Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/267

 Tin />V////,.x of Fort Fist,,,: 259

Battery Bolles, the first part of the fortifications built, was identified as the second knoll north of what was known as the " Mound Battery." The " Mound," which was sixty feet in height, still remains, but as it was merely a heap of sand it has been blown down to about twenty-five or thirty feet in height. "The Pulpit" was also recog- nizable, but no magazine or bomb-proof could be seen. The party picked up some pieces of shell and bullets, but even these relics, once so plentiful, have nearly all disappeared. The fact is, the historic old fortress is overgrown with a dense growth of bushes in many places, and blackberries are ripening and daisies are growing where car- nage once held sway.

THE ADDRESS.

About noon, on the 4th day of July, 1862, while in command of Fort St. Philip, near Orton, on the Cape Fear river, I received a most unexpected order to proceed to Fort Fisher, and take command. I went immediately, assumed command, and before sunset of that day, had thoroughly inspected the works. They then consisted of first, a recently erected work, with two guns, called Shepherd's Bat- tery. It was on the extreme left, and faced the sea, its rear being close to the river shore. Next, towards the sea, came a quadrilateral field work, known as Fort Fisher. It was a small work, part of it constructed of perishable sand bags, and its longest face was about one hundred yards. Out of its half dozen large guns, only the two eight-inch Columbiads were suitable for seacoast defence. One of the Federal frigates could have obliterated it with a few broadsides. Next to this on its right, facing the sea and opposite the bar, came a very handsome and creditable casemated battery of four eight-inch Columbiads, called after Captain Meade. It was constructed of turfed sand over a heavy timber frame-work, the embrasures of palmetto. Colonel Fremont has informed me since the war that he designed this work. A one-gun battery stood to the right of this, well out on the seashore. It was called Cumberland's battery, and contained a long- ranged rifle gun, the only piece of modern ordinance on Confederate Point. (This gun exploded subsequently when fired at a blockader, without loss of life, and was replaced with a ten-inch Columbiad.) To the right and rear of this and some two hundred yards apart, were two batteries, each having two barbette guns of moderate calibre,