timates the equanimity of the
Confederate commander if he supposes that that bombardment,
which would have waked the dead, had lulled him into
security and repose. The buried cannon were at once exhumed,
the guns remounted and the garrison ordered to their
appointed posts. The Charleston Battalion were already
formed and in position; they had nestled under the parapet
and stood ready in their places. The other troops with the
exception of part of one regiment, responded to the summons
with extraordinary celerity, and the echoes of the Federal
guns had hardly died away before more than three-fourths of
the ramparts were lined with troops; one gap remained
unfilled; the demoralized men who should have filled it
clung to the bomb-proofs and stayed there. The gallant
Colonel Simpkins called his men to the gun-chambers wherever
guns existed. De Pass, with his light artillery on the
traverse to the left, his guns remounted and untouched,
stood ready, and Colonel Harris moved a howitzer outside the
fort to the right to deliver an enfilade fire upon the
assailants.

"The dark masses of the enemies columns, brigade after
brigade, were seen in the fading twilight to approach; line
after line was formed and then came the rush. A small creek
made in on the right of the fort and intercepted the enemy's
left attack; they did not know it, or did not estimate it.
Orders were given to Gaillard to hold his fire and deliver
no direct shot. It was believed the obstacle presented by
the creek would confuse the assailants, cause them to
incline to the right and mingle their masses at the head of
the obstacle and thus their movements would be obstructed.
It seemed to have the anticipated effect and the assaulting
columns apparently jumbled together at this point were met
by the withering volleys of McKethan's direct and Gaillard's
cross-fire and by the direct discharge of the shell guns,
supplemented by the frightful enfilading discharges of the
lighter guns upon the right and left. It was terrible, but
with an unsurpassed gallantry the Federal soldiers breasted
the storm and rushed onward to the glacis.

"The Confederates, not fourteen hundred strong, with the
tenacity of bull dogs and a fierce courage which was roused
to madness by the fri