General Taliaferro says:
As the enemy advanced, they were met by a shower of grape and canister from our guns, and a terrible fire of musketry from the Charleston battalion and the Fifty-first North Carolina. These two commands gallantly maintained their position and drove the enemy back quickly from their front, with immense slaughter. In the meantime, the advance, pushing forward, entered the ditch and ascended the work at the extreme left salient of the land face, and occupied it. I at once ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Gaillard to keep up a severe enfilading fire to his left, and directed the field pieces on the left of the fort outside the sally-port to direct their fire to the right, so as to sweep the ditch and exterior slope of that part of the work thus occupied, thus preventing the escape or reinforcement of the enemy at that point. The main body of the enemy, after a vain attempt to pass over our field of fire, retreated under the fire of our artillery and the shells of Fort Sumter.
Calling for volunteers to dislodge the force in the salient, Maj. J. R. McDonald, Fifty-first North Carolina, and Captain Ryan, Charleston battalion, promptly responded, with their men. Ryan was selected and ordered to charge the salient. Instantly leading his men forward, he was killed in front of them, and this caused his command to hesitate and lose the opportunity. Fighting bravely, the Connecticut men and those of Putnam's brigade clung to the parapet and the interior of the salient, and suffered from the fire of the Fifty-first North Carolina whenever they exposed themselves above the work, or made any advance toward the interior of the fort. It was now past 10 o'clock, and General Hagood reached the fort with the Thirty-second Georgia. This regiment was sent along the parapet on the left and took position on the bomb-proof, and so completely commanded the force in the salient, that on demand they surrendered.
Thus the second assault on Wagner terminated after a bloody and heroic struggle. It cost the Confederates a small loss in numbers, but a rich sacrifice in the character of the men who lost their lives in its splendid defense. Lieutenant-Colonel Simkins, standing on the ramparts and cheering his artillery, fell in the heat of the battle, "a noble type, living and dying, of the gentleman and the brave soldier." Capt. William H. Ryan, devoted to his adopted country, honored and prized by his comrades, the gallant chief of the Irish volunteers, was killed leading them against the force who occupied the salient. Capt. William T. Tatom, an educated soldier, cool, true and brave, fell by the side of his guns. Maj. David Ramsay, worthy to stand by the side of the heroic commander of the Charleston battalion, type of the cultured citizen, worthy of the blood of Henry Laurens, scholar, soldier and hero, yielded his life at Battery Wagner, an offering of his love for South Carolina, though he had opposed her secession from the Union he cherished. The commanding general lost his gallant aide, Capt. P. H. Waring, who was killed by the side of his chief. Two others of his staff, Capt. W. E. Stoney, adjutant-general, and Capt. H. D. D. Twiggs, were severely wounded. The total loss in the fort was 181; 5 officers and 31 soldiers killed; 17 officers and 116 soldiers wounded; 1 officer and 4 soldiers captured. The Federal loss reported was 1,515; 28 officers and 218 soldiers killed; 75 officers and 805 soldiers wounded; 8 officers and 381 soldiers captured. Among the slain were Brigadier-General Strong and Colonels Putnam, Chatfield and Shaw. Each of these officers displayed the highest gallantry, and died on the rampart or in the immediate front of the attack.
Major Gilchrist, describing the scene of conflict the morning after the battle, thus speaks of the heroic dead: "In the salient and on the ramparts they lay heaped and pent, in some places three deep. Among them Colonel Putnam, with the back part of his head blown off; still the remarkable beauty of his face and form evoked from his victorious foes a sigh of pity. On the crest, with but few of his "sable troop" beside the flag he had vainly planted, was the corpse of the youthful Colonel Shaw." The wounded, Confederate and Federal alike, were sent to the hospitals in Charleston, and received every attention from the medical corps. The Federal dead were buried on the field "to be unearthed again by the advancing sap and Federal shells."
We extract from the reports and accounts the following incidents: By the explosion of a 15-inch shell and the falling of tons of sand, General Taliaferro was so completely buried that it was necessary to dig him out with spades. During the heaviest period of the bombardment, about 2 p. m., the flag halyards were cut and the flag fell into the fort. Instantly Major Ramsay, Lieutenant Readick, Sixty-third Georgia (artillery), Sergeant Shelton and Private Flinn, Charleston battalion, sprang upon the parapet, raised and refastened the flag. Seeing the flag fall, Capt. R. H. Barnwell, of the engineers, seized a battle-flag and planted it on the ramparts. Again the flag was shot away, and Private Gilliland, Charleston battalion, immediately raised and restored it to its place. Lieut. J. H. Powe, of the First South Carolina artillery, so distinguished himself at his gun as to be specially and conspicuously mentioned, with Lieutenant Waties and Captains Adams, Buckner, Dixon and De Pass, for unsurpassed conduct. Lieut.-Col. D. B. Harris, chief engineer of the department, came down to the fort in the midst of the terrific cannonade. His cool and gallant bearing and well-known ability and judgment inspired confidence and contributed to the morale of the garrison. The signal made by General Gillmore to Admiral Dahlgren, fixing twilight as the time of assault, was read by the Confederate signal corps and duly transmitted to General Beauregard.
Maj. Lewis Butler, Sixty-seventh Ohio, in Colonel Putnam's column, was by the side of that officer when he was killed. He bore testimony to the care of the Federal wounded, saying that General Beauregard's order directed "that special care be taken of the wounded captured at Wagner, as men who were brave enough to go in there deserved the respect of the enemy;" and that "the effects, money and papers, belonging to members of the Sixty-seventh Ohio who died in Charleston hospital, were sent through the lines by flag of truce."
About the 11th of August, during a heavy fire on Wagner, a 15-inch shell burst in one of the gun chambers, doing much damage, and mortally wounding and killing several at the gun. Among the former was First Sergt. T. H. Tynes, Company A, Lucas' battalion of artillery. Capt. John H. Gary, seeing his gallant sergeant fall, went at once to him, and was overcome by the sight of his terrible wound. "I am dying, Captain, but I am glad it is me, and not you." Devoted to his sergeant, Gary burst into tears, when Tynes gasped, almost with his last breath, "I can be spared; but our country can't spare you, Captain." His noble-hearted captain fell at the same gun the next day. Gary was an accomplished young officer, of the highest promise, beloved and honored by his command, and distinguished for his personal gallantry.
Speaking of Wagner and its remarkable strength, Major Johnson, than whom no more competent judge could testify as to the qualities of a defensive work, pays this tribute:
Not only had the massive earthwork proved the thoroughness of its plan and construction by its wonderful endurance, but the batteries had been so well protected on the faces of the work as to admit of their being put into immediate condition and readiness for action. This was due to the thoughtful and energetic measures adopted during the day, such as stopping the embrasures with sand-bags, and even covering many of the lighter guns on the land side so as to prevent them from injury until they were needed. Most of all, the care taken to preserve the magazine from danger was now to be proved and rewarded.