d twelve men were observed
making for the shore. They were met at the water's edge by some half
dozen of the principal men in the Fort, and their errand demanded.

The young officer told them he was sent to make demand of the Fort,
and that its inmates were to be given up to the "slaveholders, then on
board the gun-boat, who claimed them as fugitive slaves!" The demand
was instantly rejected, and the midshipman and his men returned to the
gun-boats and informed Lieut. Loomis of the answer he had received.

As the colored men entered the Fort they related to their companions
the demand that had been made. Great was the consternation manifested
by the females, and even a portion of the sterner sex appeared to be
distressed at their situation. This was observed by an old patriarch,
who had drunk the bitter cup of servitude, one who bore on his person
the visible marks of the thong, as well as the brand of his master,
upon his shoulder. He saw his friends faultered, and he spoke
cheerfully to them. He assured them that they were safe from the
cannon shot of the enemy--that there were not men enough on board the
vessels to storm their Fort, and finally closed with the emphatic
declaration: "_Give me liberty or give me death!_" This saying was
repeated by many agonized fathers and mothers on that bloody day.

A cannonade was soon commenced upon the Fort, but without much
apparent effect. The shots were harmless; they penetrated the earth
of which the walls were composed, and were there buried, without
further injury. Some two hours were thus spent without injuring any
person in the Fort. They then commenced throwing bombs. The bursting
of these shells had more effect. There was no shelter from these fatal
messages. Mothers gathered their little ones around them and pressed
their babes more closely to their bosoms, as one explosion after
another warned them of their imminent danger. By these explosions some
were occasionally wounded and a few killed, until, at length, the
shrieks of the wounded and groans of the dying were heard in various
parts of the fortress.

Do you ask why these mothers and children were thus butchered in cold
blood? I answer, they were slain for adhering to the doctrine that
"all men are endowed by their Creator with the _inalienable right to
enjoy life and liberty_." Holding to this doctrine of Hancock and of
Jefferson, the power of the nation was arrayed against them, and our
army employed to depri