Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/173

 The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District. 1 C7

At dark the enemy's sap reached the ditch at a point to the east of this fill.

About 4 o'clock, after Colonel Harris and Captain Lee had made their report, we received the order of General Beauregard, through the Signal Corps, to evacuate the fort. The plan of evacuation had been talked over and agreed upon by Colonel Keitt, Major Bryan, Captain Huguenin. Captain Crawford, commanding Twenty-eighth Georgia, Major Gardner, commanding Twenty-seventh Georgia, and myself. It was a joint invention. No one of us can claim for him- self the honor of its arrangement. The order of General Beaure- gard did not fix the details nor change the plan that we had agreed upon in anticipation of its reception. In the event of its not coming, we had resolved to hold the fort while there was a man left. A sortie had been talked of, and would probably have been made if the general commanding had not come to the conclusion to make an effort to save the garrison, or rather to permit us to make an effort to save ourselves. The work could not have been held, but we were resolved to sell our lives as dearly as possible, and I have no doubt but that our resistance would have been a very honorable death struggle. In accordance with our plan of evacuation, I was to have the honor, with a part of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, of covering the retreat of all of the troops from the fort, except a small party detailed under Captain Huguenin to blow up the maga- zine and fire the last gun. On the approach of night the Wee Nees and Beauregard Light Infantry (Companies C and E) were ordered to march in from the sand hills. This, no doubt, created the impres- sion on the enemy that the garrison was being changed, and that fresh troops were coming in to take the place of those on duty. At dusk, Captain Crawford, with the Twenty-eighth Georgia, moved out of the fort. This regiment took with them a 1 2-pound howitzer to be used (,if occasion required) by the Twenty-seventh Georgia in covering the embarkation of the troops at Cummins Point. This duty had been, at the request of Major Gardner, assigned to the Twenty-seventh. A breastwork was hastily thrown across the island not far above Battery Gregg, where they were to make a stand in the event of our being followed by the enemy. Our guns had been silent for thirty-six hours. We now re opened fire from the only mortar which we had fit for use. The only other one in the fort was an old Revolutionary piece, which I recognized as having seen at the Citadel when I was a cadet. It had been spiked by the breaking of the priming wire, and had been useless for several days. U thought that