AFTER BILL RUN— GUARDING THE
uf litVttWS Co, Inside Castle Pinckney, Charleston Harbor, August, 1861. — In these hitherto unpublished Confederate photographs we see one of the earhest volunteer military organizations of South Carolina and some of the first Federal prisoners taken in the war. The Charleston Zouave Cadets were organized in the summer of 18C0, and were recruited from among the patriotic young men of Charleston. We see in the picture how very young they were. The company first went into active service on Morris Island, January 1, 1861, and was there on the 9th when the guns of the battery turned back the Star of the Tl'e.'it arriving with reinforcements for Sumter. The company was also stationed on Sullivan's Island during the bombardment of Sumter. April 12-1."?, 1861. After the first fateful clash at Bull Run. .July 21, 1861, had taught the North that the war was on in earnest, a number of Federal prisoners were brought to Charleston and placed for safekeeping in Castle Pinckney, then garrisoned by the Charleston Zouave Cadets. To break the monotony of guard duty Captain Chichester, some time in August, engaged a photographer to take some pictures about the fort showing his men. Gray uniforms with red stripes, red fatigue caps, and white cross belts were a novelty. The casemates of the fort had been fitted up with bunks and doors as sleeping quarters for the prisoners. Casemate No. 1 was occupied by prisoners from the 11th New York Zouaves, who had been recruited almost entirely from the New York Fire Department. The smaller picture is a nearer view of their quarters, over which they have placed the sign " Hotel de Zouave." We see them still wearing the uniform of the battlefield: wide dark-blue trousers with socks covering the bottoms, red flannel shirts with the silver badge of the New York Fire Department, blue jackets elaborately trimmed with braid, red fez caps with blue tas.sels, and a blue sash around the waist. Their regiment, the famous " Ellsworth's Zouaves," was posted at Bull Run as a support forRickett's and Griffin's Batteries during the fierce fighting of the afternoon on the Henry House hill. They gave way before the charge of the Confederates, leaving 48 dead and 7.5 wounded on the field. About 6,5 of them were taken prisoners, some of whom we see here a month after the battle. The following October the prisoners were exchanged, .^t the beginning of the war the possession of prisoners did not mean as much to the South as it did later in the struggle, when exchanges became almost the last resource for recruiting the dwindling ranks. Almost every Southerner capable of bearing arms had already joined the colors.
THE PRISONERS— 11 Tn NEW YORK ZOUAVES