. Battles and leaders of the Civil War : being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers . badly, yielding an amount ofpungent piney smoke which almost suffocated the garrison. The scene inside the fort as the fire gained headway and threatened themagazine was an exciting one. It had already reached some of our stores ofloaded slieUs and shell-grenades. These must be saved at all hazard. Soldiersbrought their blankets and covered the precious projectiles, aiad thus the mostof them were saved. But the magazine itself was in danger. Already it wasfull of smoke, and the fl
. Battles and leaders of the Civil War : being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers . badly, yielding an amount ofpungent piney smoke which almost suffocated the garrison. The scene inside the fort as the fire gained headway and threatened themagazine was an exciting one. It had already reached some of our stores ofloaded slieUs and shell-grenades. These must be saved at all hazard. Soldiersbrought their blankets and covered the precious projectiles, aiad thus the mostof them were saved. But the magazine itself was in danger. Already it wasfull of smoke, and the flames were rapidly closing in upon it. It was evidentthat it must be closed, and it would be many hours before it could be openedagain. During these hours the flre must be maintained with such powderas we could secure outside the magazine. A number of l:)arrels were roUedout for this purpose, and the magazine door—already almost too hot tohandle—was closed. It was the intention to store the powder taken from the magazine in severalsafe corners, covering it with damp soldiers blankets. But safe corners were. A CASEMATE GUN DURING THE CONFLAGRATION. 72 INSIDE SUMTER IN bi. hard to find, and most of the l^lankets were aheady in use covering loadedshells. The fire was raging more fiercely than ever, and safety demanded thatthe uncovered powder be thrown overboard. This was instantly done, and ifthe tide had been high we should have been well rid of it. But the tide waslow, and the pile of powder-barrels rested on the i-iprapi)ing in front of theembrasm-e. This was obsei^ved by the enemy, and some shell guns wereturned upon the pile, producing an explosion which blew the gun at thatembrasure clear out of battery, but did no fm-ther damage. The fii-e had now enveloped the magazine, and the danger of an explosionwas imminent. Powder had been can-ied out all the pre\ious day, and it wasmore than likely thatenough had siftedthrough the cartridge-bags to carry the tueinto the powder-c
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidbattlesleade, bookyear1887
