It lasted all through the day and the vast crowd of spectators did not diminish in numbers.

Many of the wealthier were in carriages.

If one went away for food or refreshment another took his place.
When the wind at times lifted the smoke, Harry saw that the wooden buildings standing on the esplanade of the fort were burning fiercely, set on fire by the bursting shells.

The iron cisterns, too, although he did not know it until later, were smashed, and columns of smoke from the flaming buildings were pouring into the fort, threatening its defenders with destruction.
Night came on, and most of the people, lining the harbor, were compelled to go to their homes, but the fire of the Southern batteries continued, always converging upon the scarred and blackened walls of Sumter, from which came an occasional shot in return.

Harry had now grown used to this incessant, rolling crash.