The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-11-14
Description Of BalI's Bay and Beaufort

Harbor.
Our dispatches, it will be seen, do
not decisiveIy settle whether the great
naval expedition made landing on the
shores Of Balls Bay or pushed on to
Port Royal entrance. The Monticello.
returning from the blockading feet
off Savannah, reports having passed
the whole feet moving finely along, on
Saturday night, within thirty miles of
Bulls Bay, which her officers were of
the opinion the feet entered early Sum
day morning and effected a landing.
The fact that the fleet was seen off
Bulls Bay does not at all make it GER
tain that Commodore Dupont and Gen.
Sherman have made landing there
and indeed, Norfolk paper of Mon
day positively announces the destina-
ton of the fleet to be Port Royal -
BULBS Bay, (B seems to be the capt.
tai letter of the war; situated about
thirty miles northeast of Charleston, ,is
a large, shallow sheet of water, about
ten miles long; from North to South
and about three miles wide. The en-
trance to the bay il about six miles
wide, but is obstructed by bar-st'
one point only of which are soundings
sufficiently deep for the passage Of
heavy vessels-giving fifteen feet at
low water. Il very fine har6or Of
says the Coast Survey Report
&C is made by he-North eastern end Of
Bulls Island, acith a safe and easy en-.
trance from sea by night and day, and
about four feet more acdter than at
Charleston Bar" In this fine harbor
our fleet, if it put in here, has found ex-
cellent accommodations, and now
flaunts the glorious orifamme of un-
Avenging Union before the eyes of the
naughty worshippers of the rattlesnake
flag. The country about Bulls Bay,
however, is but sparsely settled; at
some distance from the coast it is trav-
ersed by the common road from
Charleston to Georgetown-there is no
communication to Charleston
which crosses the Santee River about
ten miles from the coast. The nearest
town or village is Mount Pleasant,
The thirty miles of coast from Bulls
Bay south to Charleston Harbor bears
the peculiar character of the whole
Southern shore line, being series of
islands and inlets to creeks running be-
tween the island and the mainland.
These creeks communicate with
Charleston Harbor between Sufiiyan's
Island and the mainland, but are suita-
BILE for navigation only by light-draught
vessels.
If, however, the expedition proceed
ed to otit5saae u1cIE
PORT ROYAL ENTRANCE,
our fleet finds itself in the finest harbor
of South Carolina, and one of the
noblest inland waters of the whole
South. The harbor of Port Royal or
Beaufort is about seventy five miles
South of Charleston, and is about
equi-distant between that city and Sa-
vannah. The entrance from the At
lantic between Hilton Head Island and
ST. Helena Island is about three miles
wide, and has even over the bar three
and half fathoms, or twenty-one feet,
at high tide! Within, the navies of tho
world might float. Sixteen miles from
the sea is the town of Beaufort, tho
water approach Of which does not ad-
NIT vessels over eleven feet draught.
A few miles back of Beaufort is the
Railroad connecting Charleston and
Savannah, itself approachable by Port
Royal Inlet and st. Helena Sound.
The whole of this region should be
studied on the map, as it is quite an
character. The mouths of
the rivers and the inlets of the ocean
inclose number of islands of consider
able size, among which may be men,
toned Hilton Head, st. Helena, and
Port Royal. rfL
The possession of the fine harbor of
Beaufort or Port Royal thus gives COM
mand of one of the most important,
and, for the desi gins the army of the
Union have in view in making lodg--
ment upon the Southern coast, most
bases of operation in en-
tire rebellion. Beaufort District has
an area of 1910 square miles. The
surface is low and level, and the soil
sandy and alluvial, producing cotton,
rice, ETC., in great abundance. Our
troops will thus find themselves lodged
in one of the richest districts (South
Carolina term for county, in the State
yielding some fifty million pounds of
rice annually, and thirteen thousand
bales of the finest quality of cotton, the
famous long-staple sea-island the very
kind Europe most wants. Here are
over six millions of dollars worth of
crops, subject at once to confscatiou,
if their proprietors persist in their dis
loyalty. 1t is also one of the most
thickly settled districts of the State,
the population in 1850 being 2s,SO5.
Of these no less than 1929 are negro
slaves-a property representing taoenty
millions of dollars! 1t is on this spot
hat the shaded maps of negro distribu-
ion show the nightliest shade. We
shall thus literally carry the .oar into
Africa The place is admirably suited
Tor vast camp of instruction. and
with proper defenses it will not be
found difficult to hold this whole dis
riot against any force the rebels can
BRING against us. What splendid nu-
'leus of loyalty in the hearto of the birth-
place of secession.-M y Tribune.
GLAD TO HEAR 1.-THE Washing>
on correspondent of the Philadelphia