Over one hundred and fifty are said to have been charred in that fiery furnace, and a hundred men were wounded more or less seriously by the explosion or were burned by the fire.” Then came the destruction of the rebel fleet. Very fittingly the _Palmetto State_ first flew into fragments with a loud report, which signalled well the fate of the home of secession, and over it soon swept the free waves. The _Chicora_ and _Charleston_ followed in the work of ruin. Cotton, rice, tobacco, locomotives, etc., fell into our hands. “The reports of the Charleston editors that the city experienced but little damage from our shells, like nearly all others emanating from the same source, were essentially false. It requires no very extended examination in the lower streets of the city—those near the bay—to satisfy the most sceptical of the fact that our shells were working most serious injury to the town, and that the continuance of the bombardment would make it a mass of ruins, as it had already rendered it untenable to the most courageous resident. But two persons resided in ‘Shell-town,’ as some wag named that portion of the city east of the two-mile post, visited by our shells, and they clung to their firesides with a tenacity of purpose that the most demonstrative and aggressive Parrott shell failed to relax. Though their beds were torn to pieces while they were engaged in their domestic affairs—both being females—by impertinent shells, and their culinary affairs seriously damaged by projectiles, their roofs perforated, and ventilators put in front of their dwellings, they would not move, but endured the bombardment with a coolness and equanimity rarely found. Even the rebel officers, who ordered them away from the dangerous ground, failed to call a third time to ascertain whether or not the order had been obeyed. They lived through the entire bombardment, became accustomed to the howl of the rushing shell and its sharp explosion, and paid no rent, although the buildings they occupied suggested heavy rents. Now that quiet and safety are insured they propose to repair and live comfortably once more.