The account of the defense of Battery Wagner may well be concluded with the following extract from Major Johnson's work:
The hardships of defense in Wagner were certainly greater while they lasted than those endured in Sumter.... After the 17th of August, when the breaching batteries of Morris island were opened on Sumter and its demolition assured, the holding longer of the northern end of the island might appear to have been unnecessary. General Gillmore says truly: "Neither Fort Wagner nor Battery Gregg possessed any special importance as a defense against the passage of the ironclad fleet. They were simply outposts of Fort Sumter. Fort Wagner in particular was specially designed to prevent the erection of breaching batteries against that fort. It was valueless to the enemy if it failed to accomplish that end, for the fleet in entering was not obliged to go within effective range of its guns." Why, then, was it held? The answer is, General Beauregard estimated it, if no longer an outpost of Fort Sumter, as indeed an outpost of the city of Charleston. He held it long enough to enable him to gain three weeks in perfecting the defenses of James island and the inner harbor.
The following dispatches between General Gillmore and Admiral Dahlgren, sent during the period July 22d to September 2d, and read by the Confederate signal corps, will show from the enemy's point of view how the conduct of Wagner was regarded, and how her fire damaged her adversaries:
July 22d. Dahlgren: We agree that a third assault of Fort Wagner cannot be made at the present time. I have made two that were unsuccessful and do not feel authorized to risk a third just now.
August 16th. Dahlgren: I shall open on Fort Sumter at daylight. Can you commence on Wagner as early as that?
August 16th. Gillmore: The monitors will commence to move at six and will open soon after. If it is an object to you, I will open fire earlier, but the tide is very bad before 6 o'clock for the monitors.
August 16th. Dahlgren: If I find the fire from Wagner too hot, I will stop firing from my advanced batteries until you get the monitors into action against Wagner.
August 17th. Dahlgren: What do you think of the morning's work?