Voice from the Past: “Another Bloodless Victory”

In belated honor of the fall of Fort Pulaski (April 11, 1862), we bring you Miss Susan Walker’s account of the battle:

Friday 11th April

Heavy firing all morning yesterday and commenced again at 10 last evening, still continued till about 2 P. M., probably cannonading Fort Pulaski 6 30 miles distant — so heavy as to shake our house. If sesesh gain we will hang from the highest tree. I look at these tall pines in the grove near my window and wonder which branch will hold me. I fear not for I feel that I am sent here for good. I came not myself alone.

Saturday

Yesterday at 2 P. M. Pulaski raised the white flag just in time to save the powder magazine and many lives. Only one of our men lost. Thank God! for another bloodless victory!

Source: Walker, Susan, “Diary of Susan Walker, April, 1862,” in The Journal of Miss Susan Walker, March 3rd to June 6th, 1862 edited by Henry Noble Sherwood, Henry Noble. Cincinnati,: Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, 1912.

Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, June 1, 1861.

Leave a Reply

The Fashion Trends of 1864

On February 27, 1864, Harper’s Weekly published the following illustration—”a few of the various styles of garments manufactured by” New York City–based clothing wholesalers Kirkland, Bronson, & Co. “New York…