Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/42

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CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY.


Florida, and a large amount to the governor of Tennes see. Of what remained he needed 40, ooo pounds to sup ply "about 100 guns on the coast below Charleston." The governor estimated the troops in the forts and on the islands around Charleston at 1,800 men, all well drilled, and a reserve force in the city of 3,000. These forces, with Manigault s, Heyward’s, Dunovant’s and Orr’s regiments, he estimated at about 9,500 effective.

On October 1st, General Ripley reported his Confederate force, not including the battalion of regular artillery and the regiment of regular infantry, at 7,713 effectives, stationed as follows: Orr s First rifles, on Sullivan’s island, 1,521; Hagood’s First, Cole’s island and stone forts, 1,115; Dunovant’s Twelfth, north and south Edisto, 367; Manigault’s Tenth, Georgetown and defenses, 538; Jones Fourteenth, camp near Aiken, 739; Hey ward s Eleventh, Beaufort and defenses, 758; cavalry, camp near Columbia, 173; cavalry, camp near Aiken, 62; arsenal, Charleston (artillery), 68; Edwards Thirteenth, De Saussure’s Fifteenth, and remainder of Dunovant’s Twelfth, 2,372.

On the first day of November, the governor received the following dispatch from the acting secretary of war : "I have just received information which I consider entirely reliable, that the enemy s expedition is intended for Port Royal." Governor Pickens answered: "Please telegraph General Anderson at Wilmington, and General Lawton at Savannah, to send what forces they can spare, as the difficulty with us is as to arms." Ripley replied, "Will act at once. A fine, strong, southeast gale blowing, which will keep him off for a day or so. The fleet sailed from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October, and on the 4th of November the leading vessels that had withstood the gale appeared off Port Royal harbor. The storm had wrecked several of the transports, and the