Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/111

 The Signal Corps in the Confederate States Army. 105

Hatch at Battery Wagner from the ist of September to the day of evacuation. They were exposed to the heaviest fire that the enemy had ever put upon those works, and performed their duties with con- spicuous gallantry. Often the enemy's shell, exploding on the fort, would completely envelop the men and flag with smoke and sand for a minute, but as it cleared away the flag would still be waving. I have to report Private Clark badly burned in the left hand, and Lance Sergeant Laurence struck on the right arm with a piece of shell. From the commencement of the attack on Morris Island to the day of the evacuation, my men have transmitted nearly one thousand messages on that Island. On the night of the 5th, the enemy made an attack on Battery Gregg, which failed, and was re- pulsed by the timely notice from Sullivan's Island Signal Station, which intercepted the following dispatch : ' To Admiral Dahlgren I shall try Cummins Point to-night and want the sailors again early. Will you please send two or three monitors by dark to open fire on Fort Moultrie as a diversion. The last time they were in, they stopped reinforcements and may do so to-night. Don't want any fire in the rear. (Signed) General Gilmore.'

" The attack on Fort Sumter, on the night of the 8th, was foiled by a similar notice. The dispatch was : ' General Gilmore^The senior officer will take charge of the assaulting party on Fort Sumter, the whole to be under the command of an experienced naval officer.'

" During the attack on Sumter, Private Frank Huger was placed in charge of the fire-ball party on the parapet, numbering some thirty men, and assisted in giving the enemy a warm reception. Major Elliot, commanding the post, speaks highly of his conduct on that occasion. The enemy have been using a cipher in signalling, which has so far baffled our attempts to read their messages. They have not used it lately, however, and several important dispatches have been read."

Captain Markoe's rolls show the employment of seventy-six men, of which number he lost through casualties as large a per cent, as any command in the action. Twelve of his men did nothing but read the enemy's papers.

Mr. A. T. Leftwich, who was stationed in the cuppla of the court- house at Vicksburg, in 1863, contributes the following reminiscence:

" During the siege, a fifteen-inch mortar shell went through the top of the courthouse and exploded on the lower floor, where there were quartered some one hundred or so men. It seemed to me as if the whole earth had exploded, for I was in a room on the second floor