If there had been no Fort Moultrie, or Batteries Bee and Beauregard on Sullivan's island, and no Wagner or Cummings point battery, the noble walls of Sumter might have crumbled beneath the powerful impact of tons of iron; but the writer believes that the barbette and casemate batteries of the east and northeast faces of Sumter, directed, as they were, by skilled and heroic officers, and manned by gallant soldiers, would have been equal to the disabling of the fleet before its powerful guns could have effected a serious breach.
The action began at 3 p. m., by a shot from Fort Moultrie, directed at the Weehawken. Fort Sumter and Batteries Bee, Beauregard, Wagner and Cummings Point opened their fire, and the action at once became general. All the batteries had been instructed to concentrate on the leading assailants, and following these directions, the concentration of fire soon disabled the Weehawken, and she steamed out of range, giving place to the next monitor, which steamed into action on the curve of an ellipse. The Ironsides came into action first against Moultrie, and then Sumter, approaching within 1,600 or 1,700 yards, but the fire of the forts and the batteries directed upon her drove her beyond range. The Keokuk, a double-turreted monitor, gallantly steamed under the walls of Sumter, within 900 yards of her batteries, and opened with her 11-inch guns. Sumter, Moultrie, Bee and Cummings Point concentrated their fire upon her, and for forty minutes she fought heroically for the breach in Sumter. The 10-inch shot and 7-inch bolts penetrated her armor, her hull and turrets were pierced, her boats shot away, the plating at her bow was ripped up for six feet in length and two and a half in width, and she was barely able to retreat to an anchorage off Morris island, where she sank. The battle was continued for two hours and twenty-five minutes, when Admiral Du Pont signaled his vessels to retreat. He had made a gallant fight, but his ironclads could not stand the fire of Ripley's guns, and his defeat was decisive. "I attempted to take the bull by the horns," he wrote General Hunter, the day after the battle, "but he was too much for us. These monitors are miserable failures where forts are concerned; the longest was one hour and the others forty-five minutes under fire, and five of the eight were wholly or partially disabled."
By the 12th of April the surviving monitors had been taken to Port Royal or sent north for repairs, and the Ironsides, much damaged, was being repaired at her moorings on the blockading line outside the bar. There is no report at hand of the casualties in the fleet.
In the forts and batteries the casualties were very few. At Fort Sumter five men were wounded by splinters from a traverse. Their names are not reported. At Fort Moultrie the flagstaff was shot away, and falling, mortally wounded Private Lusty, Company F. Private Joseph Harrison, Company G, lost a finger, but after having his wound dressed, returned to his gun. Both these gallant men were of Colonel Butler's regiment. At Battery Wagner there were 8 casualties, 3 killed and 5 wounded, by the explosion of an ammunition chest. Sergt. G. W. Langley and Privates Amos Fitzgerald and Jerry Dyer were killed, and Lieut. G. E. Steedman, Corp. Matthew Martin and Privates Samuel Red, Marion Quillan and Thomas Prince were wounded. Total casualties, 4 killed and 11 wounded. Fort Sumter suffered some damage, but none of a serious nature. The other forts were entirely unhurt. At Sumter an 8-inch columbiad burst, a 42-pounder rifled gun was dismounted by recoil, and a 10-inch gun was dismounted by having part of its carriage shot away. The walls of the fort were not materially damaged. Fifty-five shot struck the east and northeast faces, damaging several of the embrasures to the casemates, cracking the parapet wall in places, and dislodging the masonry surrounding the spot struck. Three shot, striking very near each other, on the east face and near the parapet, made a crater 10 feet high, 8 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. In other places the penetrations were 2, 3 and in two instances as much as 5 feet, with craters from 2 to 6 feet in height, and from 1 to 5 feet in width. This damage was speedily repaired, and the fort stood as strong as ever for battle in forty-eight hours after the action.
The brilliant victory of the forts over the much-dreaded ironclad fleet was celebrated on every hand, and the gallant commanders of batteries, their officers, and their men, were the boast and the toast of the day. The legislature being in session at the time, passed, amid much enthusiasm, a joint resolution of thanks to the officers and men for the gallant defense of Charleston "against the onset of the foe," and hailed their achievement as the bright harbinger of a still more glorious victory.
The forts and batteries engaged were garrisoned and commanded by the following troops and officers:
Fort Moultrie was garrisoned by a detachment of the First South Carolina regular infantry, drilled as artillery, and commanded by Col. William Butler, Maj. T. M. Baker second in command. The guns engaged were manned by Company A, Capt. T. A. Huguenin; Company E, Capt. R. Press. Smith; Company F, Capt. B. S. Burnet; Company G, First Lieut. E. A. Erwin, and the mortars, Company K, Capt. C. H. Rivers. Staff: Capt. W. H. Wigg, Lieut. Mitchell King, Capt. G. A. Wardlaw, Lieut. Thomas Williams.
Battery Bee was garrisoned by another detachment of the First South Carolina, and commanded by Lieut.-Col. J. C. Simkins. The guns were fought by Company C, Capt. Robert De Treville; Company H, Capt. Warren Adams, and Company I, Capt. W. T. Tatom.
Battery Beauregard was commanded by Capt. J. A. Sitgreaves, with Company K, First artillery, Lieut. W. E. Erwin commanding, and Company B, First infantry, Capt. J. H. Warley commanding. The commanders on Morris island have already been referred to.
Fort Sumter was garrisoned by seven companies of the First South Carolina regular artillery, Col. Alfred Rhett, Lieut.-Col. Joseph A. Yates, Maj. Ormsby Blanding. Colonel Rhett commanded the fort, Lieutenant-Colonel Yates the barbette guns, and Major Blanding the casemate batteries. Lieutenant Clarkson's detachment of Company B, Charleston battalion, was posted in second tier of casement as sharpshooters. Companies B and D, Capts. D. G. Fleming and F. H. Harleston, fought the guns on the east and northeast parapet batteries. The other companies were stationed as follows: Company F, Capt. J. G. King, northwest parapet; Company I, Capt. J. C. Mitchel, west parapet; Company E, Capt. J. R. Macbeth, mortar battery and east casemate battery; Company G, Capt. W. H. Peronneau, northeast casemate battery; detachments of Companies C and E, Capt. C. W. Parker, northwest casemate battery. Lieut. W. H. Grimball, with regimental band, battery in second tier of casemates. Staff: Lieut. S. C. Boyleston, adjutant; Capt. T. M. Barker, quartermaster; Capt. S. P. Ravenel, chief of staff; Lieut. J. B. Heyward, ordnance officer; Rev. N. Aldrich, chaplain; Lieut. Edward J. White, engineer officer. Signal corps: T. P. Lowndes, Arthur Grimball, Joseph Seabrook.