The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1861-11-22

The action was of about FIVE hours dura-
ton. 1t was fierce, and well fought on both
sides. Several times the shot and shell
rained about US, the whistIng and explosions
being bewildering. Hatteras was child's play
to 1t. | cannot Low imagine such fire and
so little injury. Forty-three guns of the
heaviest callber, many of them rtled cannon
of heavier description than have ever be-
fore seen. throwing shot weighing one humid
red and twenty pounds. constantly discharg-
ed at this great target necessarily for five
hours, and yet We were struck but thirty
six times, and had but one man killed and
five wounded. The causes of this are sup
posed to be as follows 1st, we engaged at
extremely short range, at no time greater
than eight hundred yards, and most of the
time five hundred and fifty yards, using five
second fuses. Their elevations were of a
greater distance, never imagining that We
would dare come in so close if there was wa
ter enough, which was doubtful. ID, the
sand thrown about by the bursting of our
shells blinded and bewildered them contin-
uaily filled the bores of their guns and rem
dered them dangerous to fire until cleared -
3d. their fuses were bad. 18th, our fire was
so terrific that the raw troops lost their bal
ance and became panic stricken. The de-
structlon done by our fire is perfectly indies
cribable. The fort is torn and dismantled
guns thrown about like baubles, carriages
split and torn to shreds. was the first to
occupy the fort, and planted our flag. Capt
Rodgers, with flag of truce, had preceded
taXV mn t.I no b.,c
pital, our stars and stripes. With my bat
TALON of blue jackets, then took possession
of the fort, threw out pickets and stationed
sentlnels on the parapetS,-then with de-
tachmen: went about and collected the dead
which lay around. taking one hait-scared
wretch prisoner. One place was pointed OFT
where twenty had been buried already.
found and buried seven poor mangled
corpses, about thirty more have been found
since and buried by the army people ashore.
They lie around in barns and bitches, and in
the fields The surgeon -lnchef was found
near the shell room inside the fort. killed by
shell which instantly buried him in the
saEd thrown up by its explosion. He was
still seated on his camp stool, with bandages
and box OF instruments in his hand. The
enemy fled like-wel, worse than our men
at Bull Run. AS we ranged up, closely fol-
lowed by the Susquehannah, 10 engage the
last time, at a closer distance Vet, saw them
flying like chatf out of the fort, and scatter
ins in al! directions They took nothing
with them, and threw off what little they had
on which could at all impede their progress.
Officers threw aside their swords aud pistols,
s,.shes and belts land. by the same token,
have two very handsome swords which |
picked up on the ground,) men, their guns,
knapsacks and accoutrements. They left
dinners half cooked and half eaten. If ever
a rebel says "Bull Rum say Port ROYAL"
Our men behaved, as sailors always do,
with the coolest courage and Indifference to
danger. Our gun-deck, where my division
is, was sight. Men stripped to the waist,
bachened with powder, smoke and perspira-
ton, toiling and heayirg at our ponderous
guns, the smoke drifting and driving through
the ports and up the matches. Dante him
self could not describe an Inferno like it.
The army officers on the transports below
say tina: our practice was perfect and fearful.
Gen Sherman, an old artillery officer, who
had expressed himself that We could not take
the forts, says that in accuracy and rapidity
of fire our ship exceeded his widest ina,
alton. We fired twenty-six broadsides in
twenty minutes, and every shot told. The
loss of the fleet was only eight or ten killed
and tventyseven wounded. | can scarcely
believe it now.
enclose you rcy little South Carolina
money. Don't spend it. When state is
so far gone as to issue notes fer sums from
five cents to fifty cents, they had better be
wiped out. This money was taken from the
pockets Of a poor wretch whose life is for
teited to his miserable cause.