April 12.–At 1 a.m. four aides of General Beauregard (Colonel Chesnut, Colonel Chisolm, Captain Lee, and Mr. Pryor, of Virginia) came with a second letter, stating that as Major Anderson had been understood to make the remark to the bearers of the first letter, in taking leave, that he would “await the first shot, and if not battered to pieces, would be starved out in a few days,” it was desired to know what importance might be attached to it. The reply of Major Anderson did not satisfy the aides, who were authorized in that case to give notice that the fire would open. Accordingly, on leaving at 3 ½ a.m. they gave notice that their batteries would open in one hour.
At 4 ½ a.m. a signal shell was thrown from the mortar battery on James Island; after which the fire soon became general from all the hostile batteries. These batteries were, as nearly as could be ascertained, armed as follows, viz.:
On Morris Island: Breaching battery No. 1, two 42-pounders; one 12-pounder Blakely rifled gun. Mortar battery (next to No. 7), four 10-inch mortars. Breaching battery No. 2 (iron-clad battery), three 8-inch columbiads. Mortar battery (next to No. 2), three 10-inch mortars.
On James Island: Battery at Fort Johnson, three 24-pounders (only one of them bearing on Fort Sumter). Mortar battery south of Fort Johnson, four 10-inch mortars.
On Sullivan’s Island: Iron-clad (floating) battery, four 42-pounders. Columbiad battery No. 1, one 9-inch Dahlgren gun. Columbiad battery No. 2, four 8-inch columbiads. Mortar battery west of Fort Moultrie, three 10-inch mortars. Mortar battery on parade, in rear of Fort Moultrie, two 10-inch mortars. Fort Moultrie, three 8-inch columbiads; two 8-inch sea-coast howitzers; five 32-pounders; four 24-pounders. At Mount Pleasant, one 10-inch mortar.
Total, firing on Fort Sumter, 30 guns, 17 mortars.
At 7 a.m. the guns of Fort Sumter replied, the first shot being fired from the battery at the right gorge angle, in charge of Captain Doubleday. All the officers and soldiers of Major Anderson’s command were divided into three reliefs, of two hours each, for the service of the guns, Lieutenants Snyder and Meade, of the Engineers, taking their turns with the other officers in the charge of batteries.
Of the forty-three workmen constituting the Engineer force in the fort nearly all volunteered to serve as cannoneers, or to carry shot and cartridge to the guns.
The armament of the fort was as follows, viz.:
Barbette tier: Right flank, one 10-inch columbiad, four 8-inch columbiads, four 42-pounders. Right face, none. Left face, three 8-inch seacoast howitzers, one 32-pounder. Left flank, one 10-inch columbiad, two 8-inch columbiads, two 42-pounders. Gorge, one 8-inch sea-coast howitzer, two 32 pounders six 24-pounders. Total in barbette, 27 guns.
Casemate tier: Right flank, one 42-pounder, four 32-pounders. Right face, three 42-pounders. Left face, ten 32-pounders. Left flank, five 32-pounders. Gorge, two 32-pounders. Total in casemate, 21 guns. Total available in both tiers, 48 guns.
Besides the above, there were arranged on the parade, to serve mortars, one 10-inch columbiad to throw shells into Charleston and four 8-inch columbiads to throw shells into the batteries on Cummings Point. The casemate guns were the only ones used. Of these, those that bore on Cummings Point were the 42-pounder in the pan-coupé of the right gorge angle, the 32-pounder next to it on the gorge, which, by cutting into the brick wall, had been made to traverse sufficiently, and the 32-pounder next the angle on the right flank, which, by cutting away the side of the embrasure, had been made to bear on a portion of the Point, although not on the breaching batteries.
The guns of the first tier, that bore on Fort Johnson, were four 32-pounders on the left flank. (Of these, one embrasure had been, by order, bricked up.)
The guns that bore on the three batteries on the west end of Sullivan’s Island were ten 32-pounders, situated on the left face, and one at the pan-coupé of the salient angle (four embrasures being bricked up).
The guns bearing on Fort Moultrie were two 42-pounders, situated on the right face, and one at the pan-coupé of the right shoulder angle.
The supply of cartridges, 700 in number, with which the engagement commenced, became so much reduced by the middle of the day, although the six needles in the fort were kept steadily employed, that the firing was forced to slacken, and to be confined to six guns–two firing towards Morris Island, two towards Fort Moultrie, and two towards the batteries on the west end of Sullivan’s Island.
At 1 o’clock two United States men-of-war were seen off the bar, and soon after a third appeared.
The fire of our batteries continued steadily until dark. The effect of the fire was not very good, owing to the insufficient caliber of the guns for the long range, and not much damage appeared to be done to any of the batteries, except those of Fort Moultrie, where our two pounders appeared to have silenced one gun for a time, to have injured the embrasures considerably, riddled the barracks and quarters, and torn three holes through their flag. The so-called floating battery was struck very frequently by our shot, one of them penetrating at the angle between the front and roof, entirely trough the iron covering and woodwork beneath, and wounding one man. The rest of the 32-pounder balls failed to penetrate the front or the roof, but were deflected from their surfaces, which were arranged at a suitable angle for this purpose. We could not strike below the water line on account of the sea wall behind which the battery had been grounded, and which was just high enough to allow their guns to fire over it, and to intercept all of our ricochet shots.
The columbiad battery and Dahlgren battery near the floating battery did not appear to be much injured by the few shot that were fired at them. Only one or two shots were fired at Fort Johnson, and none at Castle Pinckney or the city.
Our fire towards Morris Island was mainly directed at the iron-clad battery, but the small caliber of our shot failed to penetrate the covering, when struck fairly. The aim was therefore, taken at the embrasures, which were struck at least twice, disabling the guns for a time. One or two shots were thrown at the reverse of batteries 3 and 4, scattering some groups of officers and men on the lookout, and cutting down a small flagstaff on one of the batteries. At one time during the day a revenue schooner which had been seized by the insurgents was observed lying at anchor between Sullivan’s Island and Mount Pleasant. Lieutenant Snyder, Corps of Engineers, who had charge at this time of the battery firing in this direction, directed two or three shots at her with such effect as to put one of them through the vessel and cause her to haul down her colors, the flag of the so-called Confederate States, to hoist her anchor and sails, and get out of range as soon as possible.
One or two shots were thrown at the hulks which had been anchored in the channel on a line between Cummings Point and Fort Moultrie, to be fired at night if our fleet should attempt to come in. As no person appeared on board, the fire was not continued in this direction.
The barracks caught fire three times during the day, from shells, apparently, but each time the flames, being in the first or second stories, were extinguished by a pump and application of the means at hand. Peter Hart, who was formerly a sergeant in Major Anderson’s company, and employed by me at the time as a carpenter, was very active and efficient in extinguishing the flames.
The effect of the enemy’s fire upon Fort Sumter during the day was very marked in respect to the vertical fire. This was so well directed and so well sustained, that from the seventeen mortars engaged in firing 10-inch shells, one-half of the shells came within or exploded above the parapet of the fort, and only about ten buried themselves in the soft earth of the parade without exploding. In consequence of this precision of vertical fire, Major Anderson decided not to man the upper tier of guns, as by doing so the loss of men, notwithstanding the traverses and bomb-proof shelters that I had constructed, must have been great. These guns were therefore only fired once or twice by some men who ventured upon the parapet for this purpose. In doing this they managed without much care, producing little or no effect upon the enemy, besides doing injury to the guns. At the third fire of the 10-inch columbiad at the right gorge angle, it was omitted to throw the friction wheels out of bearing and consequently in the recoil the gun ran entirely off its chassis, overturning itself and in its fall dismounting the 8-inch sea-coast howitzer next to it.
The direction of the enemy’s shells being from the northeast, north, southwest, and southeast, sought every part of the work, and the fuses being well graduated, exploded in most instances just within the line of parapet. To this kind of fire no return was made. The four 8-inch columbiads that I had planted in the parade to be used as mortars on Cummings Point were not used, neither was the 10-inch columbiad, arranged to fire shot and shells towards the city. The hot-shot furnaces were not used nor opened. The effect of the direct fire from the enemy’s guns was not so marked as the vertical. For several hours firing from the commencement a large proportion of their shot missed the fort. Subsequently it improved, and did considerable damage to the roof and upper story of the barracks and quarters, and to the tops of the chimneys on the gorge. The aim of the guns during the day, with the exception of batteries Nos. 1 and 2, on Cummings Point, appeared to be directed to dismount the guns of our barbette tier. Those from Fort Moultrie succeeded in dismounting an 8-inch columbiad, and in striking on its side and cracking a second 8-inch columbiad, both situated on the right flank. The roof of the barracks on this flank and the stair towers were much damaged by this fire.
The shots from the guns in the batteries on the west end of Sullivan’s Island did not produce any considerable direct effect, but many of them took the gorge in reverse in their fall, completely riddling the officers’ quarters, even down to the first story, so great was the angle of fall of many of the balls.
Three of the iron cisterns over the hallways were destroyed by shots during the day, and the quarters below deluged by their contents of water, aiding in preventing the extension of the fire. The shots from these batteries and from Fort Moultrie, aimed at the embrasures, failed to produce any effect. None of the shot came through, although one shell exploded in the mouth of one embrasure.
A part of the guns from Cummings Point essayed to dismount the barbette tier on the gorge, and the remainder to breach the gorge, or rather the pan-coupé at the right gorge angle. At this latter point, two columbiads and a Blakely rifled gun fired almost constantly. The effect of this fire on this day was to breach around the embrasure of the first tier at the pan-coupé to a depth of twenty inches, and to put one shot through the filling, consisting of brick and bluestone combined, with which the embrasure opening of the second tier had been filled. One shot was also put through the top of a loophole window on the second tier, another through the top of the main gate, and a third through the magazine ventilator at the right of the gorge, falling between the pier and the inner wooden ceiling.
Three of the embrasure cheek-irons that I had placed in the second tier loopholes, were knocked out of place. Several of the stones that had been placed in the first tier loopholes were struck, but owing to the lead run in around them to hold them in place none were broken.
The penetration of the 8-inch columbiad balls from Cummings Point was eleven inches at the first shot–and that of the twelve-pound bolt from the Blakely gun was the same, as ascertained by measurement. The latter, however, threw its shot with greater accuracy, and with less time of flight, than the former. The distance was about 1,250 yards.
The shot from Cummings Point that passed a little over the gorge took the left face in reverse, damaging the masonry of the parade wall, coping, &c., and splintering the chassis of one gun in barbette. As an instance of strength of masonry, I may mention that one 10-inch shell from Cummings Point fell upon the second tier casemate arch, which was not covered by concrete or flagging, and so good was the masonry of this 15-inch arch that the shell did not go through, although it bedded itself, and broke off from the soffit below a large fragment of brickwork.
The night was very stormy, with high wind and tide. I found out, however by personal inspection, that the exterior of the work was not damaged to any considerable extent, and that all the facilities for taking in supplies in case they arrived, were as complete as circumstances would admit. The enemy threw shells every ten or fifteen minutes during the night. The making of cartridge bags was continued by the men, under Lieutenant Meade’s directions, until 12 o’clock, when they were ordered to stop by Major Anderson. To obtain materials for the bags all the extra clothing of the companies was cut up, and all coarse paper and extra hospital sheets used.