Of this force, though the whole was supposed by the people to be destined for Charleston, only the Powhatan, the Pawnee, the Harriet Lane, the Baltic, and the steam-tugs sailed for that port. The rest took their course for the Gulf of Mexico, to reinforce the garrisons of the Federal forts on the coasts of Alabama and Florida.

The Pawnee, the Harriet Lane, and April the Baltic reached the rendezvous 12. off Charleston on the 12th of April, but the Yankee and Uncle Ben had failed to arrive, having been detained by unfavorable weather. The orders of the fleet were, that unarmed boats should first be sent in with stores; but if they were fired upon, an effort was to be made to relieve the fort by force. Without the tug-boats, the proposed object of the expedition could not be effectually accomplished, as the only unarmed steamer, the Baltic, was of too great a draught of water to pass the bar of Charleston, and the steam-tugs were alone capable of approaching the fort through the shallow water. The naval commanders, however, after a

The whole force may be thus recapitulated :

for the relief of Major Anderson, who was already under shot, for as soon as the first rockets had been sent up to signalize the concentration of the fleet, the enemy had opened fire. The plan agreed upon was to hoist out the small boats and launches, load them with men and stores, and to tow them as far as possible, and then, while covering them with the guns of the steamers, to send them in alone. This, however, failed in consequence of the Baltic having got aground during the night, while preparations were being made to disembark her stores and troops. Other schemes were devised, but before they could be put into execution, the time for action had past. Fort Sumter had fallen.

Fort Sumter had been considered one of the strongest works in the United States. The island upon which it is built was artificially constructed by placing upon the original sand and mud a large quantity of refuse granite, brought from Northern quarries, and pressing it deeply down until an unyielding foundation was laid. This alone cost the labor of ten years and an expense of five hundred thousand dollars, to which another half million was added before the completion of the whole fort. The walls of the fortification, composed of brick and compact concrete, are sixty feet in height and from eight to twelve feet in thickness. The fort is pentagonal, and is pierced for three tiers of guns, on all sides but the southern, where are the sally-ports and docks, which had been left unpro

tected, as it looks toward the land, and the work had been mainly intended as a defence against attack from the sea. Although it was originally designed to have armed the fort with one hundred and forty cannon of various calibres, there were but seventy-five in position when the enemy opened fire. Of these, eleven were Paixhans, and a number, thirty-two pounders, four of which were en barbette, and uncovered, and being on pivots could be made to take a wide range. Fort Moultrie was within command of nine of the Paixhans, and the two others pointed toward Castle Pinckney, too far distant, however, to be within range. Most of the large columbiads in the fort were not yet mounted. The magazines were well supplied with ammunition, sufficient it was thought for a year, and artificial wells had been constructed capable of holding a supply of water for the same period.

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guns of Fort Sumter was estimated at three miles, which placed the city of Charleston beyond reach of its fire.

Six hundred men would have been required fully to garrison the fort and work the guns; but Major Anderson could only muster one hundred and nine, of whom thirty were laborers, and fifteen composed the band.

The enemy had diligently improved every moment in strengthening the Federal forts they had taken possession of, and in adding new works, under the skilful direction of General Beauregard, once esteemed as among the ablest officers of engineers in the United States service.

Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, had been repaired, its dismantled guns unspiked and mounted again, and the lateral spaces between the cannon protected by sand-bags, to secure them against a flank fire. Though a weak work, in comparison with Fort Sumter, its walls, built of brick, capped with stone and filled in with earth, presented a solid enclosure of nearly sixteen feet in thickness. Its original armament

The garrison was thus composed :

Officers.

Rank.

A. Doubleday.. Captain. T. Seymour....Captain

Regiment or Corps.

Original Entry into Service.

Born in

.1st Artillery...July 1, 1842....N. Y. .1st Artillery...July 1, 1846.... Vt.

T. Talbot 1st Lieut... 1st Artillery... May 22, 1847...D. C.

Jeff. C. Davis..1st Lieut... .1st Artillery...June 17, 1848..Ind.

J. N. Hall..... 2d Lieut. .......1st Artillery July 1, 1849 ...N. Y.

J. G. Foster....Captain

.Engineers.....July 1, 1846...N. H.

G. W. Snyder..1st Lieut....... .Engineers ..July 1, 1856....N. Y .Engineers ..July 1, 1857.... Va.

Officers
Band

Artillerists
Laborers...

Total

...

9

15

55

30

109

was composed of eleven guns of heavy calibre and several powerful mortars.

On Cumming's Point the enemy had erected a battery made of thick logs of yellow pine. This was covered with a slanting roof of the same material, which had been rendered ball-proof by railroad iron dovetailed and riveted together. The port-holes were supplied with iron shutters, which opened as the guns were thrust out to fire, and fell as they recoiled after a shot, and thus shut in the artillerists within an iron-bound and impenetrable cover. This novel battery was mounted with three columbiads, which bore directly on the southern and weakest side of Fort Sumter.

The most curious, and not the least effective, perhaps, of the enemy's works, was the floating battery, which in the course of its construction had given rise to much speculation and not a little ridicule. This, too, was constructed of heavy pine logs and faced with a double layer of railroad iron. It was about a hundred feet in length and twenty-five in width. Its face presented an angle horizontally disposed, formed by its retreating roof and the front wall inclining backward as it descended to the water. It was mounted with four guns of the heaviest calibre, which were said to require sixty men to work them. A magazine for ammunition was built in the hold, below the water-line, and lined with sand-bags, laid seven feet thick, not only to protect it from shot, but to act as ballast necessary to counterpoise the heavy armament above. To the stern of this strange structure was attached a

floating hospital, to provide for the ordinary emergencies of war.

At Fort Johnson-so called from its being the site of an old work no longer existing-on James' Island, two long batteries were erected of sand, and mounted with heavy cannon and mortars. Other temporary structures were raised, some of palmetto logs, and others of earth and sand, on Morris and Stono islands, Hadril's Point, and other parts of the harbor, which bore on its approaches, or upon Fort Sumter.

A large force, said to have amounted to over seven thousand men, had been mustered to the defence of Charleston. Four thousand of these were manning the works in the harbor, while the rest were held in reserve on Sullivan and Morris islands and in Charleston, to be ready to repel any attack by land.

The city itself was immediately defended by the fort at Castle Pinckney, and cannon on the Battery in front of Charleston. These, however, could only be of service in case the above works had failed to keep out any intruder. Castle Pinckney is situated at the southern extremity of Shute's Folly Island. Its armament consists of some thirtytwo pounders, columbiads, and mortars, amounting in all to about twenty-five pieces. Its walls are six feet in thickness, and are pierced for one row of guns, while there is another en barbette. The work is small, and of little importance in an attack from the sea. All the old defences had been greatly improved, and new ones constructed, by the skilful engineering of General Beauregard, the

officer who had been sent by the government of the Confederate States to take command at Charleston.

Peter Gustavus Toutant Beauregard had already, while in the service of the United States, won a distinguished reputation as an engineer. He was born on his father's plantation, near New Orleans. The family name is said to be Toutant, and that of the estate Beauregard, which, by a curious accident, was originally attached to the patronymic, and assumed by the present bearer, in this wise: The youth, when admitted a cadet at West Point, was presented as Toutant de Beauregard, signifying merely that he was a Toutant of the plantation of Beauregard, and thus entered upon the records of the institution. This, however, was supposed to be his surname, and he was so called. Not averse, probably, to the dignified sounding of the appellation, the youth did not care to correct the error, and subsequently assumed the name of Beauregard as his own.

His father was a wealthy creole, with extensive estates in Louisiana, and a descendant of a reputable French family. His mother's name was Reggio, for whom has been claimed a descent from the Italian ducal house of the Reggios of Italy. In 1834, young Beauregard entered the military academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1838, ranking the second of a class of fortyfive cadets. On his graduation, he received the commission of a second lieutenant in the First Regiment of Artillery, but in a week after was transferred to

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the Corps of Engineers. In June, 1839, he was promoted a first lieutenant, and was serving in this grade when the war with Mexico broke out. He accompanied the army to Vera Cruz, and continued with it during its career of conquest to the capital of Mexico.

At the very first moment he gave indications of that surety of eye, precision of foresight, and carefulness of judgment which are his distinguishing qualities. Before Vera Cruz, he was sent out at the head of a party of sappers and miners to dig and prepare a trench, in accordance with the directions of his colonel. Upon examining the ground, however, he appeared to find serious obstacles to the proposed plan. To assure himself, he climbed a tree, and with the aid of his glass took a careful survey, which resulted in confirming the objections to his colonel's plan. He discovered that the trench, if made as proposed, would be enfiladed by the enemy's guns. It was a difficult position for a young subaltern thus to find himself at variance with the judgment of his superior. He, however, did not hesitate, but returned to his colonel without having turned a sod. The officer, surprised to see him so soon, asked if he had done the work already. Beauregard replied that he had not touched it, and The colonel was his reasons. gave still more startled by the presumption of the youthful subaltern who had ventured to dispute the judgment of his superior, instead of submissively obeying his orders. He accordingly, with the characteristic peremptoriness of the

military commander, reminded him of duties of obedience, and at the same time impatiently declared that "the ground had been thoroughly examined, a perfect reconnoisance had been made, and that a mistake was impossible." Notwithstanding this, he was impressed by the judgment of Beauregard, and took another survey of the ground, when he found reason to concur with the view of his young lieutenant.

For his gallant conduct at Contreras and Cherubusco, Beauregard was brevetted captain, to date from 20th of August, 1847, and again for his services at Chapultepec, he was promoted to the brevet rank of major, to date from the 13th of September of the same year.

At the assault of the Belen gate of the city of Mexico, Beauregard was wounded, and throughout the whole campaign he was not only among the most brave, but ranked among the ablest and most useful of the officers. General Scott, in his dispatch from the capital of Mexico, into which he had just entered as conqueror, spoke of Beauregard as one of "our distinguished engineers," by the aid of whose efficient and daring reconnoissances, he was enabled to follow up the victory of El Molino del Rey with the triumphal capture of the city of Mexico. Again, in his official report, Scott alluded to Beauregard as one of the five lieutenants of engineers "who were the admiration of all" during the storming of the fortress of Chapultepec, the struggle at the gates, and the entrance into the capital.

Another illustration of the correct

ness of his judgment is given in the following incident, said to have occurred before the city of Mexico:

The council

A night or two before the attack, a council of war was held. There were assembled all the officers, from the Lieutenant-General, including Major-General Worth and others, down to Beauregard, the youngest in the room. sat many hours. All the officers, but one, had spoken, and unanimously maintained a plan of operations at variance with that of Scott. The officer who had not tendered his opinion was Beauregard. At last General Pierce crossed over and said: "You have not expressed an opinion." "I have not been called on," said Beauregard. Pierce, soon resuming his seat, announced that Lieutenant Beauregard had not given his views. Being then called upon, he remarked, that if the plan which had received the consent of all but the commanding general was carried into effect, it would prove disastrous. It would be another Cherubusco affair. He then detailed the objections to it at length; and taking up the other, urged the reasons in its favor with equal earnestness. The council reversed their decision. The city of Mexico was entered according to the plan urged by the young lieutenant, and it would seem that his reasons influenced the decision. A few days afterward, General Scott, in the presence of a number of general officers, alluded to Lieutenant Beauregard's opinion at the council, and the consequences which had followed from it.

On his return to Louisiana, the young