy, the fights over the "Venus" and the "Hebe" on the beach of Masonboro Sound, where one of the garrison was killed and a Whitworth gun captured from a detachment of men guarding the wrecks August 23, 1863, by the United States frigate "Minnesota," carrying forty-four guns, which came close to shore and rendered a retreat with the guns impossible, were thrilling events in our camp life.

          We had a visit from President Davis; he landed at the end of the point and rode on horseback with General Whiting to the mound. As soon as he reached the top, giving him a complete view of the works, the sea-face guns being manned for the purpose, gave him the Presidential salute of twenty-one guns. We doubt whether many of the forts in the South could claim the distinction of having fired such salute. I would mention in this connection, that I never failed on the Fourth of July and the Twenty-second of February to fire at noon the national salutes of thirteen guns, although not required to do so by the Confederate States army regulations.

          I shall never forget a most interesting discussion between the President and General Whiting, at my headquarters, in regard to their preference as to the mode of trial they would prefer; the President preferring the usual trial by jury, whilst General Whiting preferred the courtmartial.

          Among the saddest events which occurred previous to the battles, were the execution of deserters. On one occasion one soldier was shot, and on another, two were executed at the same time. It is a solemn sight to see a command drawn up to witness the death of fellow-soldiers, and it is always made as impressive as possible as a warning against desertion. The condemned ride to the stake upon their coffins, the band playing the dead march, are blindfolded when shot, and are usually tied to the stake unless they request otherwise. The weapons are loaded by the ordnance sergeant, one with a blank cartridge, so that no soldier detailed is positive that his gun is loaded with a ball when he fires.

          The three shot at Fort Fisher had been farmers, and were married, and doubtless the condition of their families at home had much to do with their crime. They had not deserted from my command, but when captured, their companies were stationed at Fort Fisher, and it was my painful duty to see the sentences of the courts-martial enforced. They all died fearlessly.

          Monday, October 24th, 1864, was a day of excitement on Confederate Point. Information was received that Fort Fisher was to be attacked, and Porter was to command the fleet. Intelligence was also received through an anonymous letter at headquarters at Wilmington that our men were expected to spike the guns, cut telegraph wires and pilot the enemy to the city. This was conveyed to me confidentially, but I repudiated it so far as my garrison was concerned, having implicit faith in their loyalty, and subsequent events sustained my convictions. The same day General Braxton Bragg assumed command of the defences of Wilmington, superseding, but not removing, General Whiting, who remained second in command. This was a bitter disappointment to my command, who felt that no one was so capable of defending the Cape Fear as the brilliant officer who had given so much of his time and ability for its defence. When a few days after, a Virginia paper announced, "Braxton Bragg has been ordered to Wilmington, goodbye Wilmington," to many, it seemed as prophetic as the wizard's warning to Lochiel on the eve of the battle of "Culloden." I did not so regard it, but was as sanguine of success as that unfortunate Highland chieftain. The patriotic Whiting showed no feeling at being superseded, but went to work with redoubled energy to prepare for the impending attack. He visited Confederate Point repeatedly, riding over the ground with me and selecting points for batteries and covered ways, so as to keep up communication after the arrival of the enemy, between the fort and the entrenched camp which I commenced constructing at Sugar Loaf. He pointed out to me where the enemy would land on the beach beyond the range of our guns, and on both occasions the enemy landed at that place without opposition, although Whiting had prepared ample shelter for troops to seriously retard if not prevent a landing. It seems incomprehensible that General Bragg should have allowed the Federal troops on both attacks to have made a frolic of their landing on the soil of North Carolina. Six thousand soldiers from Lee's army within call, and not one sent to meet the invader and drive him from the shore. Sub-terra batteries were planted in front of the Fort and a strong palisade line erected from river to sea. A number of heavy rifles and columbiads were put on the land and sea faces to strengthen Fort Fisher and the armament of Battery Buchanan was completed. In the sixty days before the attack, our threatened works were so materially strengthened that we felt with proper co-operation on the part of the army under Whiting we would certainly defeat the enemy. On the morning of December 20th, the expected fleet was seen off Fort Fisher, hulls down. A stiff gale was blowing from the northeast. Only half of my garrison, five companies of the Thirty-sixth North Carolina, were with me, the other half having been sent to Georgia under the gallant Major James M. Stevenson to assist in resisting Sherman's advance to the sea. My effective force was not over 500. I immediately sent the slaves who were at work on the defences, to town, and put everything in readiness for action, expecting the fleet in at high tide. General Whiting paid me a short visit, and promised to send reinforcements. Commodore Pinkney was with him, and gravely informed me that the heavy frigates would drive my men from the guns on the sea face with a few broadsides of grape and canister. I respectfully disagreed with him. The gale increased in severity and continued through the night. The fleet remained at their anchorage during the 21St, the wind shifting to the southwest. During the day a detachment of three officers and twenty-five sailors of the Confederate States Navy reported. During the next day the fleet remained at anchor, their hulls still below the horizon. General Hebert, my immediate commander, also visited me; he was very blue, having really no men to spare from the reduced garrison of the other forts. On the 23d there was no demonstration by the enemy, but I was reinforced by Major James Reilly with two companies of his regiment, the Tenth, 110 men, and a company of the Thirteenth North Carolina Battery, 115 strong, and the Seventh Battalion Junior Reserves, boys between sixteen and eighteen years of age, 140 in number, making a total in the Fort of 900 men and boys. The new arrivals were assigned the quarters of the absent companies, and the regulars among them were soon at home. The old garrison had ceased to speculate on the impending attack, and in the evening hours before taps a visitor among them would never have supposed a battle was imminent. The violin and accordion could be heard from different groups, and a quartette was singing "Loreno," "My Maryland," and other camp-fire melodies. The usual games were being played around the tallow dips with as much zest as if a more serious game were not impending; here and there a few were reading their Bibles before retiring, but only such as were accustomed to end the day in such devotions. The formidable fleet had no terror for these stout hearts. The regulars who had come from the other forts were naturally discussing the situation, and after their comparative inactivity seemed pleased with the opportunity to see some active service in behalf of the cause. The brave little boys, torn from their firesides by the cruel necessities of the struggle, were as bright and manly as if anticipating a parade. They should never have been called out for service; it was robbing the cradle.

          What nobler women can be found in all history than the matrons of the Old North State, who, with their prayers and tears, sent forth their darlings in a cause they believed to be right, and in the defence of their homes? Self-sacrificing courage seems indigenous to North Carolina. No breast is too tender for this heroic virtue. Since the ten-year-old son of the Regulator begged the tyrant Tryon, after the battle of the Alamance, to hang him and let his father live, lest his mother die and the children perish, even the boys of this sturdy Commonwealth have been ever ready to rally in her defence. The first life-blood that stained the sands of Confederate Point was from one of these youthful patriots.

          The sun set in a cloudless sky on December 23d, and with its parting rays the gale subsided. At midnight the blockade runner "Little Hattie" came in, and Captain Lebby came ashore to report his narrow escape from capture. He had passed safely through the formidable fleet, and thought he had been followed in by one of the enemy's ships, but she had not molested him. He was about leaving when the officer of the day reported a vessel on fire up the beach about a mile from the fort. I went on the ramparts and saw what looked like a blockade runner on fire. Captain Lebby thought it must be the "Agnes Fry," which steamer had left Nassau with him for Wilmington, and I so telegraphed General Whiting. I watched the burning vessel for half an hour, and ordered the mounted pickets to be careful not to fire on any approaching boats. I had a good opportunity to note the position of the vessel, and considered her a mile from the fort. General Butler, some years after the war, informed me that the wreck was found and her exact position known, but I think the remains of the "Modern Greece" were mistaken for her, and that nothing was left of this vessel. Returning to my quarters, I laid down on my lounge to get a rest before the anticipated engagement next day, but I had hardly lain down before I felt a gentle rocking of the small brick house (formerly the light keeper's), which I would have attributed to imagination or to vertigo, but it was instantly followed by an explosion, sounding very little louder than the report of a ten-inch Columbiad. The corporal of the guard was called for in every direction by the sentinels, and the officer of the day reported the blowing up of the magazine of the vessel which had been on fire. I telegraphed General Whiting, at Wilmington, of the explosion, and retired to rest. In the morning the explosion was the subject of conversation among the officers, and some had not even been aroused by the commotion it created. I thought so little of it that the only entry I made in my diary was "a blockader got aground near the fort, set fire to herself, and blew up." I was surprised to learn from prisoners captured Christmas night that the explosion was that of a great floating magazine, the steamer Louisiana, with more than 250 tons of powder, intended to demolish the work and paralyze the garrison. The vessel was doubtless afloat when the explosion occurred, or the result might have been very serious. The shock was distinctly felt in Wilmington.

          Saturday, December 24th, was one of those perfect winter days that are occasionally experienced in the latitude of the Cape Fear. The gale, which had backed around from the northeast to the southwest, had subsided the day before, and was followed by a dead calm. The air was balmy for winter, and the sun shone with almost Indian summer warmth, and the deep blue sea was as calm as a lake and broke lazily on the bar and beach.

          A grander sight than the approach of Porter's formidable Armada towards the fort was never witnessed on our coast. With the rising sun out of old ocean there came upon the horizon one after another, the vessels of the fleet, the grand frigates leading the van, followed by the iron-clads. More than fifty men-of-war headed for the Confederate stronghold. At 9 o'clock the men were beat to quarters, and silently the detachments stood by their guns. On the vessels came, growing larger and more imposing as the distance lessened between them and the resolute men who had rallied to defend their homes. The "Minnesota," "Colorado," and "Wabash" came grandly on, floating fortresses, each mounting more guns than all the batteries on the land, and the two first combined carrying more shot and shell than all the magazines in the fort contained. From the left salient to the mound Fort Fisher had forty-four guns, and not over 3,600 shot and shell, exclusive of grape and shrapnel. The Armstrong gun had only one dozen rounds of fixed ammunition, and no other projectile could be used in its delicate groves. The order was given to fire no shot until the Columbiad at headquarters fired, and that each gun that bore on a vessel should be fired every thirty minutes, and not oftener except by special order, unless an attempt was made to cross the bar, when every gun bearing on it should be fired as rapidly as accuracy would permit, the smooth bores at richochette.

          Before coming within range, the wooden ships slowed down and the great ironsides and three monitors slowly forged ahead, coming Within less than a mile of the northeast salient, the other ships taking position to the right and left, the line extending more than a mile. As the ironside took her position she ran out her starboard guns, a flash was seen from the forward one, then a puff of white smoke, a deep boom was heard and over our heads came an eleven inch shell, which I saw distinctly in its passage towards our flag staff, past which it exploded harmlessly with a sharp report. The signal gun had been trailed to bear on an approaching frigate, and as I gave the command the landyard was jerked, and a ten-inch shot went bowling along, richochetted, and bounded through the smoke-stack of the "Susquehanna."

          This was the commencement of the most terrific bombardment from the fleet which war had ever witnessed. Ship after ship discharged its broadsides, every description of deadly missile, from a three-inch rifle bait to a fifteen-inch shell, flying wildly into and over the fort, until the garrison flagstaff was shattered. Most of the firing seemed directed towards it, and as it stood in the centre of the parade, all these bolts fell harmless as to human life, many of the shells, especially the rifle shots, going over the fort and into the river in the rear. The dead calm, which prevailed in nature, caused the smoke to hang around the hulls of the vessels, so enveloping them as to prevent the effect of the shots our gunners were allowed to fire from being seen. It was two hours after the bombardment commenced before the flag was shot away, and in that time, although thousands of shot and shell were hurled at us, I had heard of no casualty in the works. For these two hours I had remained on the parapet of the sea face watching intently for any effort to cross the bar, and in all that time, only one shell had exploded near enough to endanger my life. In the rear of the flag staff the wooden quarters of the garrison were situated, and these were soon set on fire by the bursting shells and more than one-half of them were consumed. The day being balmy, most of the men had left their overcoats and blankets in their bunks, and these were consumed. There was quite a quantity of naval stores, tar and pitch near these quarters, and they took fire and made an imposing bonfire in sympathy with the occasion.

          As soon as the garrison flag was shot away, finding the shaft so split and shivered that it could not be raised, I sent word to Captain Munn to raise the flag on the mound. It seems that the halyards had got unreeved and it was necessary to climb the staff to fasten the flag. Private Christopher C. Bland, of Company K, Thirty-six North Carolina regiment, volunteered for the service, and climbed the staff under heavy fire and secured the battle flag to the masthead. At once a terrific fire was poured on the mound, and the lower end of the flag having been cut loose, again, that heroic soldier repeated the daring act, amid the cheers of the garrison, and securely fastened the flag where it floated in triumph, although torn and rent by fragments of shell, until the victory was won. While this was being done, I went to the left salient and planted a company battle flag on the extreme left. My two hours' experience had taught me that the fleet would concentrate a heavy fire on it, and I wanted to put it where it would do the most good by causing the least harm.

          For five hours this tremendous hail of shot and shell was poured upon the devoted works, but with little effect. At 5:30 P. M. the fleet withdrew.

          The fleet, to our surprise, made no effort to cross the bar and run by our guns. One vessel inside would have ended the fight. Our guns and work would have been taken in reverse. The fort was built to prevent the passage of the bar, and remembering Mobile and New Orleans, we did not regard the battle as seriously begun until the American navy, with its accustomed dash, attempted the passage of the fort. It was this that made me reserve my fire, for nothing tempted me to waste my short supply of ammunition, not even the glory of sinking one of the hostile fleet. I rigidly carried out the thirty-minute rule, except when some vessel would be unusually impudent and spiteful, and I would personally direct several guns to bear on her and fire until she had apparently received a merited punishment. During the whole day, in answer to at least 10,000 shots, I only fired 672 projectiles. It was this deliberation which gave the fleet the false idea that they had silenced our Runs, and the fact that on this day I took care to fire the last shot as they were withdrawing, did not disabuse their minds of this erroneous idea. Not a detachment was driven from a gun chamber.

          In the first day's fight I had about one-half of the quarters burned, three gun carriages disabled, a light artillery caisson exploded, large quantities of the earthwork torn and plowed up, with some revetments broken and splintered, but not a single bomb-proof or a magazine injured. Only twenty-three men wounded--one mortally, three seriously, and nineteen slightly.

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