History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

60 FIFTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 1864
charged a two gun battery, mounting Brook's rifled guns, and carried it handsomely. Fort Johnson was still four hundred yards in advance. The fire from
the batteries and muskets of the fort had now grown hot, but there was no
halt. The parapet was reached and scaled, shots were exchanged breast to
breast over the crest, and the men of the Fifty-second jumped down into the
works. The garrison were now fully aroused and at their posts. The long distance traversed had destroyed somewhat the impetus of the assafut, and the
assailants had become separated in the steep ascent to the fort. The assaulting
party, now outnumbered, found itself without support, and a glance back revealed the appalling fact, that through some mischance, none of the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York had landed. The struggle was hopeless
and retreat was impossible. The entire party was, therefore, made prisoners
of war, although the fort was fairly in their grasp. It had proved a complete
surprise, and its very boldness bewildered the enemy.
The casualties in the Fifty-second were seven killed and sixteen wounded.
Of the former was Lieutenant S. A. Bunyan, of company E, acting Adjutant,
and Lieutenant George Scott, of Company D.
" The boats," says General Foster in orders " commanded by Colonel Hoyt,
Lieutenant Colonel Conyngham, Captain Camp, and Lieutenants Stevens and
Evans, all of the Fifty-second Pennsylvania, rowed rapidly to the shore, and
these officers, with Adjutant Bunyan, (afterwards killed,) and one hundred
and thirty-five men, landed and drove the enemy; but deserted by their supports, were obliged to surrender to superior numbers. Colonel Hoyt bestows
unqualified praise on the officers and men who landed with them; of these,
seven were killed and sixteen wounded. They deserve great credit for their
energy in urging their boats forward and bringing them through the narrow
channel, and the feeling which led the to land at thhe head of their men was
the prompting of a gallant spirit, which deserves to find more imitators." Of
the men captured more than fifty perished amid the horrors of Andersonville
and Columbia. The officers were confined at Macon awhile, and afterwards
in Charleston, and placed under the fire of the batteries on Morris Island.
The regiment remained on Morris Island during the summer and autumn
of 1864. During this time the men became very expert in the use of the heavy
guns which all the works mounted. It would be difficult to estimate the number of thirty, one hundred, and two hundred pound shells thrown by them
through rifled Parrotts into Charleston, some of them a distance of more than
ten thousand yards. The dilapidated streets of the city itself were the best
commentary on the strength of iron and " villainous saltpetre." One thirtypounder Parrott withstood over four thousand six hundred discharges at an
elevation of thirty-eight degrees.
During the winter the regiment performed duty as boat infantry. This duty
was exceedingly difficult and arduous. It was the picket duty upon the harbor. It involved great hardships and exposure. All through the long, blustering, wintry nights the men sat with muskets, howitzers, and Requa batteries,
peering across the iron-clad harbor; collisions with the enemy's pickets were
frequent. At last, on the 18th of February, 1865, Major Hennessy in command,
thought the shapeless ruins of Sumter gave less evidence of vigilance than usual.
Taking Lieutenant Burr, company B, and a picked boat-crew, and the old flag
of the Fifty-second, he pulled boldly for her battered ruins. No one challenged
him, as with zealous caution, he scaled her tough remains, and with a^hout of