ly wounded in the head by a piece of shell.

MY LAST NIGHT IN FORT SUMTER AND THE GLORIOUS END OF THE WAR.

During the time we spent in Fort Sumter we had not seen a clear day or
night. In harmony with the continual danger by which we were surrounded,
the very atmosphere wore the pall of death; for it was always rainy and
cloudy. The mutilated bodies of the negroes, mingled with the black mud
and water in the fort yard, added to the awfulness of the scene. Pieces
of bombshells and other pieces of iron, and also large southern pine
timbers were scattered all over the yard of the fort. There was also a
little lime house in the middle of the yard, into which we were warned
not to go when seeking places of safety from the deadly missiles at the
cry of the sentinel.

The orders were that we should get as near the centre of the fort yard
as possible and lie down. The reason for this was that the shells which
were fired upon Sumter were so measured that they would burst in the
air, and the pieces would generally fly toward the sides of the fort.
But the orders were not strictly carried out, because, at the warning
cries of the sentinel, we became confused. That night, at the cry of the
sentinel, I ran and lay down on one of the large southern pine timbers,
and several of my fellow negroes followed and piled in upon me. Their
weight was so heavy that I cried out as for life. The sense of that
crush I feel at certain times even now.

At the next report of a shell I ran toward the lime house, but some one
tripped me up, and, by the time I had got to my feet again, twelve or
thirteen others were crowded into it. Another negro and I reached the
doorway, but we were not more than there before a mortar shell came
crushing down upon the little lime house, and all within were so mangled
that their bodies were not recognizable.

Only we two were saved. My companion had one of his legs broken, and a
piece of shell had wounded me over my right eye and cut open my under
lip. At the moment I was wounded I was not unconscious, but I did not
know what had hurt me. I became almost blind from the effect of my
wounds, but not directly after I was wounded, and I felt no pain for a
day or so. With other wounded I was taken to the bombproof in the fort.
I shall never forget this first and last visit to the hospital
department. To witness the rough handling of the wounded patients, to
see them thrown on a table as one would a piece of beef, an