"Many of our officers were now so elated with the apparent result of demolition, that they urged General Gillmore to allow them to assault the fort as soon as it became dark. General Gillmore yielded to the solicitations of the officers, but very reluctantly, for he was not convinced that the proper time had arrived; but the order was finally given for the attack to take place just after dark. Fatal error as to time, for our troops in the daytime would have been successful, since they would not have collided with each other; they could have seen their foes, and the arena of combat, and the fleet could have assisted them with their guns, and prevented the landing of the re-enforcements from Charleston.

"It was a beautiful and calm evening when the troops who were to form the assaulting column moved out on to the broad and smooth beach left by the receding tide.

"The last rays of the setting sun illumined the grim walls and shattered mounds of Wagner with a flood of crimson light, too soon, alas! to be deeper dyed with the red blood of struggling men.

"Our men halted, and formed their ranks upon the beach, a mile and more away from the deadly breach. Quietly they stood leaning upon their guns, and awaiting the signal of attack. There stood, side by side, the hunter of the far West, the farmer of the North, the stout lumber-man from the forests of Maine, and the black Phalanx Massachusetts had armed and sent to the field.

"In this hour of peril there was no jealousy, no contention. The black Phalanx were to lead the forlorn hope. And they were proud of their position, and conscious of its danger. Although we had seen many of the famous regiments of the English, French, and Austrian armies, we were never more impressed with the fury and majesty of war than when we looked upon the solid mass of the thousand black men, as they stood, like giant statues of marble, upon the snow-white sands of the beach, waiting the order to advance. And little did we think, as we gazed with admiration upon that splendid column of four thousand brave men, that ere an hour had passed, half of them would be swept away, maimed or crushed in the gathering whirlwind of death! Time passed quickly, and twilight was fast deepening into the darkness of night, when the signal was given. Onward moved the chosen and ill-fated band, making the earth tremble under the heavy and monotonous tread of the dense mass of thousands of men. Wagner lay black and grim in the distance, and silent. Not a glimmer of light was seen. Not a gun replied to the bombs which our mortars still constantly hurled into the fort. Not a shot was returned to the terrific volleys of the giant frigate Ironsides, whose shells, ever and anon, plunged into the earthworks, illuminating their recesses for an instant in the glare of their explosion, but revealing no signs of life.

"Were the rebels all dead? Had they fled from the pitiless storm which our batteries had poured down upon them for so many hours? Where were they?

"Down deep beneath the sand heaps were excavated great caverns, whose floors were level with the tide, and whose roofs were formed of huge trunks of trees laid in double rows. Still above these massive beams sand was heaped so deeply that even our enormous shells could not penetrate the roofs, though they fell from the skies above. In these dark subterranean retreats two thousand men lay hid, like panthers in a swamp, waiting to leap forth in fury upon their prey.

"The signal given, our forces advanced rapidly towards the fort, while our mortars in the rear tossed their bombs over their heads. The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts [Phalanx Regiment] led the attack, supported by the 6th Conn., 48th N. Y., 3rd N. H., 76th Penn. and the 9th Maine Regiments. Onward swept the immense mass of men, swiftly and silently, in the dark shadows of night. Not a flash of light was seen in the distance! No sentinel hoarsely challenged the approaching foe! All was still save the footsteps of the soldiers, which sounded like the roar of the distant surf, as it beats upon the rock-bound coast.

AT FORT WAGNER.
Desperate charge of the 54th Mass. Vols. in the assault on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863.