FORTS AND ARSENALS. 



315 



FORTS AND ARSENALS, MINTS AND 



LIGHT-HOUSES, i.v THK SECE-DED STATES. All 

 the- property of the United States in the seced- 

 ing States was taken possession of by the State 

 authorities either immediately before or soon 

 after the passage of their ordinances of secession. 

 In all cases, this property was transferred to the 

 Confederate Government, when the State in 

 which it was located became a member of the 

 Confederacy. The position assumed was, that 

 the forts had been constructed by the United 

 States with the public money for the defence of 

 each State, consequently when the State be- 

 came . independent, or joined another Union, 

 she had a title to the property, arising out of 

 her interest, above all other parties. This seiz- 

 ure was therefore justified by the State author- 

 ities on the ground of self-defence, and prom- 

 ises were offered to account for the property in 

 a general and final settlement with the United 

 States. This argument was extended to justify 

 the seizure of mints, arsenals, custom-houses, 

 post-offices, and hospitals. The property thus 

 taken possession of, is of national magnitude, 

 and would constitute a splendid outfit to a new 

 Confederacy. It is not proposed to enter into 

 details, any further than to describe the forts, 

 arsenals, mints, custom-houses, and light-houses. 

 Every village had its post-office, with its outfit ; 

 ships were lying at the navy yards, plantations 

 of live oak were growing, and much other val- 

 uable property was scattered through States, 

 which came into the possession, of the Confed- 

 erate States. 



FORTS. 



Fort Ca-swell was erected as one of the de- 

 fefhces of the harbor of Smithville, North Caro- 

 lina. It was erected at a cost of $571,221. The 

 fort was under the charge of Brigadier-General 

 Foster, captain of Engineers until the 16th of 

 April, when it was taken possession of by a 

 military company from Wilmington. The fort 

 was generally in good repair. The shot fur- 

 naces required rebuilding A few guns of in- 

 ferior calibre were on hand, without carriages. 

 The fronts of the work bearing upon the en- 

 trance were deficient in gun circles. 



Fort Johnston was seized at the same time. 

 It is two miles from the mouth of Cape Fear 

 River, and forms one of the defences of Smith- 

 ville harbor. 



Fort Macon, in the harbor of Beaufort, N. 

 Carolina, was seized about the middle of April. 

 It had been under the supervision of General 

 Foster. Its construction cost $463,790. At 

 the time of its seizure a few guns were mount- 

 ed on weak carriages, the shot furnace required 

 rebuilding, and the wood work, drawbridge, and 

 embankment of the causeway needed repairs. 



Fort Sumter. See SUMTER. 



Fort Johnston was constructed for the de- 

 fence of Charleston harbor, South Carolina. 

 The barracks and quarters were in such bad 

 order as to be almost uninhabitable. The posi- 

 tion was occupied on the 2d of January by the 



State troops. A small battery of three guns 

 was soon after built adjoining the barracks. 



Fort Pinckney, in Charleston harbor, was 

 seized by the State troops on the 27th of De- 

 cember. The Lieutenant in charge was suffered 

 to leave with the workmen ; but all the public 

 property was taken possession of, including the 

 iness property and one month's provisions for 

 the engineer force. The armament of the fort 

 was all mounted, except two or three guns on 

 the barbette tier, and one 42-pounder in the 

 casemate tier. The carriages were in good 

 order and pretty good. The magazine was well 

 furnished with implements, and contained some 

 powder. The fort was generally in excellent 

 condition. Its cost was $53,809. 



Fort Moultrie. The work of preparing this 

 fort, which is situated in Charleston harbor, 

 for a vigorous defence, commenced in August, 

 1860, and was diligently prosecuted up to the 

 day of its evacuation, December 26tb, 1860. 

 In this time, the large accumulation of sand 

 which overtopped the scarp wall on the sea 

 front was removed to the front, and formed 

 into a glacis ; a wet ditch, fifteen feet wide, dug 

 around the fort ; two planking caponnieres of 

 brick, built to flank with their fire the three 

 water fronts ; a bastionet for musketry con- 

 structed at the northwest angle; a picket 

 fence built around the fort, bordering the 

 ditch, and protected by a small glacis ; merlons 

 constructed on the whole of the east front ; 

 communications opened through the quarters ; 

 a bridge built connecting them with the guard- 

 house ; and the latter loop-holed for musketry, 

 so as to serve for a citadel. 



The fort is an enclosed water battery, having 

 a front on the south or water side, of three 

 hundred feet. It is built with salient and re- 

 entering angles on all sides, and is admirably 

 adapted, in its plan, for defence, either from the 

 attack of a storming party, or by regular ap- 

 proaches. The outer and inner walls are of 

 brick, capped with stone, and filled in with earth, 

 making a solid wall about fifteen feet in thickness. 

 The height of the wall from the bottom of the 

 ditch to the top of the parapet is twenty feet. 

 The commandant of the fort for many years was 

 Colonel Gardner, but on the 18th of November, 

 1860, Major Robert Anderson, of Kentucky, was 

 ordered to that post. His position on the 24th 

 of December, is thus described by himself: 



" When I inform you that our garrison con- 

 sists of only sixty effective men, and that we 

 are in a very indifferent work, the walls of 

 which are only about fourteen feet high, and 

 that we have, within one hundred and fifty 

 yards of our walls, sand hiDs which command 

 our work, and which afford admirable sites for 

 batteries, and the finest covers for sharpshooters, 

 and that beside this, there are numerous houses, 

 some of them within pistol-shot, you will at 

 once see that, if attacked in force, headed by 

 any one but a simpleton, there is scarce a possi- 

 bility of our being able to hold out long enough 

 to enable our friends to come to our succor." 



