Servant to David Hunter, April 13, 1862

Sir: The flag of our country waves over Fort Pulaski, I summoned the garrison to surrender at sunrise >n the morning of the 10th instant.

Immediately on receiving their refusal, at 8 a. m , we opened fire, the bombardment continuing without intermission for thirty hours. At the end of eighteen hours’ firing the fort was breached in the southeast angle, and at the moment of surrender, 2 p. m. on the 11th instant, we had commenced preparations for storming.

The whole armament of the fort—47 guns, 1 great supply of fixed ammunition, 40,000 pounds of powder, and large quantities of commissary stores, have fallen into our hands; also 360 prisoners, of whom the officers will be sent North by the first opportunity that offers.

The result of this bombardment must cause, I am convinced, a change in the construction of fortifications as radical as that forshadowed in naval architecture by the conflict between the Monitor and Merrimac. No works of stone or brick can resist the impact of rifled artillery of heavy caliber.

Too much praise cannot be given Capt. Q. A. Gillmore, U. 8. Engineers (acting brigadier-general), the officer immediately in charge of our works on Tybee Island, for his industry, skill, and patriotic zeal. Great credit is also due to his assistants, Lieut. J. H. Wilson, U. S. Topographieal Engineers, and Lieut. Horace Porter, of the Ordnance Department. I have also to gratefully acknowledge the services of Capt. C. R. P. Rodgers, U. S. Navy, who, with 100 of his men from the Wabash, under command of Lieutenant Irwin, did nobly at the guns.

Our gallant volunteers, under the scientific direction of Captain Gillmore, displayed admirable energy and perseverance in the construction of the earthworks on Tybee Island, and nothing could be finer or more impressive than the steadiness, activity, skill, and courage with which they worked their guns in battery. When I receive the reports of the officers now immediately in command—Brig. Gen. H. W. Benham and Acting Brigadier-General Gillmore—a statement more in detail will be immediately forwarded ; but I cannot close without expressing my thanks to both these officers, and the hope that Acting Brigadier-General Gillmore may be confirmed in the position of brigadier-general, to which in this bombardment he has established such deserving claims.

I am happy to state that our loss was but one man killed, the earthworks of our batteries affording secure protection against the heaviest fire of the enemy. The loss of the enemy has been stated as three severely wounded.

I have the honor to be, sir, most respectfully, your very obedient