[251] boats; when within 100 yards of the beach I opened upon them with the 10-inch gun, followed by the howitzers. The infantry commenced firing shortly afterward. The enemy returned the fire with their boat howitzers and musketry. A few succeeded in landing but quickly returned to their boats. After the fire had been kept up for about fifteen minutes the whole force retreated. Our casualties were 1 man mortally and 5 slightly wounded.
General Gillmore signaled to Admiral Dahlgren, who had furnished the boats and crews, that he found Gregg prepared for the attack and had failed.
During the siege of Wagner, General Gillmore had established a picket post at the mouth of Vincent's creek, on the James island side. Lieut.-Com. A. F. Warley, of the Chicora, with a launch and crew, and Capt. M. H. Sellers, with a detachment of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina in boats, the whole under the guidance of J. Fraser Mathewes, attacked and captured this picket on the 4th of August, Captain Sellers losing one of his gallant followers. The night following, Lieut. Philip Porcher, on the unarmed steamer Juno, with a crew armed with rifles, was out along Morris island reconnoitering the fleet. Encountering an armed launch of the frigate Wabash, Porcher ran her down, attacked her crew with his rifles and received her surrender, with most of the crew. The launch was turned over to Commodore Tucker for his use in the harbor.
The account of the defense of Battery Wagner may well be concluded with the following extract from Major Johnson's work:
The hardships of defense in Wagner were certainly greater while they lasted than those endured in Sumter. . . .After the 17th of August, when the breaching batteries of Morris island were opened on Sumter and its demolition assured, the holding longer of the northern end of the island might appear to have been unnecessary. General Gillmore says truly: ‘Neither Fort Wagner nor Battery Gregg possessed any special importance as a defense against the passage of the ironclad fleet. They ’
