Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-11-19

from the flag ship.
THE ORIGINAL ORDER OF BATTLE.
T'gt, Or Flanking Column Sierboard or Main coL,s.
Bienville-Capt Jas. Wabash-Flag Oifi-
steedman, 9 guns-s Ger Dupont, 5S guns.
short 32-pout dsrs, and
l long rihei pivot gun
forward. susq uehanna--l5
Penguin-5 guns. guns.
Augusta guns. Mohican-7 guns.
Curlew-7 guns Seminole-7 guns.
Seneca large ri Pawnee-9 guns
fled gun 2 small how
itzers.
Il. i. Forbes-1 gun. Unadilla-3 guns.
Ottawa guns
The Forbes did not Pembina-3 guns.
come into the fight Vandaa, in tow of
until the 2nd round, the gunbout Isaac
having been engaged Smith-22 guns.
in towing the Dale to Isaac SMITH large
sen. pivot gun.
The strangeness of the sight of this 6ne fleet,
now so quiet, but bearing n most destructive
armament, moving so gracefully in precise lines
to bloody slaughter, the woody shores where as
yet the only moving things were the wayiug pal
metto trees and the fitting birds and butterflies
and the knowledge that the white decks were so
snon to be slippery with blood, and the whittier
snnds of the beach so soon to drink deeply of
the same precious fluid, was scarcely thought of
by the excited throng that looked so eagerly on,
and were only anxious for the deadly work to
begin.
And on this occasion the trite common-place-
ism about I" brother being arrayed against bro
thor" was literally realized. Captain Percival
Druyton, Of our gnnboat Pocd6oRtas, and Briga-
dier General Drayton, the chief of the rebel
forces on shore, are brothers; but though the
fire from the batteries was at times concentrated
on the PocdhoRtds, and though the PocahoHtas
took her share in the battle with all possible
fiery eloqucnce from the iron mouths of her
largest guns, the brothers are guiltless Of irater
nnl blood, for both escaped unhurt.
The action commenced nt precisely 10 y. NJ,
the first shot being fred from the Hilton Head
fertilization at the flag ship, and three guns
were fired before we replied. The shots then
ELECTED n reply, Com. Dupont being too pune
tilious gentleman to permit SO marked q COM
pliment to be long uurecognzed and unanswered.
The two entire broadsides of the Wabash, COM
posed of two batteries of 26 guns each, and the
pivot gun, at once poured in their fearful storm
of shells upon the batteries on bo'h sides of the
river at once. The men, who had stripped to
their work, instantly reloaded the guns, and as
the frigate moved with just sufficient speed to
give her steerageway and keep her under con-
troll. she had the battery in range for twenty
minutes, for all which time the men were load
ing and firing at the rate of once minute for
each gun-thus giving the immense number of
40 shells that were rammed 10 upon that devo-
teu garrison Dy lne HuUu5N ulOne every tlule Sne
passed, for after the first fire she used only the
st,rboard guns. Let it be noted, too, that the
ships were within point-blank range Of the
shore, some of them approaching within less
than 200 yards of the battery. The BicnpRle,
which ran closer in than any other ship, was so
close as plainly to distinguish the color of the
shirts of the men who worked the guns, and to
hear their cries Of encouragement to each other.
When it is iemembered that the guns used are
large enough to carry with effective precision
two miles and n half, slight idea of their tire.
mendous effect at such short range can be formed.
Though the rebel guns in this work were Co.
lumbiads, of the largest size, and carrying a
l30-pounds projectile and the guns hea
Wy as to require twelve men to work each one
and move it effectively on its carriage, such wai
the irresistible force of our shot, that in twenty
minutes three of these immense Columbiads
were ismounted-knocked from their carriages,
and rendered completely useless,
OF course the ships were not obliged 10 wait
until they got abreast of the work to commence
firing, bat the make of the river permitted them
to begin to throw angular raking shots at dis
tance of three-quarters of mile, firing down
the river, keeping it up as they slowly driited
past and finally finishing the round by pitching
some parting shots up the river at similar an.
gle with tae ones first fired. This plan permit
ted seven or eight of our vessels to play on the
Notifications ut the same time.
AS bOOn us int nCllOn lhllly CuumGuCsuy u ltCl
that had before been merely suspected was plain.
ly demonsrated-that, in the gunboat reconnois
sance Of Tuesday morning, though that brisl
affair before its close assumed almost the pro
portions of a battle, the rebels had, with theii
customary shrewdness, concealed, or, rather
had not shown, the full strength Of their batter
les. They now brought their full force iuto play,
and disclosed several more guns than they had
used in the affair of Tuesday, but luckily, nc
more than we we're fully prepared to attend to-
In one regard, however, rumor had been pre-
mature, and had given our enemies the reputa-
ton of having an offensive machine, which, in
reality, they did not possess. Our pilot, whc
had, in the exercise of his duties, been UP the
Broad river for mile or so beyend where the
rebel steamers had been seen, had repor ed tC
us that the celebrated floating battery, iron. cac
and shot proof that bore so prominent part il
the taking of Fort Sumpter, had been towed
round from Charleston, and was lying in wal
p for us. Events proved our pilot to be deceivel
i. on this point. The iron battery was nowhere t.
l. be seen, and Charleston harbor, doubtless con
tains this inestimable treasure. When we hav
occasion to take that traitor city, perhaps tina
nondescript floating affair may be turned to som
profitable account.
In another respect, too, the fighting was b.
no means so severe as we had been led to hope
" The dozen or 80 steamers or gunbOats that com
~ posed the fleet of the notorious Commodor
| JOSIAH lutuull lnouEu lutJ huuhtu thSI hcAa
-, in the early part of the action, showed thei
AZ heels after the first round or two, and were see
i no more. This, too, in spite of o positive pro
mise the truthful Tatnall had made TO Gel
S " Drayton and other leaders in command at tn
gu point that&e would ''siand by them TIL death.
IA This fnct was ascertained by the letter itse
g which was found, carefully read, and duly pre-
" served. Doubtless, when the gallant commodor
~ saw our gunboats in such neighborly proximit
a to him, he saw death SO close al hand a. to max
~ ~ him think be had redeemed his rash prOmse.-
VI The disappointment of the navy officers was ex
nc treme, for some had such abiding affection 70
Tatnall as to exceedingly desire to renew thel
q former acquaintance, and they would have bee
u. very happy to have provided him with atempo
lu rary position in Union ship once more.
The peculiar make Of the river is such tht
p' not more than eight of our ships could brin
's their guns to bear on the shore batteries at Ih
Ut same time; but even then the sight was one c
ol the most magnificent conceivable. Eight vessel
fn would deliver broad side of not less than hit
TX, guns at q single fire, led by the battery OF Il
OF Wabash of twenty-seven guns and as each gu
en- could be loaded and discharged once in mnut
at the very lowest estimate, il will be seen th
more than fifty bombs and other terribly de-
ps tructive projectiles were rained into the Hilt'
~ tih Head foFtification every ninute that the fe
r. was within range.
Inc But little attention was paid to the batteri
the o ,ho other aide of the river Mt this time. an
indeed, they would have been perfectly safe fro
iu- any firing whatever, had they not provoked
er, occasional shot by their persistence in pitchn
'aH shell at every one of ships that came with
~ their longest range. These two batteries We
ute comparatively unimportant at the time, as tn
- were on the opposite side OF the river from Whe
was we desired to land our troops, and were with
>; so dependent on the Hilton Head forthcatic
pie' that as soon as that should fall into our hsu
nor the others would follow their fate, and probat