om in the dark and calling out my name. It proved
to be Anderson, who came to announce to me that he had just received a
dispatch from Beauregard, dated 3.20 A.M., to the effect that he should
open fire upon us in an hour. Finding it was determined not to return
the fire until after breakfast, I remained in bed. As we had no lights,
we could in fact do nothing before that time, except to wander around in
the darkness, and fire without an accurate view of the enemy's works.

CHAPTER X.

THE BOMBARDMENT.

The First Shot.--Defective Guns.--John Carmody's
Exploit.--Destructive Effects of the Bombardment.--Burning of the
Officers' Quarters.--Terrific Conflagration.

As soon as the outline of our fort could be distinguished, the enemy
carried out their programme. It had been arranged, as a special
compliment to the venerable Edmund Ruffin, who might almost be called
the father of secession, that he should fire the first shot against us,
from the Stevens battery on Cummings Point, and I think in all the
histories it is stated that he did so; but it is attested by Dr.
Crawford and others who were on the parapet at the time, that the first
shot really came from the mortar battery at Fort Johnson.[17] Almost
immediately afterward a ball from Cummings Point lodged in the magazine
wall, and by the sound seemed to bury itself in the masonry about a
foot from my head, in very unpleasant proximity to my right ear. This is
the one that probably came with Mr. Ruffin's compliments. In a moment
the firing burst forth in one continuous roar, and large patches of both
the exterior and interior masonry began to crumble and fall in all
directions. The place where I was had been used for the manufacture of
cartridges, and there was still a good deal of powder there, some packed
and some loose. A shell soon struck near the ventilator, and a puff of
dense smoke entered the room, giving me a strong impression that there
would be an immediate explosion. Fortunately, no sparks had penetrated
inside.

Nineteen batteries were now hammering at us, and the balls and shells
from the ten-inch columbiads, accompanied by shells from the
thirteen-inch mortars which constantly bombarded us, made us feel as if
the war had commenced in earnest.

When it was broad daylight, I went down to breakfast. I found the
officers already assembled at one of the long tables in the mess-hall.
Our party were calm, and even somewhat merry. We ha