The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-10 00:00:00

ing a shot in the woodwork towards the stern,
which, I believe, wounded several seamen. Uner-A..
these circumstancaa it wils tan— '
tot best to retire,
and. accordingly the whole fleet fell back to the
position it had occupied in the morning. The most
serious damage sustained during tl.e action was
from one of those monster 128-pou id shots, which
passed through a bow-port of the Louisville and
dismounted the second gun on the starboard quarter
killing three men and wounding six others. A
captain of one of the guns was cut completely in
two, and spattered his brains over Captain Dove,
who stood by him, and otherwise so mangled him
that scarcely a semblance of humanity remained.
The same boat also received a shot near the water
line, which, while it did not penetrate the hull,
started the timbers, so as to set her leaking badly.
During the night, however, all damage was re-
paired, and this morning she is as ready for active
service as ever. The total loss on the Louisville was
six killed and eight or 10 wounded. One of the
other gunboats had some of her woodwork shot away
but was not materially damaged. The iron boats in
action were :—the Louisville, Captain B. M. Dove ;
St. Louis, Lieut.-Com. Paulding ; Carondelet,
Lieut.-Coal. Kelte ; Mound City, Lieut.-Com --.
The other three boats were the wooden ones,
Taylor, Lexington, and Gonestoga. Early on the
morning of the 15th the enemy made a sortie.
Almost before it was fairly light the enemy poured
forth in a mass of not less than 3,000 men, and
hurled themselves with tremendous force against
the 45th and 12th Illinois regiments, that were
nearly on the extreme right. Accompanying them
were 12 batteries of artillery. The 45th and 12th
sustained the shock manfully fbr a short time, and
then withdrew. The 18th and 9th Illinois soon
after came to their support, and for a short time
held the enemy in check. Soon after, the 30th, 31st,
and 11th Illinois Regiments, the Bth Missouri, 58th
Ohio, and 25th Kentucky, and Willard's battery
were added to the National forces, and the fight be-
came of terrific proportions. M'Allister's battery
took position on an eminence, and for four hours
their heavy 24-pounders were not silent for a single
instant. During all this time they were exposed to
a heavy fire from the rebels, who had erected bat-
teries S 3 as to command M'Allister's position from
three points—two directly in front, and one on his
right. Taylor's battery stood a little to the rear of
the other, and somewhat to the left; the other Na-
tional batteries were distributed at various points
along the line, as the nature of the ground would
permit ; all kept the air incessantly filled with their
music, and with showers of grape and shell. This is
but an outline of the position of the national forces,
for there can be strictly no correct sketch given, as
at no time during the fight were the regiments sta-
tionary. Now they pushed forward, again fell back,
withdrew, and were replaced by ethers. The fight
itself was prolongued and desperate. Now it rolled
over a hill, anon poured along a ravine, always in
the woods, and always marking its track in cha-
racters of blood. The conflict was not conducted
according to any particular military plan ; men sta-
tioned themselves behind trees, logs, rocks, any-
thing that would afford shelter, and blazed away
whenever a hostile head appeared. The 25th Ken-
tucky Regiment was on the extreme right, and was
attacked by a swarm of the enemy with such vigour
that they broke and fled in disorder. At another
part of the National line the attack was conducted
by such overwhelming numbers that the line was
broken through and the battle seemed well nigh
likely to become a total rout on the part of the Na-
tional forces. It was at this last gap broken through
the National line that M'Allister's battery was sta-
tioned, and where for a time it fell into the hands
of the rebels. The battery had only 150 rounds of
ammunition, and at about 10 o'clock these were all
fired away—not a single shot was left. Captain
M'Allister in vain endeavoured to obtain a supply
from the rear; a shot from the enemy passed through
three of his horses; another tore off the trail from
one of the guns ; a third smashed the wheel of a
second gun. Just at this time a heavy force of the
enemy obtained a cover near him, and opened fire
at about 200 yards with musketry, Hitching six
horses to the only undamaged gun, he endeavoured
to haul it off, but the weight was so great, and the
roads in such a muddy condition, that it was found
impossible to get along with it, and after dragging
it half a mile it became mired, and he was reluc-
tantly obliged to leave it. The horses were driven
off, dragging the limbers and empty caissons, and
the guns were left to their fate. In the course of
the day a tremendous charge on the part of our
troops reoccupied the lost ground, closed up the
gap, and recovered the pieces. They were found
where they were left, their great weight—being 24
pound siege guns—probably preventing the enemy
from taking them away. The fight raged from
daylight until nearly noon without cessation, and
resulted in the enemy's being driven back to the in-
trenchments. The battle ground extended over a
space some two miles in length, every inch of which
was the witness of a savage conflict. The rebels fought
with the most determined bravery, and seemed bent
upon breaking through the right wing at any cost.
They poured against our lines a perfect flood, and
it was only by a bravery that equalled their owd,
and a determination to conquer and outlasted their
efforts, that our gallant soldiers were at length
enabled to stay the fierce tide, and finally to hurl it
back to its former boundaries. Our men determined
that they would win, and win they did, with a gal-
lantry that entitles every man to the name of hero.
The whole of the fight was of the most terrific
character. Without a single moment's cessation,
the rebels poured into our forces perfect torrents of
canister, shell, and round shot, while their thou-
sands of riflemen hurled in a destructive fire from
every bush, tree, log, or obstruction of any kind
that afforded shelter. The roar of the battle was
like that of a heavy tornado, as it sweeps through
some forest on its mission of destruction. Small
arms kept up an incessant cracking, mingling with
which came up occasionally the roar of company
or division firing, while all over came every moment
or two the resonant thunders of the batteries.
Never fought men better than ours on this bloody
day. They clung to a position till driven from it
by the direst necessity, and in many individual cases
men refused to retreat, but stuck to their tree or
bush till the enemy's force rolled about them and
swallowed them up. Many in this way ware taken
prisoners, while others found a speedier, bloodier
end to their daring. The victory was a costly one.
Some of the regiments were cat completely to
pieces, others were reduced to a size that scarcely
left them a respectable company, while all suffered
more or less severely. Lieutenant-Colonel Quinn,
of the 20th Illinois, while gallantly urging on his
men in the hottest of the fight, was struck by a
grape-shot that cut his heart completely out. The
mortality among officers was terrible. Our entire
loss is not yet known, but will reach a figure not
much short of 600 killed and wounded. The number.
of men wounded is beyond all precedent, but in an un-
usually large number of cases they are not of a serious
nature. The enemy used generally the ' buck and
ball' cartridge; that is, a cartridge with one ball and
1 three buck-shots. Almost everybody got a scratch
from one of the latter ; one could scarcely go any-
where where the air was not filled with them.
Affairs had scarcely quieted down on the right wing
when the ball was opened by General Smith's divi-
sion on the left. The 2d, 7th, and 14th lowa, and
the 11th and 25th Indiana Regiments, had a sharp
engagement, with very brilliant success. In front
of them was the outer breastwork of the enemy, and
this it was determined to storm. About 3 o'clock a
heavy body of men was thrown forward as skir-
mishers, between whom and the rebels there ensued
an exchange of compliments of a very exciting na-
ture. Finally, after fighting an hour or so, with no
great danger to either party, the 2d lowa rushed
it
forward, charged the 'breastwork on a run, and with
atremendons cheer swarmed over the top and car-
ried
that
tho the bayonet. They were soon after
sup-
porteddriven by the rest of the column and the rebels were
themext line by a savage fire of mus-
ketry
batteries was 13 pi
l et al
swept
a gun which had 1
Thus ended the bloodiest
all day from the Confede-
rateed, and the combatants rested.
has ever before seen insttlitay of the siege. No day
war
mere
arceonliitieotrmaorheedaret-
termined, or an enduranceunyielding. There
was at no time a doubt as to the e sue
the bullets
that quailed as it entered the lines, Where