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Gilmore's Letter To Beauregard

Gilmore's Letter To Beauregard image
Parent Issue
Day
11
Month
September
Year
1863
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Washington, Sept. 2. The following is Gen. Gilmoro's reply, a brief notiee of wliicb hns beeu published in the rebel papers, to Gen. Beauregiird's commuuieaüon already printed at 1 ngtli : Djpartuient of tlie Suuth, Headqnarters J Morris lsland, S. C, 9 P. M., Aiig. 22d. ) "Sir : - I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of y'óür communieation of th!s date, complaiuing that one of my battcries had opened upou the Citv of Charleston aud thrown a number of heavy rifled shells into the city, the inhabitants of which, of course were asleep, and unarmed. My letters to you demanding tbe surrender of Fort Sumpter and Morris lsland and threatening, n dcfault thereof, to open fireupon Charleston, was riclivcred near Fort Wagner at 11:15 A. M., of Ülst instant, and should have arrived at your headquarters in time to have pcnnittrd your answer to roach me with iu Che liunt assigned, namelv, four hours The fuct that you were absent froiu your iheadquarters at the time of its arrival may be regarded as an unfortunato cireumstance for the citv of Charleston, but 5t is one for which I clearly am Dot repor.siblo. Tliis letter bore date at my lieadquarters, aud was officially delivered by au offieer of my staff. The inadvertent omission of my signatura doubtless afforded ground for special pleading, but it is uot the argument of a commander solicilous only t'or tho safety of slee"ping women anJ children and unarmed men. Your threats of retaliation for acts of mine which you do r-.ot allege to be in violation of the usages of civilized warfare, except as regards the length of time allowed as notice oí my intention. are passed by without comment. I will, howcver, cali your atteution to tho well established principie that the commander of a place attacked, but not invcsted, having his avenues of escape open and practicable, has no rigfat of a notice of a bombardment ot'ner than that which is given by tbc threatening attitude of his adversary. Even had Dot this letter been written, the city of Charleston bas had, according to your own computatinn, forty days' notice of her danger. During that time my attack upon her defenses had steadily progressed. The ultimate object oí that attack has at no time been douhtful. If, under tho circumstances, the life of a single non-combatant is exposed to peril by the bombardment of the city, the responsibüty rests vrith those who havo first failed to remove the non combetauts, or to secure thosafety of the city af ter having held control of all its approachea fora period of two years and a halfin the presence of a tbreatening force, aud who aftcrwards refused to accept the terms upon vvhich the bomburdmeut, might have been postponed. "From various sources, officially and otherwiso I am led to believe that most of the women and cjiildren of Charleston were long since removed from that city, but upon your assurance that tbe city is full of them, I shall suspend the bombardment until 11 o'clock P. M., to-morrow, thus giving you two days from the time you acknowledge to havo received niy communieation of the 21st instant. "Very respc-ctfully your ob'dt serv't, Q. A. GILMORE, Brig-Gen, Comd'g. lTo Gen. G. T. Beauregard, Comtnanding Confedérate forecs at Charles ton, S. O."

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus