Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1861-08-07
! NO. SO.

sAci from ucr Sluc guns, dti1 tue Att00
became general but far above the dcsfen-
ing roar of cannon, the whistling OF shot
and the bursting of she'll, the voics of our
commander rang clearly and cheerfully,
calling on the men to keep cool ard do
their work surely. Never did men behave
better or moro bravey; their working Of
the gun was beautiful, and As cooIani steady
as if going through the ordinary exercise
for practice.
The enemies first shot, as have said,
few far above us but with queer, hur-
ting, seething very disagreeable and tend
ing much to disorder the nerves of one
who hears it for the first time. Their
second and third shots were much better
but still above. When every time that
peculiar sound Of tie shot and she'll became
more dsagreeable. After exchanging sew
eral shots with Us, the enemg, apparently
satisfied with our performance, moved
around and dropped farther to tie south
ward of us, behind large sand bank which
hid all of her except portion of her masts
and completely prevented us from firing
shot at her, as at the highest elevation
we could give our gun our shot would not
clear the sand bank behind which, moro
yer, the soldiers, rs before mentioned, ay
and over which if we fred at all, we should
have been compelled to shoot. This was,
to say the least of it cowardly retreat,
and as such, a victory for us-she had the
advantage of position at first, (to say moth
ing OF her superior armament, being higher
than we. Not content with that She took
position from which she could easily rake
us fore and aft without being harmed by
US. From this nav position the enemy
fired four shots-one of them just missing
our smoke stack, another passing betwcen-
the smoke stack and mast very close to
the hurricane deck; third passing very
near the Boatswain's head. The fourth
shot, which together with the tEird were
fired as we were preparing to get ont of
their raking fire, passed in about two or
three feet of the men heaving at the wind
lass. Their first shot from the new posi-
tion satisfied our commander that they had
gotten our range, and aware tn It wecould
byn possibility, return their fire, the order
to heave home the anchor was given. and
slowly and sullenly the little Beaufort
obeyed her helm, swung roand,' her head
up stream compelled to. retire from an
advantage cowardly taken; anl which
she could not have prevented To have
remained longer under such circumstances
would have exposed ourselves and boat to
certain destruction We retired. with our
colors floating defsn.ly to the breeze. /
should remark here as somewhat remark
~sts, tfe' tho enemy showed no cJiors
during the entire engagement.
Thus you will perceive, that never in
the annals of naval history, were there
such terrible odds to contend with, and |
may safely add, never were odds more
bravely encountered.
A large three masted propeller, carrying
SIX heavy guns and a rihed cannon forward
and aft, and having on board at least one
hundred and seyeuty-hyc men, engages,
from position of her own choosing, a
small steamer carrying only one smooth
bored gun and crew of twenty six after
exchanging several shots is compelled to
retreat from position already advantage
Gus, to one from which she could complete
ly rake the small steamer without being
replied to. Just about the time we had
| gotten well off from shore, the enemies
| steamer slowly stood out to sea, tackled,
stood to the southland and soon was seen
no more, till afterwards discovered ap-
parentiy anchored near the shore and off
tf;s fact and the appearance Of fer move. :,
mcnts when leaving, that she was, to say
the least, sufficiently amused with the
mornings sport. Gentlemen on shore whq.
had the very best opportunity of accurately
observing the effect ofour shots, confirm our
belief that at least three of our shot took
effect on her hull. We claim, at least, the
honor of the first naval engagement of the
war, and to have driven from the shores
OF our noble old State, vessel of eight
times our strength in guns, to say nothing
of her numerical strength.
The engagement commenced at 10: rs
a NJ, or perhaps a little after. The en-
emy fired fifteen shots, five or six. Of which
were from her rifed cannon. We free
eight shots, three of which we were certair
struck the enemies steamer. Not one o
: her shots struck our vessel /; but all of then
, were good line shots; and her rakini
shots from the last position taken By hcl
l came very near to Us indeed. Two O
three reports were heard at the.same tins
G and the impression on shore is that som
!, Of the shells from the steamer explode
g inst as they left the gun. am apt I
:" believe, however, that it was simply
d broadside from her three guns.. Alto
S gether il was most providential escaF
: on our part and of piece with many 9th
Y er similar occurrences in our favor durir
'r this most wicked war.
e, Our brave and skilful commander sigh
u ed the gun in person every time it W
1r fred. We fred too at close quarters. III
ie lookout at the ene,ny's mast head could
e, distinctly seen po.ipg the effec. Of ths
(; shots and directing their fire. After q
~ choring a smile from the shore Lieut.. d
os val sent out boat after the shot which b
"a, fallen on the fats, and the men succeed
7, =, in recover: :ng four-three thirty two poul
- round shot and one rifle bomb. Thus y
- see we only lost out of our eight sho
= four.
es A large vessel was signalled to Us as .
tb preaching from the northward yesterdi
he which proved to be large man-ofwar.
u- She did not, however, come near enough
ore ascertain much about her. She stood out
ck sea last afternoon, and has not been sin
,en A large number Of hands have arrived
al. the Fort, and hope it will completed il
short time. Yours, respectfully,
rE