499

Court House was a stranger to war, and our indignant friend was looking now for the first time on the like of us, and certainly he didn't seem to like our look. He bowed in a dignified way to the general, who bobbed at him carelessly and sat down on a step, drew out his inevitable map, lighted a fresh cigar, and asked our host if any of Lee's troops had been seen about here to-day. 'Sir,' he answered, 'as I can truly say that none have been seen by me I will say so; but if I had seen any, I should feel it my duty to refuse to reply to your question. I cannot give you any information which might work to the disadvantage of General Lee.'

This neat little speech, clothed in unexceptional diction, which no doubt had been awaiting us from the time we tied our horses at the gate, missed fire badly. It was very patriotic and all that, but the general was not in a humor to chop patriotism just then, so he only gave a soft whistle of surprise, and returned to the attack quite unscathed.

'How far is it to Buffalo River?'

'Sir, I don't know.'

'The devil you don't! how long have you lived here?'

'All my life.'

'Very well, sir, it's time you did know. Captain! put this gentleman in charge of a guard, and when we move, walk him down to Buffalo River, and show it to him.'

And so he was marched off, leaving us a savage glance at parting, and that evening tramped five miles away from home to look at a river which was as familiar to him as his own family."

It was reserved for this last short campaign to most decidedly demonstrate the inestimable value of cavalry. In the earlier history of the war it was mainly used for the establishment of cordons around a sleeping infantry force, or for the protection of trains. This want of appreciation for a well-managed body of horse General Sheridan did much to correct, for his idea was that cavalry should not only fight the enemy's cavalry, but his infantry as well, should occasion demand. If it had not been for the persistent attacks of the cavalry upon the flank and rear of the rapidly retreating enemy, there can be no question but that he would have eluded us. It was the cavalry which marching night and day finally forged ahead of the Confederate army, and on the morning of the 8th of April threw itself boldly across the enemy's path. That night, from their elevated position, the sleepless pickets of the 6th Ohio saw the camp-fires of what was left of General Lee's weary troops as they flared and finally died away in the amphitheater below. To

"With Sheridan in Lee's Last Campaign," p. 192.

be directly in the pathway of a desperate and dangerous enemy at bay is not the most pleasant of positions, but even the rank and file had heard that the infantry supports were being pushed rapidly forward, and knew that the expected morning attack must be held in check at whatever cost. At daybreak could be plainly seen the forming lines, and soon our brigade and that of Mackenzie were attacked in front and flank and rear, and so rapidly were we pushed back that it seemed as if they would after all escape us. All the time, however, the infantry had been hurrying on with might and main, and at the supreme moment, when the cavalry was giving way in every direction, Lee found two solid lines of infantry blocking the As the white flag was borne out from the broken ranks of the enemy toward us, how our cheers echoed and re-echoed through the morning air, at the thought of peace.

course.

Who shall describe these things, and also who shall describe the unutterable sadness incident to the last conflict of a long struggle? Men who had passed unscathed through four long years of active warfare fell upon this the last day and closing hour. One poor fellow lay dying, and upon being told the cause of the cheering that reached his ears, mournfully ejaculated, "Too bad! too bad!" It was only a few months before that I had occasion to proffer assistance to young Colonel Janeway, commanding the 1st New Jersey Cavalry, who in an engagement had just received his eighth wound. He was perhaps the youngest commanding colonel, being but little over twenty years of age, and that he was brave and of the most splendid promise goes without saying. Urgent appeals from loving friends had extorted from him the promise that if he was ever wounded again he would resign. Shortly before the last shot was fired I saw him gayly riding at the head of his regiment smoking a cigar, preparatory to leading his men into action. Five minutes later I kneeled at his side as he lay with his ninth wound, but dead, with a bullet through his brain. Thus at Appomattox ended the sad and bloody work that attended the progress of Sheridan's cavalry. Slowly marching back to Petersburg came to us the astounding news of the assas sination of president Lincoln. Resting there for a few days we were sent to join Sherman's army to be on hand in case Johnston still held out, but on reaching the borders of North Carolina word reached us of his surrender also.

A.M. Rockwell

BOMBARDMENTS AND CAPTURE OF FORT MCALLISTER

As, in April, 1862, the problem of the demolition of masonry walls, at unusual ranges, by rifled guns was solved in the reduction of Fort Pulaski, to the surprise of many and in contravention of accepted theories,* so at Genesis Point the value of sand parapets in the face of ordnance of large caliber and tremendous force was fully demonstrated. Although the changing seasons have already spread the mantle of decay over its abandoned magazines, and wild flowers are blooming in its almost obliterated gun-chambers, the name of Fort McAllister is not forgotten. The heroic memories which were there bequeathed will be perpetuated in the annals of Georgia, and in the history of the gigantic war between the States.

Constituting the right of the exterior line designed and held for the protection of Savannah, and situated on the right bank of the Great Ogeechee River, at Genesis Point, this fortification effectually commanded that stream, afforded ample defense against the ascent of naval forces contemplating the destruction of the railway bridge near Way's Station, and prevented the disorganization of the slave labor employed upon the extensive rice plantations in its vicinity. From the date of its construction -which was well-nigh coeval with the earliest Confederate defenses on the Georgia coast-to the day of its capture on the 13th of December, 1864, it subserved purposes most conducive to the general welfare, guarded the agricultural interests in the rich delta of the Great Ogeechee, and, on various occasions, gallantly repulsed the persistent naval attacks of the Federals.

The original line, conceived by the Confederates in 1861, for the pro

* It was not believed, at the time, by the Confederates that the walls of this fortification could be breached, or that the work could be rendered untenable by the fire of guns located on Tybee Island. This opinion was entertained and expressed by no less a commander than General Robert E. Lee, who had been assigned to duty in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It was acquiesced in by other officers whose judgment and experience inspired confidence. In the history of siege-artillery breaches in substantial masonry walls had never been caused at such distances, and the impression was based upon the previously well-ascertained effect of round shot projected from 8 and 10-inch columbiads, than which no heavier guns, hurling solid shot, were then in general use. The results hitherto attained by smooth-bore guns were relied upon by the Confederates in conjecturing the influence of the anticipated bombardment. In this calculation the novel presence of rifle cannon, conical shot, and percussion shells did not enter. With them, and the potent injury they were capable of inflicting, the military mind was, at the moment, not familiar.

tection of the sea-coast of Georgia, involved the erection of earthworks, to be armed with 32-pounder guns, at every ship-channel entrance from Tybee inlet to the mouth of the River St. Mary. At the commencement of the Confederate struggle, when the art of war was but partially understood and it was deemed advisable to protect every foot of Confederate soil, small batteries on the outer islands were planned with a view of quieting the fears of the planters on the coast, who, apprehensive of the approach of armed vessels and the incursion of marauding parties commissioned to annoy exposed localities and disorganize the labor upon their estates, clamored for some shield of this sort. This attempt, however, to hold the outer islands was quickly given over. On the 11th of November, 1861, the battery on Warsaw Island was abandoned. About three months afterward the forts on the islands of St. Simon and Jekyl-built for the security of Brunswick-were dismantled, and their guns and garrisons transferred to more important and less isolated points. From the middle of February, 1862, the attention of the Confederate commander was chiefly engaged in guarding the water approaches to the city of Savannah. The exterior line for this purpose was then represented

a: By a battery at Red Bluff, on the Carolina shore, well traversed, provided with a bomb-proof, and armed with two 24-pounder rifle guns, one 8-inch columbiad, and one 24 and two 12-pounder howitzers;

b: By Fort Pulaski;

c. By a battery on Wilmington Island, never completed, and held but for a short time;

d: By three batteries on Skidaway Island, connected by covered ways, and mounting, in the aggregate, ten guns, consisting of six 32 and two 42pounder smooth-bore cannon, one 8-inch Dahlgren, and one 6-inch rifled

These works were, about the middle of April, 1862, dismantled, and their armament was transferred to Thunderbolt;

e: By a fortification on Greene Island, called Fort Screven, armed with one 100-pounder rifled gun, one 10-inch and two 8-inch columbiads, one 42-pounder, and five 32-pounder guns. Subsequently a smaller work was constructed at a remove of four hundred yards from Fort Screven, connected with it by a covered way, and armed with three 32-pounder guns withdrawn from the main fort.

The guns of these batteries were retired contemporaneously with those on Skidaway Island, and were placed in position at Beaulieu,* on Vernon River;

f: And lastly, by Fort McAllister, which constituted the extreme right. It was at this point that Count d'Estaing landed on the 12th of September, 1779.

Supplemental to this were two interior lines of forts and water batteries, which the limits of this article will not permit us to particularize. To these were subsequently added the western and southern defenses rendered necessary by the advance of General Sherman.

The first naval attack sustained by Fort McAllister occurred on the 29th of June, 1862. It was then in an unfinished condition. Its armament consisted of only one 42-pounder and five 32-pounder smooth-bore guns. Four Federal gun-boats, armed with 11-inch Dahlgren and rifled guns, constituted the assaulting fleet. Over seven hundred shots were. fired by the Federals, and the bombardment was continued for more than two hours. Although the quarters in the fort were considerably injured and the 40-pounder gun was disabled, the parapet of the work, which was constructed of sand and newly turfed with Bermuda grass, sustained no special damage.

In November of the same year, twice was the fort shelled by United States gun-boats and mortar schooners.

On the morning of the 27th of January, 1863, the Federal iron-clad Montauk-accompanied by the gun-boats Wissahickon, Seneca, and Dawn, the mortar schooner C. P. Williams, and the tug Daffodil—advanced up the Great Ogeechee River and, at half-past 7 o'clock, opened fire upon McAllister. Armed with one 15-inch and one 11-inch Dahlgren gun, the Montauk occupied a position nearly abreast of the battery and in proximity to the obstructions occluding the river in front of the fort. Assisted by her companions at longer range, for five hours and a half did this iron-clad hurl her enormous projectiles against the sand parapet and explode them within the parade of this heroic work, the heaviest guns of which, although served with skill and determination, were powerless to inflict material injury upon the deck and turret of this war-vessel. Despite the prodigious expenditure of shot and shell, the damage caused to the river-front of the work was repaired before the next morning. To this bombardment much historical interest attaches, because on this occasion, if we are correctly informed, a 15-inch gun was first used in the attempt to reduce a shore battery, and the ability of properly constructed sand parapets to resist the effect of projectiles surpassing in weight and power those previously employed in modern warfare was fairly proven. Thus, upon the coast of Georgia, was a second military lesson inculcated, the importance of which was duly recognized in the subsequent conduct of the war-a lesson which enjoined essential modifications in the construction of permanent fortifications and in the preparation of river and harbor defenses. Two days afterward the Federals renewed the attempt to demolish this battery. It