gner by birth. He was one of the most cruel men I
ever knew. As he and his atrocious deeds will come up later in this
history, I will say no more of him here.

CONDITION OF THE FORT.

Fort Sumter, which previous to this, had not only been silenced by the
Union forces, but also partly demolished, had but one gun mounted on it,
on the west side. That cannon we used to call the "Sundown Gun," because
it was fired every evening as the sun went down,--as well as at sunrise.
On this west side the Confederate officers and soldiers were sheltered
in the bomb-proof safe during bombardment. On the east side of the fort,
facing Morris island, opposite Fort Wagner, there was another apartment
called the "Rat-hole" in which we negroes were quartered.

WHAT THE NEGROES DID IN FORT SUMTER.

Fort Sumter had been so badly damaged by the Union forces in 1863, that
unless something had been done upon the top, the continued bombardment
which it suffered up to the close of the war, would have rendered it
uninhabitable.

The fort was being fired upon every five minutes with mortar and parrot
shells by the Yankees from Morris Island.

The principal work of the negroes was to secure the top and other parts
against the damage from the Union guns.

Large timbers were put on the rampart of the fort, and boards laid on
them, then baskets, without bottoms, about two feet wide, and four feet
high, were put close together on the rampart, and filled with sand by
the negroes.

The work could only be done at night, because, besides the bombardment
from Fort Wagner which was about a mile or little less from us, there
were also sharp-shooters there who picked men off whenever they showed
their heads on the rampart.

The mortar and parrot shells rained alternately upon Fort Sumter every
five minutes, day and night, but the sharp-shooters could only fire by
day-light.

The negroes were principally exposed to the bombardment. The only time
the few Confederate soldiers were exposed to danger was while they were
putting the Chevaldefrise on the parapet at night.

The "Chevaldefrise" is a piece of timber with wooden spikes pointed with
iron, and used for defence on fortifications.

In the late war between the Spaniards and the Americans, the former
used barbed wire for the same purpose.

If my readers could have been in Fort Sumter in the summer of 1864 they
would have heard the sentinel cry, every five minutes, "Look out!
Mortar!" Then the