was his "proper work," and that all he desired was to have Sumter rendered incapable of its musketry fire by the fire of Cumming's Point, when he was ready to move in, which might not be for a couple of weeks. There were no guns in the fort to fear, and the practicability of keeping its musketry fire entirely silent with the powerful armament we had ready on the north end of Morris Island was no doubted for a moment. The occasion to use the guns for that purpose never presented itself.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Major-General of Volunteers.

Brigadier General G. W. CULLUM,

Chief of Staff, Hdqrs. of the Army, Washington, D. C.

ORDERS.] HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,

Morris Island, S. C., July 13, 1863.

The brigadier-general commanding present his congratulations and thanks to the army which he has the honor to command, for the brilliant victory on the 10th instant, which places them 3 miles nearer the rebel stronghold, Sumter, the first, among all our country's defenses against foreign foes, that felt the polluting tread of traitors.

Our labors, however, are not over; they are just began; and while the spires of the rebel city still loom up in the dim distance, hardships and privations must be endured before our hopes and expectations to a grateful posterity.

Special thanks are due to Brigadier General I. Vogdes and his command, for the untiring energy and patient endurance displayed by them in erecting the batteries on Folly Island, under almost every conceivable disadvantage; and to Brigadier General George C. Strong ad his command for the heroic gallantry with which they carried the enemy's batteries on Morris Island, this being the first instance during the was in which powerful batteries have been successfully assaulted by a column disembarked under a heavy artillery fire.

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS.] HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,

In the Field, Morris Island, S. C., September 15, 1863.

It is with no ordinary feeling of gratification and pride that the brigadier-general commanding is enabled to congratulate this army upon the signal success which has crowned the enterprise in which it has been engaged. Fort Sumter is destroyed. The scene where our country's flag suffered its first dishonor you have made the theater of one of its proudest triumphs.

The fort has been in the possession of the enemy for more than two years, has been his pride and boast, has been strengthened by every appliance known to military science, and has defied the assaults of the most powerful and gallant fleet the world ever saw. But it has