Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/174

 168 Southern Historical Society Papers.

if the fort had been better supplied with mortars it could have been held longer.) The firing was at irregular intervals. Besides this mortar, one gun was also used. As soon as the Twenty-eighth Georgia left, the portion of the wall occupied by them was covered by spreading out the Clarendon Guards (Company I), now under the command of Captain Joseph C. Burgess, who had been promoted upon the resignation of Captain Y. N. Butler. The sharpshooters were directed to keep up a steady fire, not so rapid as to create the impression that it was 'done for effect, nor yet so slow as to induce the belief that the garrison had been weakened. The firing was more spirited than it had been during the day or on the previous night. Fresh troops fired more rapidly than soldiers worn out by days and nights of constant service. We were anxious to make the enemy believe that this new life was occasioned by fresh arrivals. This firing was an innovation of my own on the plan of evacuation, not, however, inconsistent with it but rather an addition. The fire of the enemy was kept up briskly, and their shells were falling all around.

As soon as I had information that the Twenty-eighth Georgia had embarked and that the boats were ready for another detach- ment, I sent off Companies B, D, E, G and H. They, like the Georgians, carried a 1 2-pound howitzer. We tried to conceal the fact that we were evacuating the fort from our own men, and did all that we could to lead them to think that the garrison was only being changed. Great circumspection and caution was required. The enemy were in our ditch and not more than fifty feet from us. A panic among our men would have been at once fatal to the whole movement. No troops could have behaved better than the garrison of Fort Wagner during the evacuation.

Soon after dark, Lieutenant S. N. McDonald, of Company K ( Rip- ley Guards), was mortally wounded while leading his company with unflinching gallantry. Captain W. B. Gordon had been wounded some time before, and First Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne was acting as adjutant of the regiment. McDonald was consequently in command of his company when he fell. He was carried away by his men. There was no time to amputate his crushed leg or possibly the life of this brave and valuable officer and good man might have been saved. About the same time Company K lost one man killed and several others wounded.

Lieutenant Lesesne was sent to command his company, and Lieu- tenant James A. Ross, of Company A, an intelligent, active, adven-