THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON; ITS HISTORY AND PROOEESS. A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED IN BETHEL CHURCH, Charleston, S. C November 1!», 1868, (THANKSGIVING DAY.) BY KEY. E. J. MEYNAKDIE. PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST. COLUMBIA: STEAM ■'TOWER l'HKSS OF EVANS i: COGSffKI.I, . 1864. Pamphlet Collection OvVe University lintm THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON; ITS HISTORY AND PROGRESS. A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED IN BETHEL CHURCH, Charleston, S. C, November 19, 1863, (THANKSGIVING DAY.) BY REV. E. J. MEYNARDIE. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. COLUMBIA: STEAM-POWER PRESS OP EVANS * COGSWELL 1864. PsmpUM Coupon .ir»uc*Sta lifrtfN DISCOURSE. "Except the Lori^kcep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." — rs. cxxvn. 1. The Tsalmist, in this single sentence, alludes to the res- toration of the walls and the rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, in the reign of Artaxerxes. The bitter opposition of the Samaritans under Sanballat, To- biah, and other leaders rendered it necessary that the workmen should be armed, and prepared for an attack. To prevent a surprise^ one -half the people were always under arms, while the other half were employed in the work. Thus every place was guarded, a strict watch was kept, and preparation made for any sudden irruption of the enemies of God's people. Notwithstanding all this, it was indispensable that the blessing of the Almighty should rest upon his faithful servant and those who were under his control, and upon their arrangements for the defence of the threatened city; otherwise, in vain would be all their efforts. This the Psalmist acknowledges when he says: "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." In like manner, colossal as may be the natural and arti- ficial defences of a city of these Confederate States ; skill- ful, vigilant, and brave as may be its defenders, when that city is environed by our foes, whose hatred and malignity surpass the bitterness of the Samaritans toward their an- cient rivals, the Jews, and whose ingenuity, strength, and resources are superior to ours, it is our imperative duty, involving our safety, that we, as the people of God, ac- knowledging his hand in the direction of this unparalleled revolution, should, in self-abnegation and humility, seek for his blessing that, according to his ancient word, as our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King, he will save us.* During this unrighteous and sanguinary war our ene- mies, invading our country, have aimed especially to take possession of our most prominent cities, affording them at once safe and comfortable quarters for their army, and rich spoils and strong strategic points. The fall of a large and populous city not only offers these advantages, but is, in a moral point of view, immensely beneficial to the foe, and detrimental to the country struggling for its independence. It has ever been regarded as a humiliating defeat. Wlioi New Orleans, therefore, fell, the enemy gained an import- ant base from which to operate against the vast Mississippi valley, and, by the adoption of the most unscrupulous sys- tem of rapine and plunder, he enriched himself, while he gloried in his triumph and we mourned over our disaster. So with reference to Nashville, which opened to him the extensive and fertile fields of East and West Tennessee, and North Alabama and Mississippi. The capture of Vicksburg gave him the fancied possession of the unob- structed Father of Waters, and the destruction pf Jackson prestige in his march of devastation. From Norfolk ancT Portsmouth he would operate on the Peninsula against Richmond, believing that the capture of the Confederate capital would crown the Federal arms with complete vic- tory over the government as well as its army; and the taking of Charleston, the "nest of the rebellion," would seal the triumph, in the entire prostration and humiliation of the Confederacy, while the civilized world would be constrained to acknowledge the superior strength, ability, and prowess which, in redeeming the pledge of the Aboli- tion government, had effectually "crushed the rebellion." But the expectations of our determined and boastful enemy have been seriously disappointed. Richmond is, to-day, in less danger than Washington ; the Mississippi is * Isaiah xxxii, 22. still blockaded; in Tennessee the enemy are besieged, after having been signally defeated; so far from his moving on toward the centre of the Gulf states, a part of our victorious army is on the route to Nashville, by way of Knoxvillc;* and Charleston, like a mighty rock amid the storm-lashed billows of ocean, in her primitive strength and grandeur, looks calmly and defiantly upon the raging elements around her ! We are met to-day, in obedience to the call of our mu- nicipal authorities, to offer thanks to Almighty God for having ''mercifully preserved our beloved and venerated city From the destruction meditated against it by a barbar- rous and blood-thirsty foe." It would not be amiss, there- fore, to review briefly the history of the contest which involves our homes and our honor, and the remarkable deliverance which has, thus far, been graciously vouchsafed us. It will not, we trust, be construed into a derogation from the just claims of the successive commanding officers of this department to remark, that the record of our preser- vation will ever be esteemed as a brilliant illustration of Divine Providence interposing in our' behalf, rather than an exemplification of the superior foresight and skill of our generals. When Tort Royal fell, the first year of the war, this city was literally at the mercy of the enemy. Sumter, it is true — cold, calm, and defiant — stood at the entrance of the harbor, but armed with few guns, of small calibre, and having at command a very limited supply of ammunition, while the adjacent defences were scarcely worth mention- ing ; and as wooden vessels succeeded in passing the forts which defended New Orleans, so might the same class ot * Since the delivery of this discourse important changes have occurred in the western campaign. In Tennessee, after having been defeated and besieged at Chattanooga, and subsequently gaining a partial victory over our forces — the result of unforeseen mishap? — the enemy, so far from pressing on, has had his advanced guard driven back with great slaughter; and, with continued accessions and un- abated resolution, our heroic army will yet more than retrieve its fortunes. armed vessels have approached the city, and humbled her in the dust. When General Lee appeared as commandant of this post he found the defences in a deplorably deficient condition ; and ere he was called away his engineering skill and industry had not, by any means, supplied the demand. The work of General Pemberton was the erection of a few batteries eligibly located, but with a slowness which did not semi to anticipate immediate danger; and the dismantling of an island which opened the way to the one that has since, unfortunately, fallen into the hands of the enemy, and from which he is now actually shelling the city. So precarious was our condition during the administration of this general that, on one occasion, when a prisoner informed him of the landing of a large force on James island, he hurriedly or- dered the removal of the archives of the post-office, and the few ill-fated vessels which were at the wharves to be anchored in the stream ready for sinking. Then it was that our danger was imminent. But the providence of God restrained the enemy from the meditated attack.* When he did land troops on James island, the vastly supe- rior numbers attacking, and the half-completed and weak condition of the battery at Secessiouville, would have secured to him a foothold and the command of the city, but for the unprecedented heroism of our noble defenders who, like the devoted Spartan band in the Pass of Ther- mopylae, maintained their ground, and to whom God gave the victory, after an incessant bombardment of several days, and a most determined assault upon their works. Thus the city was kept. We pause, to bedew with a tear of affectionate remem- brance the sacred ashes of the martyrs of liberty who fell in that fierce conflict. "Poetry in matchless strains will recite their deeds, and history grave them with her stylus on the tablets of immortality." * It is alleged, by the friends of General Pemberton, that ho was compelled to choose between the alternative of abandoning Coles island or giving up James island to the enemy; that the force and materials furnished him were inadequate to the defence of both, and the less evil would certainly be the fall of Morris island, the remote result of a transfer of his means of defence to James island When the present commanding officer, who fought the first battle of the war on the threshold of our city, and added to his laurels on the memorable plains of Manassas and Shiloh, succeeded General Pemberton, he had before him the stupendous task of erecting new fortifications, pull- ing down and remodelling others, and replacing light gam with heavier; and at that time he would not have pledged himself for anything like a successful defence of the city, had the enemy appeared in his wooden fleet. Meanwhile, enormous amounts of money and labor were expended by the Lincoln government in building and arming iron- plated vessels, for the specific purpose of reducing our forts and humbling our city. The turretted Monitorswere completed, and soon floated in our waters. But months were allowed to pass before they adventured their bold ex- pedition, in consequence, mainly, of the divided counsels of the chief officers at Port Royal ; and during this interval our works progressed, but were incomplete when, on the memorable seventh of April, the Ironsides and Monitors attacked the harbor defences. For two hours and a half their two hundred-pounder and fifteen-inch guns, at close range, poured upon Fort Sumter their incessant iron rain, when the broad shield of the Almighty covered the fort and its garrison, and a bolt, well aimed, under Divine Provi- dence, pierced the Keokuk, and sent her to the bottom, while her associates retired, damaged and defeated. Thus the city- was again saved. Months elapsed. Our apprehensions of another attack were dispelled. The respite, even in the judgment of the officers of superior authority, was lengthened, in anticipa- tion, beyond what we were really permitted to enjoy, when, in the month of July, the attack was made upon Morris island at a point which was scarcely susceptible of de- fence, because only partially fortified and manned. The grand iron armada, looked for by General Beauregard in the ensuing October, had already opened its thunders; and the ingenuity, perseverance, and boldness of the quiet and unsuspected forces on Folly island had acquired a foothold 8 oo Morris island, .when Battery Wagner gave assurance that she would prolong the struggle — receiving into her uncomplaining bosom the unmitigated storm of shot and i from land batteries speedily erected on the part of til'.- island held by the enemy, and from his licet, until batteries completed on Sullivan's island, Fort Moultrie sngthened, Fort Johnson assuming more formidable proportions, and Haskell. Simkins, Cheves, and others rising from the dust, could dispute the passage of the enemy toward his coveted prize. Why did not the enemy, the morning he captured Mitch- el's battery, push on to Wagner? Could he not have taken that fort by a covp-de-mainl What, then, would have been the consequences? Why was not Battery Wagner captured in the night assault, after a day of terrific bom- bardment? What saved Battery Gregg from a surprise, when the enemy attempted to flank it in barges? What saved our forces when his saps had literally reached our works, and in the evacuation of the island they were obliged to run the gauntlet of uumerous armed boats? Turn, if you please, to subsequent events. The precious time during which Battery Wagner was held by us was de- voted to the completion of those works which rendered the progress of the enemy, in his herculean labors on Morris isl- and, and the mounting of his heavy guns, both slow and dis- astrous, while we could avail ourselves of every moment and every means to prepare for his advance when Sumter should no longer speak through her iron-throated sentinels. God gave us the time ! Consequently, in the reconnoissances which have been made by the euemy's armored vessels, and the attempts to remove the obstructions, and lay his ruth- less grasp upon the object at once of his intense hate and desire, he has been assailed from so many quarters, and with so tremendous a power, as to be compelled to occupy his distant ground. Who of the anxious spectators will foijget the scenes of that wonderful drama which has since been enacted in the harbor? Day has been robbed of its sunshine by ascending clouds of smoke — night of its tran- 9 quillity and peace by the detonating thunders, while the dis- tant horizon has blazed with the fires of artillery piercing the gloom like sheet-lightning ! What shall I say of Fort Sumter ? What of the life and charm of its consecrated ruins? The child of Providence ! still lifting her shattered form in the deadly breach, and trusting in the arm of Omnipotent power to sustain and make her invincible in her inner life aud peerless patriot- ism! When pillowed on our couches for slumber, and reposing, as we now* can do, amid the tumult of roaring cannon and bursting shells, Carolina's faithful soldier* and his undaunted comrades are keeping their vigife, and mark- ing the events of Providence as they occur around them, augmenting their peril and enlarging their patriotic senti- ments, to transfer them to that golden page in the history of this war, which will be headed, "The Siege of Charles- ton !" It has been said that, when this struggle is ended, should our city be delivered, a marble shaft ought to be reared "on its beautiful battery," with an inscription noting its memorable siege, concluding with the words, "Saved by Prayer."f It is a most happy thought, and we commend it to the consideration of our citizens. But when we, ffiy brethren, . shall have passed beyond the veil of outward things, and our children are enjoying the blood -bought legacy of freedom bequeathed to them, our latest posterity will point to the site of yonder noble fortress, now grand and unconquerable in her battlemented ruins, as the endur- ing monument of the special providence which saved Charleston, as it had done nearly a century before, through the invincibility of the palmetto fort, when Jasper planted the colors on the fire-crested rampart ! The enemy have boasted that, from their position in our harbor, they had the city at their mercy. The heaviest guns known in modern warfare, charged with a stygian * Major Stephen Elliott. t Suggested by Rev. E. H. Myers, D.D., of Augusta, Ga. 10 composition invented in the laboratory of fiendish hearts, called Greek Fire, have been aimed at our homes and our sanctuaries; bat with what effect ? Were not the most elaborate and encouraging calculations made with reference to the success of the undertaking? Have not the projectiles been hurled? Yes; but against the impenetrable «gis of the Lord of hosts, and thus, so far, our "pleasant things " have not been laid waste. It were superfluous to remark that these results are not attributable solely to the skill and vigilance of our officers, notwithstanding that some of them may prefer to fight their battles without Divine aid. We do not ignore the maxim of the blessed Teacher: "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." To those who are invested with military authority be given 'all honor for the amount of patriotism, and zeal which they have exhibited in this unexampled contest; but do not the facts of the case el early show that they have not been our deliverers ? "The powers that be are ordained of God." At all events. we are called upon to recognize and "honor authority as authority from God;" and when that authority is vested in one whose genius and patriotism have elevated him to a position at once involving the most fearful responsibilities and commanding the most ardent admiration of his coun- trymen, we rejoice to honor it as from God. Vet this siege has been of so peculiar a nature, demonstrating the weakness of man, and the power and goodness of God, that every individual, saint and sinner, with but few if any exceptions, is disposed to ascribe our safety thus far alone to Him who "doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." Were we inclined to venture remarks that might be con- strued into personalities, much could be said with regard to the jeopardy in which our dearest interests have been involved by the neglect of those who, though the ap- pointed watchmen to keep the city, permitted themselves to be carried away by the current of speculation, and by In- curring the just displeasure of God as shameless transgress- 11 ors of his holy law, and blasphemers of his hallowed name. The record of drunkenness, gambling, Sabbath-breaking, and profanity might have been, to an alarming extent, the record of our ruin. And the secret reprobation of the strictly moral and religious portion of the community might be declared in open day of a hoary practice which at once puts at defiance the regulations of the army, the laws of civil society, and of God, when the sacred name of honor is prostituted by its devotees in "a worship as impi- ous and profane, as irrational and senseless, as barbarous and bloody as were the idolatrous rites of the ancient Moloch."* It has been affirmed that the Almighty, in the adminis- tration of his government on earth, when lie Bees proper to rend nationalities, to put down one and set up another. does not allow himself to be influenced by the actions of men, nor his purposes to be thwarted by their sins against himself. This is a dangerous opinion, and, when viewed in the light of Revelation, will scarcely stand. In the appli- cation of it to a nation struggling for independence, not as a heathen, but Christian people, it will be readily perceived how futile it becomes: and especially so when it is remem- bered that the events of providence are ordained for the promotion of God's glory. Any departure, therefore, from his law may call for the vindication of his own righteous character and inflexible justice in the punishment of those who are false to their religious professions. Thus his ancient and most highly favored people would have been utterly destroyed, notwithstanding the promise of their national existence and prosperity, but for the interposition of the faithful prophet; and, indeed, having been subse- quently scourged by the gentile nations, because forsaken of him whom they persisted in dishonoring, they were finally bereft of their government and dispersed. . Even the trans- gressions of their rulers brought upon the people the dis- pleasure of God, as in the case of David, whose presumptu- *n