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

TILE CAPTURE OF FORT DONNELSON.

_
The New Fork Times publishes a letter from its
ktpecial correspondent, giving an accout of the cap-
ture of Fort Donnelson

" It was determined by General Grant to make
the attack from two directions—by land from the
direction of Fort Henry, and by water up the Cum-
berland, assisted by an adequate column of troops
on the banks. All arrangements being made—in
carrying out of which some of the commanding
officers failed—the river expeditions started and
reached Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland
river, on the night of the 12th. The scene here
was magnificent beyond description—the night was
as warm as an evening in August in our more
northern latitudes, a full moon looked down from
an unelouded sky, and glanced off from bayonets,
plumes, and sword-hilts without numbers. At in-
terYals long jets of fleecy smoke burst out along,
the parapets of the two forts on the heights over-
looking the town, and the boom of the welcome
went reverberating over the hills, till from the long
distances in Kentucky it came back like a whisper.
In turn the bands on the boats charmed the ear
with most eloquent music, which, added to the
effect of scores of gaily dressed ladies promenading
the upper decks, gave the scene more the character
of some vast, drawing-room gathering—so much
like was it that no one would have been surprised
had tb.-e whole crowd suddenly resolved into eddies
Of Tihirling waltzes or the swift changeful currents
of quadrille or galopade. It was midnight before
the expedition again got under way, and proceeded
slowly against the stream. On the following
morning, the 13th, Eddyville, a small town on the
east bank of the river, was reached. If one may
judge from the demonstrations of those who stood
on the shore watching our passage a more loyal
town than Eddyville exists nowhere beneath the
sun. The women wa7ed handkerchiefs of all
colours, or, in lieu of that an apron or bonnet; the sun
swung their hats sZA vociferated alternately, Hur-
rah for the Ue.ion and ' Hurrah for Lincoln !' until
hoarse beyrsnd utterance. Even the dogs of Eddy-
ville we; re loyal, and barked and wagged their tails
in lyatriotic joy at the national inundation. There
'Was only one case, however, that bore the marks of
sincerity. An old man whose head was white as a
snowdrift stood on the shore leaning heavily on his
cane, and watching with seeming apathy the pas.
sage of the boats, whose full appearance his faded
eyes probably failed to catch. Just as the Minne-
haha passed opposite him the magnificent band of
the 57th struck up 'Yankee Doodle.' Its strains
seemed to awaken stirring memories in the old
man's mind--off went his hat, and with a ' vim'
that seu his hair flying around his head like a
enevihank lifted by the wind, he gave three hearty
cheers for the Union—the Union in which himself,
his children, and his grandchildren had been born,
-reared, and protected. Amidst a severe storm of
hail and sleet the expedition landed at a point be-
low the fort, joining the column under General
Grant which marched from Fort Henry, and which
was composed of 20,000 men, artillery, cavalry, and
infantry. General Grant disposed his forces by ex-
tending both up and down a line parallel with the
river, and then bending in the extreme right and
left, thus enclosing the fort in a semicircular line.
This was not done without much trouble. The
enemy's pickets and sharpshooters seemed endless
in number, and had to be driven from every ravine
and hill top at an expense of much blood-letting.
No very serious damage resulted, however, to our
forces, and by night they had driven the rebels
completely within the line of their fortifications,
and had sharpened their appetites for a:more serious
brush on the day following. At 10 a.m a body
of Federal hoops, comprising five regiments of
infantry and four battalions of artillery, ad-
vanced towards the ridge. The national troops
Were met at a distance of 1,000 yards
or so by a heavy force of the enemy.
and a sharp engagement ensued, which, however,
'was confined mainly to artillery practice and ' bush-
wacking' on both sides. The enemy gradually gave
ground, and in an hour had taken refuge within
their works, and our troops were in possession of
the series of hills which lie adjacent to the ravine
next to the outer line of fortifications. The distance
from these ridges to the nearest defences of the
rebels was not more than 300 yards, and being
covered with timber, while they were slightly
higher than the works, they afforded a capital posi-
tion for our sharpshooters, of which they were not
slow to avail themselves. Birge's regiment of rifle-
men were FM disposed that they might inflict damage
upon the Confederates who exposed themselves
above the parapet. At 11 o'clock another advance
was made. The 4th Illinois on the left, the 49th on
the right, and the 18th in the centre, under com-
mand of Colonel Morrison, started on double-quick
down the declivity with a view of storming the outer
breastwork. As they reached the bottom of the
bluff Colonel Morrison received a ball in his hip and
fell from his horse. Seeing their leader fall and
nobody appearing to take his place the regiments
wavered and finally fell back, gaining the top of
the hill in good order, but with considerable loss.
Again, in the course of the day, the 25th Indiana
made a break for a breastwork in front of them, but
were met by a force of the enemy triple their own,
and were, after fighting desperately for nearly an
hour, forced to retire. During the time that the land
forces were engaged the iron-clad gunboat Caron-
delet went np and singly engaged the rebel batteries.
She fired 102 shots, and received no great damage
in all the tremendous fire to which she was exposed,
save in the case of a single shot. This, a monster
mass of iron, weighing at least 1281 b., entered one
of her forward ports, and wounding eight men in
its passage dashed with terrific force against the
breastwork of coalbags in front of the boilers, and
there was stopped. Soon after this she retired
from the unequal contest, having covered herself
with glory for having so long singly withstood the
enormous force of the rebels' entire water batteries.
During the night the troops suffered severely from
cold. The 14th proved a beautiful day, and the
troops had a good opportunity of viewing the
enemy's position. The ground around the fort is a
rolling upland, covered with heavy timber and
dense undergrowth, and broken for miles around
into ravines, bordered by precipitous bluffs, whose
sides, steep and rocky, almost forbid the passage of
even a goat. The fort itself is situated upon a high
bluff, which slants with an easy descent to a point
at the water's edge on the north, and is probably
not less than 100 feet above the level of the water.
To the rear the bluff has been to some extent le-
velled for the distance of a mile. On this artificial
table land stands the fort, whose lines of fortifica-
tions and rifle pits cover the entire levelled space.
13ordering this fortified portion is a ravine of no
greati depth, across which, and forming its outer
u?urulary, is a timbered ridge, or rather a series of
tides, for it is divided at intervals by ravines
'which flow in all directions, like streams emptying
into a river. Daring the day the guns bombarded
the fort. Abouttwo p.m. the fort threw a few
shells at the transports, but, however, failed in
reaching them by about half a mile. Soon after the
whole fleet of sew©n
gunboats moved up—the four
iron boats in advance and
ahead, the three wooden
boats at a discreet distance in the rear. At about
a mile the iron boats opened from their bow guns,
cured a
and were replied to Promptly by
position about halfs? ay between the boats the fort. I se-
and the fort, a little out of the line of fire, and
there for two hours had the pleasure of ng
listeni
to a concert of the most gigantic
order.
At first the
roar from fort and boats was un-
broken for a single instant, so rapid was the firing,while the air high overhead seemed filled with
million of hissings, as the heavy storm of shells tore
furiously- ahead on their mission of destruction. In.,
half an hour the fire from the fort began to slacken 1
and shortly after was continued from only three
he rest apparently having been silenced by
gins
—the
At this time the boats were within some
400 yards, and were on the point of
anps
pinagragraspoef
shot, when a shot disabled the steering tu
the Louisville by carrying o
itself
to ofp
fragments.
the
wheel-
house and knocking the wheel into
There was a tiller aft, and this was instantly taken
possession of by the pilot;
but he
away by a had scarcely
reached it ere the rudder was carried
Shot-from the Taylor. Of course, the boat became
instantly unmanageable and swung round, receiv-