inside fort wagner only one 10-inch columbiad faced seaward and the few landward guns were in poor condition. during colonel lawrence m. keitt's tenure in command of the confederate garrison he established signal stations on fort wagner's west wall to coordinate with confederate batteries on james island. keitt's replacement, general johnson hagood, made better use of sharpshooters and the few landward guns to impede the union siege works upon the fort. the confederates protected their own guns and bombproofs but exposed themselves to union naval fire and in the end could only slow the union trenches.