The New York herald., 1861-12-17

The place is OF very great Importance, and with the
New Orleans and Mobile, and between those poipts and
Havana could be completely off; but tho gunboats
no" here with the exception Of the New london and ths
schooner arc Of too great draft 10 be or h service
DasunsrIos op roRr MASSACHUSETTS.
fns fort, which situated The sand spl az the ex
ne,ne western oud Of til, slaud, i nearly crcuiar N
stated elsewhere u constrecon commenced " the
federal government and when in stat. of considcfabe
iaopscss burned by tho rebels who afterwards re-
hnils apd then abandoned y u Is Of brick ana rendsf'"
hornb proof by Rags PLACED -. i.st deep "a
trout VI TIC walls.
Tho rebels bnil aasen,to. aud forccs hs,e
bas two snce they have oronpied the fort the
bomb proof The fort present bat me
aiee nigh. II provided with fahgrens nrs inch shell
ups u yrry heavy raibrs and 10 perfect order, and they
ara hourly expecting very heavy tlns from
Pensacola. Besides ths, Captain Manning battery nave
landed i've ~ tbe, steel rKcu cannon with the sawyer
prooctne Ther0 SIX oI these CUBS on board the
Constitution but unfortunately o. them waa lost over
hoard removing them from ths uansp1t i Is hope1
that they VIII he able to recover - ~ hs3N hoatf f's
the spot where !cll
The fort bas been gsrisoned fol about five weees by
l5S ssilors and marines and Sly officers, III detailed o
the dinerent shios eoung the Gd;s plecseang a9gan
ron They have done immense amount " work since
they have been there repairing the fort and placing u IN
state Of defence ,ne small item of sr iairs has haSr
the digging up hundred Thousand brick that were
buried in the sand The capture ~ ,s schooner owe,
the 2ist OF November mos opperipns event An
n: NJ 7Ssa saSs ssa r. = ss 81
forces she tried n e-rape but she New l.ldcp
much for hef The lumber was put 70 Just the use for
which designed aud the r"he's ought rot 10 com
plain.
The oDceis command of For, Mshsnhes-I,s sfs a.
LIusnoat tCdn.md,aii,,g-.Iholnas N,keaL Ba. hanau.
Captain ef Nd,,a.sP. II. ". FonI.nc
Adias MoSes-Mr - Wiggin $ NJ Freeman
T. = Merriam, serving temporarily as Pay master o be
garrison.
NifsLipMaa--E r. Woodward
Lieutenant Buchanan IL from FennsyipAnia graduate
q the Naval school aud IS cousin OF Flag ohcsr Nc
Kean. Captain Foptanc Fiordias and the owoer of
twenty slaves bnt j. as tre and ardent A'rio' ~
ofteu meets.
Nj wggn is from Massachusetts and il invaluable 70
the service from his thorough knowledge Of the Sound
Mr. Freeman and Nj Merriam also from Massssha
sets. All three volunteers the hrst two hayng been
captains n the merchoEt sesyic. Tu Nr Merriam s,h
indebted srea, deal Of attention my around
the island aud for much Of my atorms,ou respecting
the history OF ship Island and its surroundings He rich
y deserves The title given hn by The representatives q
the press--tlai ol Historian ot snip islanu
OF all these gentenen thc commander speaks 10 terms
Of the highes, p'ase. " young Woodward who v only
sixteen years old and was one of te stndents at ne
Naval School AZ Annapolis when thh, ,nst''non was
closed Cofinander Buchanan says, 'ffe Is worth liz
weight in gold Ate, seeing M VII ara me good seef
lag " ith which they have all asssted u l. 'as, 70 be
eve that thoy have performed excellent servct Tor the
government. TO these gentc.n'n wish oesprsss ny
sense Of obligation for tho Gnmpeoss acts OF politeness
;tad the facilities that recs, ed from them.
u may be interesting to your readers 70 kpow sha'
ihe fort on ship Island was the cue where
those guns that Floyd attempted 80 get away fsota
Pittsburg we're at lrst destined. ID lbe peop.
Pitsburg who frustrated tsi rascal, insenton, the
Mddesex Brgade is, probably measure. Indebted
for their present location.
when the 'coes had possession Of THE fort it cai
island they named the fort for' Mas'soha
sstts General Phelps has mndr dea,led
,nspse.on Of the ior and wArmly advocates ,e,
making il worthy Of ths Importance which he thinks
ship Island VIII possess 70 the county.
coMaoDoRg M'KsAN's HsApeu Asrhns.
NJ fn,.
few days. and bring the Niagara this point whirh he
will make his headquarters, and viii collect free
here as grand naval depot Before niDe,, isye shall
have elapsed, aud perhaps much sooiNr the
the service will strike the FIRST OF series OF blows e
cities Of the guif, from Mobile 20 Galveston, that vii
open the eyes OF the Southern Coufederscy the peo
liar banties Of their delightful dcrine OF state
reints large number Of SURF boats will ae sent
out here, and will be srmed with how1rr 10 each
proper compliment Of man
In attack they viii swRrc upon The enemy like
70 aid this object Capt, Fletcher, OF ,hr Vonstiiucu
let the tfgae have SIX Of the largest and usst Francs
life boats ever built charging ,he government only the
! Exact cost " New York.
sur ISLAND THE BAsR OF tSiEhs,vI OFFENSIVE
! OPERATIONS.
Ship Island viii be made the t,a. atyti Das,
operations from wbh the combined s,rokcs army
and navy will be made and u viii be grand military
and naval depot where arge subsistence ami
munitions OF will be collected that ir case Of ma
cessity troops can fall back 10 his point
rate for another effort.
The present Intention Simply put sup isand ~
state Of defence prepare the men the and a,
Indicated abcre but the boys got their
powder mill back of Mississippi City. which ps,.
featuring eighteen hundred pounds day Of tist
material, and il s moi unlikely that Ia. hishl
the people Of that renelous city NAV. NM tb,
immigration flowing 10 npon them without much warn
ing When this occurs men will beat Castle Garden
all to pieces, for they viii "take out tbeir rarer,
fore they get 10 shore
In the selection Of Ship lslaao or :he aeov. objects
the whole naval talent at Washington engaged ii
chosen as the most valuable point in tbeso waters
Cat Island received good vote md Mississippi city
small but Ship Island the prs.rence account
Of its having fort upon il.
SERVICES or GUNB0ATs IN ruL souN9.
On the 2ls, Of November the gunhaa. New Ior,lvn
drawing apa half feet Of ws,cf. srfived in Nisss
sipp Sounds IN the night of Tho she captured
the schooner Olive, with cargo Of lu'uncr: The neat
morning she captured the steamer China, .rn with y
pentne and rosin. On November % she captured the
Henry Lewis, with 200 barrels of molasses ~
barrels sugar and quantity II glass and Hanne
on The afternoon n the same day she captured the schooner
A. J. View with cargo Of tnrpentine snd tar. On
Drcenber she captured the fishing smack Advocate.
On the 2Sh November she chased the splendid Iiubl
draft mail steamer california, running between New Or.
icans and Mobile Being very hard pressed by the New
ondon the California threw over about Iwrny ,lnnsana
dollars worth Of cattle and 10 ghe her ttcn
forced herself over the bar IN for feet Of wsx tho
opposite shore OF Baloxi.
If the New iOndon had been ten minnter snoner no
thing could have saved the California from capture.
Annexed is lis, Of officers Of the New f"nion:--
Lieu,.aoat Cos1ondiae Tinted .1dss te"H- Abner
Reed.
Acting Mcsters George Thompson Thomas ". ,olrsor
Warrington II. Roath.
Acting ASSISTANT Sa,g.oa-~John /. Benkard
Acttng AssiHdm Pnynoss9-Ninugb Whitten.orc.
ES,4i1eeYs-HeRrs y. Powers Uavid N Howell, John
Brooks Henry Farmer,
The efficiency OF the New london warmly sttestca
by all the officers OF the squadron.
ENGAGEMENT BEfwEEN THE MASSACHUSETTS AND THE
RfBEl. GNNBoAr FLORIDA
I'm the 18th oi nctospS ttotao Hoins. OF poues RIM
neoriety appeared ~ Mississippi the rebel puu-
boat Florida and sent direct challenge IN gun TO the
iecward) 70 CorsnauJcr smith, of The gunboat Massa
chusetts Captain Smith al accepted the challenge
got under way and stood IN FOR tho Florida the Florida
firing at the Massachusetts as she After nm
engagement Of forty Eve minutes, at Of from
one ana threedTfers TO two miles, the Florida retired
with her rted sieBced and the ship evidently ia
distress. From information sipcO received oy contra
bands, and by New Orleans papers, Captain smith
learned that the Fiordns r,hcd gun disnonnsd her
shot OF her port paddle box badly injured and that
ale put into Pass Chrtsiian in sinking condition The
next day there were four eoibs abcad th. EIorlda
They tell their own story Dniny The action tho Mas.
sausetts received hundred pound she'll which struck
I'VE feet above her water line and aboat thirty fee,
na the "nginf, entered the side Of the shin np
through ani tearing eighteen of the three inch ,na
| dock Planks, mashed sofas. a table and Ave
lengths o one and hall inch pipe theu sms shed
a thrd son, passto tmongb s,ateroant on ia.
pot side and struck The side of the shp tearing dn
five feet of the timber The shell then fen back on dc,l
ard exploded, destroying -four snierooms and thror ng
f''as uniforms crockcry aud all ur articles
into one Heterogeneous mass tile wardreom Peter.
mined To mako the exhibition worthy 81 the OCCASION the