But aside from this case we fared better on these fortifications than we had at home on the plantations. This was the case at least with those of us who were on Sullivan"s Island. Our work in general on the fortifications was not hard, we had a great deal of spare time, and although we knew that our work in the Confederate service was against our liberty, yet we were delighted to be in military service.
We felt an exalted pride that, having spent a little time at these war points, we had gained some knowledge which would put us beyond our fellow negroes at home on the plantations, while they would increase our pride by crediting us with far more knowledge than it was possible for us to have gained.
Our daily rations from the Commissary was a quart of rice or hard-tack, and a half pound of salt pork or corn-beef.
The change from the cabins and from the labor on the old plantations so filled our cup of joy that we were sorry when the two months of our stay on the island was ended.
At the end of about two months, I, with the rest of my fellow negroes of that group, was sent back to the plantation again, while others took our places.
MY EXPERIENCE IN FORT SUMTER.
In the summer of 1864, when I was in my fourteenth year, another call was made for negro laborers for the Confederate government, and fifteen from our plantation, including myself, with thousands from other plantations, were sent down to Charleston again.
There the negroes were apportioned in groups to be sent to the different fortifications. My lot fell among the group of three hundred and sixty, who were a.s.signed to Fort Sumter. I shall never forget with what care they had to move in carrying us in a steamer from the government wharf in Charleston to John"s island wharf, on account of the network of torpedo mines in Charleston Harbor.
From John"s island wharf they carried us in rowboats to Fort Sumter, and, as those boats could not carry many, it took all night to convey us with other freightage to Fort Sumter.
The steamer which carried us from Charleston to John"s island wharf had to run at night. Indeed every move the Confederates made about there near the close of the war had to be made at night because the Yankees on gunboats outside the channel and those on Morris island kept so close a watch it was very dangerous to convey us from John"s island wharf to Fort Sumter because the oars dipping into the salt water at night made sparks like fire, and thus the Yankees on Morris island were able to see us. Indeed their shots oftentimes took effect.
Many of the negroes were killed. Of the fifteen from our plantation, one boy of about my age was struck by a parrot sh.e.l.l while climbing from the boat into the fort. We were told of the perils we were to meet, both before and after we reached our destination. For one of the most disheartening things was the sad report of the survivors of those whose places we were to fill. As the rowboats left them on John"s island wharf and as we were about to embark they told us of the great danger to which we would be exposed,--of the liability of some of us being killed before we reached the fort, which proved true, and of how fast their comrades were killed in Fort Sumter. A number, it was said, died from fright before reaching Sumter.
THE OFFICERS AND QUARTERS.
The officers who were then in command of the fort were Capt. J.C.
Mitch.e.l.l and Major John Johnson. The name of the overseer in charge of the negroes in the fort was Deburgh,--whether that was his right name I can not say.
Deburgh was a foreigner 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 sh.e.l.ls by the Yankees from Morris Island.
The princ.i.p.al 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 sh.e.l.ls rained alternately upon Fort Sumter every five minutes, day and night, but the sharp-shooters could only fire by day-light.
The negroes were princ.i.p.ally 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 they would have seen the negroes running about in the fort yard in a confused state, seeking places of safety from the missile sure to bring death to one or more of them. Another five minutes, and again the cry of the sentinel, "Look out," means a parrot sh.e.l.l, which is far more deadly than is the mortar because it comes so quickly that one has no chance to seek a place of safety.
The next moment the survivors of us, expecting that it would be our turn next, would be picking up, here and there, parts of the severed bodies of our fellow negroes; many of those bodies so mutilated as not to be recognizable.
DEBURGH, THE OVERSEER.
Deburgh, the overseer, of whom I have spoken, was a small man, of light complexion, and very light hair.
If my readers could have been in Fort Sumter in July, 1864, they would have seen Deburgh with a small bar of iron or a piece of sh.e.l.l in his hand, forcing the surviving portion of the negroes back into line and adding to these, other negroes kept in the Rat-hole as reserves to fill the places of those who were killed and wounded.
They would also have heard him swearing at the top of his voice, while forcing the negroes to rearrange themselves in line from the base of the fort to the top.
This arrangement of the negroes, enabled them to sling to each other the bags of sand which was put in the baskets on the top of the fort. My readers ask, what was the sand put on the fort for? It was to smother the fuses of such sh.e.l.ls as reached the ramparts before bursting.
After the bombardment of Port Sumter in 1863, by the Union forces, its top of fourteen or sixteen feet in thickness, built of New Hampshire granite, was left bare. From that time all through 1864, the sh.e.l.ls were so aimed as to burst right over the fort; and it was pieces of these sh.e.l.ls which flew in every direction that were so destructive.
The fuses of many of these sh.e.l.ls fired on Port Sumter did not burn in time to cause the sh.e.l.ls to burst before falling. Now as the sh.e.l.ls fell on the rampart of the fort instead of falling and bursting on the stone, they buried themselves harmlessly in the sand, which put out the fuse and also kept them from bursting.
But while the destruction of life was lessened by the sand, it was fully made up by the hand of that brute, the overseer. G.o.d only knows how many negroes he killed in Port Sumter under the shadow of night. Every one he reached, while forcing the slaves back into working position after they had been scattered by the sh.e.l.ls, he would strike on the head with the piece of iron he carried in his hand, and, as his victim fell, would cry out to some other negro, "Put that fellow in his box," meaning his coffin.
Whether the superior officers in Fort Sumter knew that Deburgh was killing the negroes off almost as fast as the sh.e.l.ls from Fort Wagner, or whether they did not know, and did not care, I never have learned.
But I have every reason to believe that one of them at least, namely, Major John Johnson, would not have allowed such a wholesale slaughter, had he known. On the other hand I believe that Capt. J.C. Mitch.e.l.l was not only mean enough to have allowed it, but that he was fully as heartless himself.
Whatever became of Deburgh, whether he was killed in Fort Sumter or not, I never knew.
OUR SUPERIOR OFFICERS.
The two officers in command of Fort Sumter in July of 1864 were Capt.
J.C. Mitch.e.l.l, and Major John Johnson.
Major Johnson was as kind, gentle, and humane to the negroes as could have been expected.
On the other hand, the actions of Capt. Mitch.e.l.l were harsh and very cruel. He had a bitter hatred toward the Yankees, and during the rain of sh.e.l.ls on Fort Sumter, he sought every opportunity to expose the negroes to as much danger as he dared.
I remember that one night Capt. Mitch.e.l.l ordered us outside of Fort Sumter to a projection of the stone-bed upon which the Fort was built, right in front of Fort Wagner. At that place we were in far greater danger from the deadly missiles of the Union forces than we were exposed to on the inside of Sumter, and I could see no other reasons for his ordering us outside of the fort that night than that we might be killed off faster.
It seems that during the incessant firing on Fort Sumter the officers held a consultation as to whether it was not best to evacuate the fort.
It was at this time that it was rumored,--a rumor that we had every reason to believe,--that Capt. Mitch.e.l.l plotted to lock us negroes up in our quarters in Sumter, known as the Rat-hole; and put powder to it and arrange it so that both the negroes and the Yankees should be blown up, when the latter should have taken possession after the evacuation of the fort by the Confederates.