hours, this terrific bombardment continued all day and all night, with but occasional lulls, from the early dawn of Friday morning till near the close of Saturday afternoon. The garrison in Sumter soon became so exhausted, that they could make but a feeble response. An eye-witness thus describes the scene within the fort:

"The fire surrounded us on all sides. Fearful that the walls might crack, and the shells pierce and prostrate them, we commenced taking the powder out of the magazine before the fire had fully enveloped it. We took 96 barrels of powder out, and threw them into the sea, leaving 200 barrels in it. Owing to a lack of cartridges, we kept five men inside the magazine, sewing, as we wanted them, thus using up our shirts, sheets, blankets, and all the available material in the fort. When we were finally obliged to close the magazine, and our material for cartridges was exhausted, we were left destitute of any means to continue the contest. We had eaten our last biscuit thirty-six hours before. We came very near being stifled with the dense, livid smoke from the burning buildings. Many of the men lay prostrate on the ground, with wet handkerchiefs over their mouths and eyes, gasping for breath. It was a moment of imminent peril. If an eddy of wind had not ensued, we all, probably, should have been suffocated. The crashing of the shot, the bursting of the shells, the falling of walls, and the roar of the flames made a pandemonium of the fort. We nevertheless kept up a steady fire."

Such was the state of affairs, when, near the close of the day, a small boat suddenly made its appearance at one of the embrasures, with a white flag, and Major Wigfall, formerly a United States Senator from Texas, and who had been one of the most fierce and conspicuous of the Secessionists, was permitted to crawl through the embrasure. The fort was on fire, the garrison utterly exhausted, and yet the tattered banner of Stars and Stripes floated proudly and defiantly over the ruins. After some conference, and the arrival of another deputation, it was agreed that the garrison should surrender the fort, taking with them, as they retired at their leisure and in their own way, all their individual and company property, their side arms, and the war-scathed flag, which they were to salute with a hundred guns, before they hauled it down.

The battle now ceased. The fire was ere long extinguished, having destroyed nearly everything combustible, and the wearied men had a night of such rest as could be found in the midst of the ruins which surrounded them. About half past 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, the evacuation commenced. The booming of cannon echoed over the bay, as the heroic and indomitable band saluted the Flag sinking from its staff, and then, as with the proud step of victors, the band playing "Yankee Doodle" and "Hail Columbia," they marched out of the main gate, with the Stars and the Stripes waving over them, and entered the transport Isabel, which conveyed them to the United States Ship Baltic, in the offing, by which they were carried in triumph to New York.

Fort Sumter was the Bunker Hill of this Civil War. In both cases, a prond aristocracy were determined to subject this country to its sway. In both cases, the defeat was a glorious victory. This little band of heroes