Fort Enterprise

“ Any attempt to relieve Fort Sumter would unquestionably be attended with great loss of life; but most Americans readily admit that if they had a foreign force to deal with, no consideration of that kind would stay the hands of the Government. The fort stands on a sand-bank in shallow water, and batteries have been cast up on both shores effectually commanding the whole of the channels for several miles. The military activity and enterprise—I hear the skill as well—of the South have been displayed in the readiness and completeness of their preparations. ”

“ But as “a commander without troops,” the market-house—full of men, with its two six-pounders “completely filled with grape shot,” furnished with four thousand stand of arms, bayonets, belts and ball cartridge, brought from the depot at Kingston shortly before—was more to Sir Francis’ mind than the empty fort would have been. ”

“ Offices, warehouses, barracks, and hunters' lodges were banked round the inner walls of the fort. The garrison consisted of thirty-nine common soldiers and a few officers. In addition, there hung about the fort the usual habitués of a Northern fur post,—young clerks from England, who had come out for a year's experience in the wilds; underpaid artisans, striving to mend their fortunes by illicit trade; hunters and coureurs and voyageurs, living like Indians but with a strain of white blood that forever distinguished them from their comrades ”

“ He maintained a force of trappers who were always welcome at his fort, and whom he generously kept without cost to themselves. He taught the Indians blanket-weaving, hat-making, and other trades, and he even organized them into military companies. The fort which he built was enclosed on four sides and of imposing dimensions and convenience. It mounted twelve pieces of artillery, supported a regular garrison of forty in uniform, and contained within its walls a blacksmith shop, a distillery, a flour mill, a cannery, and space for other necessary industries. ”

“ The post was transferred to the United States in 1796, with the other frontier posts which Great Britain had held. From then until the outbreak of the War of 1812 it was allowed to fall into decay, and at the beginning of that conflict was but partially armed and quite unable to withstand an enemy. The English, hearing of its condition, and hearing, moreover, of the presence in the fort of large quantities of stores of all kinds, sent a fleet with 3000 men against the place. ”

“ Without more knowledge of the country than we possess, it is difficult, if not impracticable, to form a just estimate of the cost of erecting a fort sufficient for the protection of the troops in time of peace, and to answer the purposes of defence at the breaking out of a war. An experienced officer of engineers ought to be sent out with the expedition, and $50,000 appropriated to erect a fort. ”

“ All the Indians they knew came to the fort in canoes. Indeed, it was that spirit of little-minded narrowness that more than anything else lost to the Company the magnificent domain of its charter. If the men governing the Company had realized the empire of their ruling as fully as did the humble servants fighting the battles on the field, the Hudson’s Bay Company might have ruled from Atlantic to Pacific in the North, and in the West as far south as Mexico. ”

“ A few days after this fort had been so nobly reinforced, the splendid steamer Atlantic sailed into the Union fleet, laden with troops for the fort. The next day she was joined by the frigate Powhatan, and again by the Illinois, all laden with troops and military stores. Thus a thousand more troops were thrown into the stronghold, which, with the fleet outside, made it impregnable. ”

“ The low palmetto cob house begins to thunder with its heavy guns.
A bomb vessel casts anchor about a mile from the fort. Puff! bang! a thirteen-inch shell rises in the air with a fine curve and falls into the fort. It bursts and hurls up cart loads of sand, but hurts nobody. Four of the largest war ships are now within easy range. Down go the anchors, with spring ropes fastened to the cables, to keep the vessels broadside to the fort. The smaller men-of-war take their positions in a second line, in the rear. ”

“ That such a Proceeding will be a very great Expence to the Publick, for our Trade cannot be safe, unless it be protected by a considerable Force. A Fort must be built, and a Garrison of 50, 60, or perhaps 100 Men, with their proper Officers, must be maintained at each Place where the Trade is set up ”

“ On the south side there is a series of strong forts and batteries for about a mile along the shore, mounting about 120 guns of various patterns, the greater part being quite modern. Some distance inland is another fort and the magazines. These forts, designed to protect the sea-front, are therefore very formidable, and well manned with competent gunners would constitute a real danger to any ships entering the river. ”

“ The great city stood almost impregnable; a vast fort rising above her own rich property, sacrificed by herself to her ally the sea.
The sailors from the Fleet were employed to defend the dykes; the frigates guarded the Zuyder Zee; the citizens enrolled themselves into militia companies under the command of the noblest families.
The manufacture of powder was carried on day and night. Every town exerted itself to send supplies of wheelbarrows, shovels, and pickaxes to the frontier to assist in the fortifications. ”

“ After the council of war held on the Friday evening, at which it was determined to send the European women at once on board ship, there was a continual diminishing of the garrison of the Fort. Outside the walls our people were still holding Mr Eyre’s house on the north, Mr Cruttenden’s and the church on the north-east, and the Company’s house on the south, but this last post was evacuated before eight o’clock, the defenders being too severely galled by the fire from the next house, which was occupied by the enemy. ”

“ To return to the question of the extension of trade, there were from time to time governors and servants who evinced a zeal and love for adventure which contrasted favourably with that of their fellows. Their exploits, however, when 178 compared with those of the hardier race of French-Canadian bushrangers were tame enough. In 1673 Governor Bailey summoned all the servants of the fort to appear before him, and informed them that it was the Company's wish that some amongst them should volunteer to find out a site for a new fort. ”

“ Locally, it is difficult to get accurate information. All agree there is no vestige of the old Traders' Camp or the first United States fort left, but disagree as to its location. The new fort (not a fort, but an encampment) covers a space of thirty or forty acres with all sorts of buildings and ruins, from the old barracks, three hundred feet long, in good preservation and occupied by the present owner, Joseph Wild, as a store, postoffice, saloon, hotel and family residence, to the old guard house with its grim iron door and twenty-inch concrete walls. ”

“ It is matter of surprise, that the Company do not repair the large stone fort, which is made uncommonly strong, both by nature and by art. As it stands upon the extremity of a peninsula, a body of men passing the isthmus to attack it by land, would be completely exposed to the enfilading fire of the fort. It would be difficult also for an enemy to force the gates, because there is a small half-moon battery built on that side, expressly for their defence. Besides, there are dwelling-houses in the interior of the fort, sufficiently large for the reception of the whole factory. ”

“ The old fort, situate within the town of Calcutta, may be an apt quotation. The impressions made by shots, of 24 and 32lb. fired by Admiral Watson against its western face, when his fleet lay within three hundred yards of it, in the year 1755, were absolutely insignificant; the brave admiral might have battered for a century, without bringing down the wall. In the year 1779, when the Company’s cloth godown took fire, the third regiment of European infantry, then in garrison at Fort-William, marched out with engines, &c. to aid towards its extinction ”

“ The employees at the fort were divided into classes, to each of which special duties were assigned. Certain men remained always at the post guarding it, trading with Indians and trappers, and keeping the books. These we may call clerks, or store-keepers, and mechanics. Another group took care of the live-stock, herding and caring for the horses and mules, while still others had charge of the wagon-train that hauled the furs to the States, and brought back new goods to the fort. Other men, led by veteran traders, went to trade in the Indian camps at a distance. ”

“ In fact these two inside forts could be used as citadels, or a place of refuge when the long exterior lines of defense were captured. And this was the case with fort "C" in the battle of Allatoona. The whole formed a mountain fortress.
The Federals call the intrenchments at "R" "rifle pits," to which they bear about as much relation, in regard to strength, as a battleship does to a dispatch boat. Commencing about one hundred and twenty-five yards west of the fort "C," and on the south side of the Cartersville road, are two lines of intrenchments running nearly parallel with that road. ”

“ Besides Ships passing up the River are secured from the Guns of the Fort, till they come directly over-against the Fort, by reason the Fort stands in a Vale, and all the Guns directed down the River, that should play on the Ships, as they are coming up the River, will lodge their Shot within Ten, Twenty, or Forty Yards in the rising Bank, which is much above the Level of the Fort ”

“ Here there was no likeness to anything so formal; the army manœuvres partook of the wild luxuriance of native growths. If twelve were the hour for muster on the common at Fort George, it was sure to be after one before the arduous work of falling in began. “The men answered to their names, as the rolls of the various companies were called, with a readiness and distinctness of tone which showed that, in spite of the weather, they were wide-awake,” says the chronicle. Once they became more active a scene ensued which could not fail to gladden the eyes of the onlookers. ”

“ They further gave instructions to make a final selection of the site for the construction of the Fort near Glenelg, the immediate preparation of the plans, and the acquisition of the land required. A cable was dispatched to our military adviser in London, then General Harding-Stewart, to place at once on order the armament for the fort, which it had been decided should consist of two 9.2 and two 6-inch breech-loading guns, mounted on hydro-pneumatic gun-carriages, the latest up-to-date ordnance approved of by the home government for coastal defence purposes throughout the Empire. ”

“ Captain, that medal which Black Partridge returned to you to-night was equivalent to a declaration of war. If you are not willing to act upon your own responsibility, send Captain Wells and his Indians to General Hull to ask for reinforcements. If Captain Wells is not willing to go, I am. I know the provisions have been given to the Indians, but we have the cattle and perhaps enough else to last the garrison two weeks or more. With reinforcements we can hold the Fort against any force that may be brought against it. ”

“ And if it had not been captured the elevation would have given the Indians great advantage over the garrison, making their arrows very effective. To have placed the fort on either one of the high hills would have thrown the garrison too far from the river to protect their sail vessels, and in case they had been compelled to give up the fort they could not have reached their vessels in the river, which, in the past, had proved a safer refuge than the poorly constructed forts of that day. ”

“ The fort was a regular, square-bastioned work, one hundred yards exterior side, with a deep ditch some fifteen feet wide, and a parapet eighteen feet high.
On the 10th of January, the land forces, under command of General McClernand, and the flotilla, under Admiral Porter, ascended the river, and the former disembarked with a view of surrounding the work. During the night, the gunboats fired a few shots at the work, and in the morning, the troops being in position, the work commenced in earnest. ”

“ As a preliminary to the proposed movement, he directed the post quartermaster, Lieutenant Hall, to charter three schooners and some barges, for the ostensible purpose of transporting the soldiers' families to old Fort Johnson, on the opposite side of the harbor, where there were some dilapidated public buildings belonging to the United States. The danger of the approaching conflict was a good pretext for the removal of the non-combatants. ”

“ There were on board the schooner five men besides the captain, who now went on shore to show his papers to the commandant of the fort: the battery consisted of four guns, of about fourteen and twenty-four pounds calibre, commanding the river both ways. The fort itself is on a rising ground, and behind it are five or six indifferent cottages: the commandant's house is little better than a hut ”

“ He was now on the march to the relief of Fort Prince George, which the savages had invested, where the garrison was in much distress, not for the want of provisions but for fuel to cook food, since the enemy was in [268] such force that no sortie could be made to the woods to procure a supply. ”