THE DEFENSE OF CHARLESTON (1)
BY G. T. BEAUREGARD, GENERAL, C. S. A.

ON THE UNION PICKET LINE-RELIEVING PICKETS.

A TELEGRAM from General Cooper, dated Richmond, September 10th, 1862, reached me on that day in Mobile, (2) and contained the information that, by special orders issued August 29th, I had been assigned to the command of the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, with headquarters at Charleston. The next day I left for my new scene of action, where I arrived on the 15th of September, relieving General J. C. Pemberton.

The work before me was serious; all the more so that it had to be executed without loss of time. Rumors and threats were afloat, filling the columns of the Northern journals, to the effect that preparations were being made for such a land and naval attack upon the city of Charleston as would prove irresistible. This, at the North, was deemed all the more easy of accomplishment because the harbor and. inner defenses were believed to be insufficient to withstand a well-dir etched and prolonged assault ; and for the further reason that there existed several avenues of approach, by any of which, it was thought, the ulterior object aimed at could be attained.

That there was ample cause for apprehension on our part became apparent to me upon my first conference with General Pemberton, in which I learned that by his orders a complete abandonment had been made, not only of the

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(1) Condensed from the North American Review"for May, 1886. See also articles in Vol. I., pp. 40-83, on the operations in Charleston harbor in 1861.-EDITORS.

(2) It was to Blaorth of Mobile, that, on the 17th of June, 1862, General Beauregard had gone from Tupelo for his health, on a certificate of his physicians, leaving General Bragg in temporary command of the Western Department and of the army which had been withdrawn from Corinth before Halleck. Beauregard having reported this action to the War Department, Bragg's assignment was made permanent by Mr. Davis on the 20th of June. On the 25th of August General Beauregard officially reported" for duty in the field."-EDITORS.
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