under constant fire from the enemy's batteries, and at all times with very insufficient means of transportation. These difficulties were overcome by the cheerful constancy of the command. To Brigadier General I. Vogdes, for prompt and skillful superintendence of the transfer of material from Folly Island; to Captain L. L. Langdon, First Artillery, for his energetic exertions in getting the artillery to its place, and to the indefatigable Captain Mordecai, U. S. Ordnance, for his perfect preparation and systematizing of the complicated ordnance supplies, much praise is due, and they are, therefore, strongly commenced to the favorable notice of the brigadier-general commanding the department.

On July 18, the batteries on the right (Reynolds and Weed) were commanded by Captain L. L. Langdon, and consisted of Captain Brayton's Third Rhode Island Battery, six field rifles; Battery E, Third U. S. Artillery, six 10-pounder Parrotts, under Lieutenant Myrick, Third Artillery; two 30-pounder Parrots, under Lieutenant G. V. Henry, First Artillery; five 8-inch siege mortars, under Lieutenant Holbrook, Third Rhode Island Artillery,a nd five 10-inch siege mortars, under Captain Comstock, Third Rhode Island Artillery. The batteries on the left (Hays and O'Rorke) were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel R. H. Jackson, captain First Artillery, and contained seven 30-pounder and four 20-pounder Parrotts, served by Captains Shaw's and Strahan's companies of the Third Rhode Island Artillery, and a portion of the Sixth [Seventh] Connecticut, under Captain Gray, and five 10-inch siege mortars, served by Captain Greene's company of the Third Rhode Island Artillery.

My instructions from Brigadier-General Gillmore were to open fire at daybreak, but an excessively heavy rain had fallen during the preceding night, so flooding the works and deranging our affairs generally that it could not be commenced until after 9 o'clock. A deliberate experimental fire was first directed, which gradually became as rapid as accuracy would allow. The monitors, the Ironsides, and other vessels, moved up, and from about noon until nightfall the fort was subjected to such a weight of artillery as had probably never before been turned upon a single point. The garrison remained closely under shelter, returning only an occasional gun, and there was no evidence, from close personal observation, that any material damage had been done to the artillery of the fort. Our own guns were, in fact, too far distant for accurate dismounting fire, and a portion of the right battery was so far useless, from improper location, that its gunners could not even see the object at which they fired. Nevertheless, it was presumed that, under such intense fire, some demoralization must have been effected within.

About an hour before sunset, I received instructions from Brigadier-General Gillmore to arrange for an assault. It was suggested to me that the brigade of General Strong would suffice, but it was finally understood that all the force of my command should be held ready for the work. The division was accordingly formed on the beach and moved to the fort. It consisted of three fine brigades.

The First, under Brigadier-General Strong, was composed of the Forty-eighth New York, Colonel Barton; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, Captain J. S. Littell; Third New Hampshire, Colonel Jackson; Sixth Connecticut, Colonel Chatfield; Ninth Maine, Colonel Emery; and, temporarily, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, Colonel Shaw.

The Second Brigade, under Colonel Putnam, Seventh New Hampshire, consisted of the Seventh New Hampshire, Lieutenant-Colonel