(CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE) Eason William G Telegraph message o

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(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Eason, William G. Telegraph message on the deployment of Confederate artillery on the eve of Fort Wagner. Manuscript telegram on printed blank of the Southern Telegraph Companies, sent to Governor Milledge Luke Bonham in Columbia, SC, 4 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches; Charleston, SC, 10 July [1863]

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In July 1863, the Confederate P.G.T. Beauregard was in charge of the defense of Charleston, SC, which was then the subject of a prolonged Union campaign; the First Battle of Fort Wagner took place on the day after this telegram. Here, the state militia's ordnance officer Major William Grassell Eason (1827-1898) reports to the governor on an unexpected bounty from the Confederate army: "Genl Beauregard gives us eight iron six pounder guns. Do you wish them shipped to any point?" With the desperate efforts then being made to defend the vitally important Port of Charleston, it seems surprising that any artillery would leave Beauregard's grasp, but we suspect these guns were deployed by the militia toward the same goal.