Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/127

 The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District. 121

one of getting as far as possible with his guns from the object to be struck. One of the men accounted for the retirement of these guns by telling me that " their range was so long that they must be put well back or they would fire too far." The old circular fort was far in advance of our breastworks, and as near the water as it could well be built. It was a work of great interest. Whether it was built by the whigs of the Revolutionary war to keep out the British, or, as was said when our troops were using it, by the French or Spaniards two centuries ago, the antiquarians must settle. I do not know. The heavy guns were served by Lucas battalion, and the First regiment were the infantry supports. Colonel Hagood and his staff, and Major Lucas and the officers of his battalion occupied houses, all but one of which were temporary structures built for war purposes. The other house was once the residence of the planter who owned the island, but who had, with his negroes, retired into the interior. The men of Lucas battalion and the First regiment were in tents. The tents of the Wee Nees were good, and the men were now, with such articles as were furnished them by the Quartermaster and the kind ladies of Williamsburg, tolerably comfortable. There was some fever and a good many cases of measles on the island, but the Wee Nees suffered hardly as much as some of the other companies.

On the 3d of November, 1861, a large fleet of the enemy's war vessels passed the mouth of the Stono river going south. It was not long till it was ascertained that Beaufort and Port Royal were their objective points. Heavy firing was heard in that direction on the night of the 4th and all of the morning of the 5th. We were not greatly apprehensive of disastrous results. The history of military operations shows that well constructed and properly armed fortifica- tions have so great an advantage over a fleet, that such attacks have seldom been successful. This was before the days of monitors and ironclads. Port Royal was of so much value to us, and its acquisition would give the enemy so great an advantage, not only on the coast of South Carolina, but on the coast of the whole Confederacy, that no one thought it would ever be allowed to pass out of our hands. Its possession by the enemy would give them a safe place of refuge for their vessels operating along our coast. They could also assemble an army there and make it a base of operations for movements by land on either Savannah or Charleston. Its occupation by the enemy would necessitate the presence of a large army on our part to pre- vent destructive raids and the overrunning of the country. The places where a landing can be effected, when protected by fortifica-