This article was transcribed from Harper's Weekly Journal of Civilization, dated August 15, 1863:

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The Siege of Charleston

          Published is a Birds-Eye View of the Environs of Charleston, showing the sea-islands on which Gilmore's army is contending with the enemy; and above a number of views on Morris, Seabrook and other islands where our troops are encamped.

          The following extract from the Herald correspondence will enable our readers to form an idea of the present condition of affairs on Morris Island:

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          There is a continual and uninterrupted heavy artillery duel going on night and day between Fort Sumter, Fort Johnson, and the new batteries erected near it, the work on Cumming's Point, called Battery Gregg, and Fort Wagner, and our batteries, aided by the iron-clads, which daily practice on Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg, occasionally exchanging a shot with Sumter.

          The new rebel batteries on James Island, which have either been built within the past fortnight or have long been masked, now occasion us at times a little annoyance, but do not interrupt the steady advance and progress of out works. They have several large sea-coast mortars in position and they manage to explode their shells high in rarely, inflict injuries on our gallant troops who wield the spade and pick as well as they have the musket. Fort Wagner, when not kept silent by the iron-clads and out mortar and rifle batteries, directs a sharp fire of canister and grape on our working parties, making the air above them vocal with the nondescript missles they favor us with. The rebels seem to have a peculiar relish for broken bottles and glassware, old bits of crockery, rusty nails, fragments of cooking utensils and all sorts of odds and ends which may inflict wounds, and these missiles they pour into our lines with an intense zest and no little spite. Some of out men have been wounded by these novel projectiles, and in a few instances quite seriously. The rebel stock of iron is quite limited, we must infer from the above facts, or they have chosen to use substitutes for the ordinary missile which render wounds more serious and more apt to occasion death eventually. In either case the show is not at all favorable to the rebels.

          Our lines were advanced a few days since several hundred yards, and our extreme front is now within less than five hundred yards of Fort Wagner, and our sharp-shooters are now so close to the rebel work that they pick off any gunner who attempts to level the large pieces bearing on our trenches.

          The rebels in Wagner closed up the embrasures on the southern face of the work three days ago, and have remained silent until this morning at daylight, when they cleared the embrasures and developed the fact that they had five guns in position, two of them being new ones, from which they opened a hot fire on our working parties, and occasioned no little annoyance. Our batteries replied instantly, and a sharp contest ensued. The rebels kept up the fire with great warmth, and not until one of the Monitors and the New Ironsides had shelled them heartily did they desert their guns and take to their bombproofs, where they now lie secure. Our work then went on as rapidly and quietly as ever.

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Of Fort Wagner the same correspondent writes:

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          Fort Wagner is an irregular bastioned work, situated on the northern end of Morris Island, two thousand five hundred yards distant from Fort Sumter. It is composed entirely of sand, which, beyond doubt, is the best material to withstand the effect of shell. Its armament is six guns; but three guns have recently been mounted on the sen face to annoy the Monitors. On the southern face of the work all the obstructions that engineering skill can devise have been placed so as to annoy our troops in case of an assault. On the northern side of the work there has been erected a musketry parapet, which not only commands the approach from the northward, but enables its garrison to be sheltered in event of our troops gaining an admittance to the interior. It has its ravelins, galleries, and covered ways, and upon the whole is a very formidable work. The magazine is situated in the southern centre of the seaward portion of the work, and although exposed to the fire of our iron-clads, it is so well built as to defy the projectiles which have already struck it.

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