THE CONFEDERATE DEFENSE OF FORT SUMTER.

.already stated, by General Pemberton to prevent a near approach from the south end of Morris Island. It was pierced for eleven guns, only three of which were heavy pieces. These were two 10-inch Columbiads and one 32-pounder rifled, which was of but slight service, for it burst after firing a few rounds and was never replaced. The other guns were 32-pounder cannonades and 12-pounder mortars, placed on the " curtain " of the battery, f acing the approach from the south. Most o disabled by the terrible fire opened upon them. The remaining ones were field-pieces and two 8 and 10 inch mortars the latter being used as " coehorns " against the enemy's , trenches. The work was strengthened and improved, its plan gradually modified; traverses and merlons, and bomb-proofs capable of sheltering some 750 men (not 1600, as General Gillmore says, p. 74 of his book), were added to it by my orders, partly before the attack, partly after, and while the enemy was still making his advance. By the addition of a light parapet which I had caused to be thrown across its gorge, Wagner had thus become a closed battery, protected from a surprise on the rear. But it never was a "formidable work"; and, in. fact, it fought the enemy from the 10th of July, 1863, to the 6th of September of the same year, with men, artillery, and with sand.

The defense of Battery Wagner, with the great difficulty of access to it and the paucity of our resources, while those of the enemy were almost unlimited, will bear a favorable comparison with any modern siege on record.

The last bombardment of Wagner began on the morning of the 5th of September, and lasted 42 hours, during which were thrown by the Federal land-batteries alone 1663 rifle projectiles and 1553 mortar-shells. The total number of projectiles thrown by the land-batteries against Fort Sumter up to September 7th was 6451, and against Battery Wagner, from July 26th to September 7th, 9875, making in all 16,326. And yet only Wagner was taken.

Sumter, though a mass of ruins, remained ours to the last, and Charleston was evacuated by the Confederate troops near the close of the war, namely, on the 17th of February, 1865, and then only to furnish additional men to the army in the field.

THE CONFEDERATE DEFENSE OF FORT SUMTER.
BY MAJOR JOHN JOHNSON, C. S. ENGINEERS.

My first recollections of Fort Sumter date back to my boyhood, about 1844, when the walls had not yet been begun, and the structure was only a few feet above high-water mark. Captain A. H. Bowman, of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, was in charge of works in Charleston harbor, and it was my fortune to visit the fort very frequently in his company.

A year and three months of my life were afterward spent in the fort, as engineer-in-charge, during the arduous and protracted defense by the Confederate forces in the years 1863 and 1864.

In the beginning of 1863 the fort was garrisoned by the greater part of the 1st South Carolina regiment of artillery, enlisted as regulars, and commanded by Colonel Alfred Rhett, Lieut.-Colonel Joseph A. Yates, and Major Ormsby Blanding.
The drill, discipline, and efficiency of the garrison were maintained at the height of excellence.

A spirit of emulation existed between this garrison and that of Fort Moultrie, on the opposite side of the channel, consisting of the 1st South Carolina Infantry (regulars), commanded by Colonel William Butler. The people of the State and city were proud of the two regiments ; and the Charlestonians thought of no greater pleasure for their visitors than to give them an afternoon trip down the harbor to see the dress-parade and hear the band play at Fort Sumter. The fine record of this garrison, beginning with the 7th of April, 1863, when Rear-