A copy of the telegram referred to was, on the same day, forwarded to General Taliaferro, commanding the Seventh Military District. He was directed "to hold his troops prepared at night for the emergency," and "to look particularly to the east lines exposed to approach from Morris Island, giving due regard, however, to the proper protection of the new lines." Brigadier-Gencral Wise, commanding Sixth Military District, St. Andrew's Parish, was also instructed as to what course to follow, should he be called to the assistance of General Taliaferro. The incident now about to be related is deserving of note. It produced a feeling of disappointment among some of the warmest friends of Mr. Davis. About the middle of October, 1863, President Davis visited General Bragg at his headquarters near Dalton, to settle a difficulty then existing between that officer and his subordinate commanders, and to suggest Longstreet's assault on Knoxville. While returning to Richmond he stopped a day or two in Savannah and Charleston, and made it a point to inspect some of their defensive works and the gallant troops manning them. Unable to go in person to welcome the President upon his arrival in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, General Beauregard sent several members of his staff-among whom were Colonel Roman and Lieutenant Chisolm-to perform that duty and accompany the distinguished visitor to Charleston. He reached there on the 2d of November, at about 1 P. M., and found General Beauregard awaiting him at the depot, or what served as such, with an imposing military escort. There was also a deputation of citizens, appointed by the civil authorities, to offer him the hospitalities of the city. But he declined their invitation, having already promised a personal friend-ex-Governor Aikento repair to his residence and make of it his headquarters during his short sojourn in Charleston. The President was escorted with all due honor to the City Hall, where he gave a public reception, after delivering an eloquent and patriotic address. He spoke of almost every topic of the war, except one. The defence of Charleston at that time had lasted more than seven months, and, in face of the dreadful reverses of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and the general gloom resulting from them, it alone kept up the hope and spirits of the South. The officers and men had signally distinguished themselves during that desperate and glorious siege. Several of them had been justly recommended for promotion. Yet he found but a single one to praise-Major Stephen D. Elliott, the recently chosen commander of Sumter, placed there after the first bombardment was over and the regular artillery withdrawn. Not one word of General Beauregard, who stood at his elbow while he spoke; not one word of Generals Taliaferro, Hagood, Colquitt, and Ripley, of Colonels Rhett, Butler, Harris, Keitt, and Harrison, or of the brave men who fought with and under them, was said by Mr. Davis, the Commander-in-chief of the land and naval forces of the Confederate States. The President was speaking to Carolinians, in the heart of their devoted city. Such was his justice to those whose genius, courage, and unsurpassed fortitude had attracted the admiration of Europe and the respect of their enemies. When the reception was over Governor Aiken invited the Mayor, some of the leading citizens, and the ranking officers present, to dine at his house with the President. Some accepted; General Beauregard did not. He thought that, after the singular manner in which he and his subordinate commanders had just been treated, he could without impropriety free himself from all but official courtesies towards Mr. Davis. He therefore contented himself with accompanying the latter on his tour of inspection around James and Sullivan's islands, and with explaining to him all that had been done, since the destruction of Sumter, to perfect the interior harbor defences and lines in and about Charleston. From General Hagood's narrative of the defence of James and Morris islands, from July, 1863, to the early part of 1864, we take the following passage: "In November, President Davis visited James Island. General Taliaferro was absent on leave, and General Hagood in command. Mr. Davis inspected the works closely, going at a rapid gallop, with his cortege, from battery to battery, and stopping long enough to receive a salute and ride around the regiments which were drawn up along his route, each at its post. He seemed in good spirits. The troops betrayed much enthusiasm, but he acknowledged their cheers for 'Mr. President' by simply raising his hat. General Hagood rode with him, as commander of the island, and necessarily had much conversation with him. This, and on the field of battle at Drury's Bluff, when General Beauregard was pleased to present him again, with a compliment, to the President, were the only times when he was ever in conversation with this distinguished man." When the President left Charleston, General Beauregard escorted him once more, and was among the last to take leave of him at the Northeastern Railroad Depot. In the "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government"-unless we are mistaken-Mr. Davis makes no mention of his visit to Charleston. If there is any reference to it in that work it is in such an incidental manner that we have not been able to discover the passage. And again, in that book, as in his address. of the 2d of November, 1863, already referred to, he gives the merest passing notice to a period including fully nineteen months of the war; thus omitting to enlighten the student of history, and compelling him to look elsewhere for the evidence of facts which Mr. Davis apparently considered too insignificant to deserve particular mention. He says: "The brave and invincible defence of Fort Sumter gave to the City of Charleston, South Carolina, additional lustre. For four years that fort, located in its harbor, defied the army and navy of the United States."* Who planned that "in- Who commanded the Department? vincible defence?" Who executed it? and under what officers did they fight? as to which complete silence is preserved; and from what follows the reader is led to believe that the Commanding General was General Hardee, and that Fort Sumter was never under any officer except Colonel Stephen D. Elliott. We quote: "When the city was about to be abandoned to the army of General Sherman the forts defending the harbor were embraced in General Hardee's plan of evacuation. The gallant commander of Fort Sumter, Colonel Stephen Elliott, Jr., with unyielding fortitude refused to be relieved, after being under incessant bombardment, day and night, for weeks. It was supposed he must be exhausted, and he was invited to withdraw for rest; but, on receiving the general order of retreat, he assembled his brave force on the rugged and shellcrushed parade-ground, read his instructions, and, in a voice that trembled with emotion, addressed his men in the glowing language of patriotism and unswerving devotion to the Confederate cause. The cheers which responded to the utterances of their colonel came from manly and chivalric throats. Yielding to the inevitable, they claimed for the Stars and Bars a salute of one hundred guns. As it was fired from Sumter it was re-echoed by all the Confederate batteries, and startled the outside blockaders with the idea that a great victory had been won by the Confederacy." + "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," vol. ii., p. 204, first edition. + Ibid. That such a statement should have been inserted in a work purporting to be a true exposition of Confederate history is beyond comprehension. The facts are these: Colonel Elliott, who had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, was relieved, on the 4th of May, 1864, from the command of Fort Sumter, and sent to Virginia, to take charge of Walker's brigade, of South Carolina. The successor of General Elliott at the fort was Captain John C. Mitchel, of the 1st South Carolina Artillery (Regulars). He remained in command until the 20th of July, 1864, when, during the third regular bombardment of Sumter, he was killed by a mortar-shell. Captain Mitchel was a son of the distinguished Irish patriot, and a highly accomplished and daring officer. On his death Captain T. A. Huguenin, of the South Carolina Infantry (Regulars), was appointed in his place, and held command of Sumter until its evacuation, on the 17th of February, 1865-nearly eight months after General Elliott had been relieved. The evacuation of Sumter was effected at night, in silence, without a speech from any one, without a cheer from the garrison, without the firing of a gun. In order to keep the enemy in ignorance of the movement then in course of execution, the withdrawal was proceeded with as secretly and noiselessly as possible. And yet the ex-President of the Confederate States and ex-Commander-in-chief of its armies published to the world in his work (seventeen years in preparation) this extravagant fiction. The enormity being pointed out to him by friends, he has, in a second publication of the first edition of his book, resorted to another and different version, but one which is also erroneous in several particulars. We shall again refer to this matter when treating of the evacuation of Charleston. CHAPTER XXXIV. General Beauregard Prepares for an Attack upon Charleston.-Instructions Given to General Gilmer.-Attack of the 19th of November upon Fort Sumter.-Orders and Instructions Given by General Beauregard.-Gradual Cessation of Aggressive Operations by the Federal Commanders.— Plan of Campaign Drawn up by General Beauregard, to be Submitted to the President through the Hon. Pierre Soulé.-War Department does not Take it into Consideration.-Report from Richmond of an Impending Movement on the Carolina Coast.-General Beauregard's Letter to General Whiting.-How Lieutenant Glassel Damaged the New Ironsides. -Lieutenant Dixon's Attack with the Torpedo-boat upon the Housatonic. -Loss of the Boat and Crew.-Construction of the Submarine Torpedoboat.-Its History.-Boats Destroyed by Torpedoes in Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.-Landing of a Federal Force at Jacksonville. - General Finegan Concentrates his Forces. - Arrival of Reinforcements. - Battle of Ocean Pond.-General Finegan's Report.-What General Beauregard Says of the Battle.-His Difficulties in Sending Troops to Florida.-He Leaves for "Camp Milton."-His Despatches to the War Department.Cavalry Withdrawn from South Carolina and Georgia.—General Beauregard Returns to Charleston.-His Instructions Left with General Anderson. He Demands Leave of Absence.-Telegram from War Department Desiring his Co-operation with General Lee. He Accepts.- He Turns over the Command of the Department to General Samuel Jones. -His Parting Address to the Troops. WITHOUT placing implicit faith in the telegram received from Richmond, through Major Norris, Chief of the Signal Corps, wherein an immediate heavy attack upon Charleston was predicted, General Beauregard took every precaution to be prepared for such a contingency. He had a force of two hundred infantry held in readiness, nightly, at Fort Johnson, to be thrown as a reinforcement into Fort Sumter, and had secured, for that purpose, from Flag-officer Tucker, the services of the steamer Juno, Lieutenant Porcher commanding. As an additional means of defeating any attempt of the enemy, either to assail Sumter or to carry Battery Simkins, he suggested that one or two of our ironclads should take such a position, at night, as would enable them to sweep the space between Cummings's Point and Fort Johnson and between the latter and Battery Simkins. He also advised |