Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-10-16
From tas New oTlsan, rIus Delta, OF. 10.

At midnight last night, the steamer Calhoun ar
rived at the wharf foot of Bienvlle street, having
on board Commodore HOllins. A dispatch to an
nounee her arrival had been receVed from the fort
but few per-ons saw 1t, as it was not published =
Nevertheless considerable crowd collected On the
wharf about nine o'clock and waited couple Of
hours, but when the Calhoun finally arrived there
were not more than two dozen people present
These, however sent up hearty shout for the hero
Of the naval victory.
Commodore HolIns went ashore Immediately and
drove of to his home BE was excessively fatigued
and worn out. and unable TO furnish any details Of
the remarkable combat be had planned and execu>
ted; but from gentleman who was all through the
fight, we obtained the following particulars
The expedition started down the river from the
forts at an early hour Saturday morning, the fire.
bosts ahead and the gunboats following. Bun the
span of fire boats could not be controlled by the tug
that vas attempting to guide it, and very soon it
commenced to slew round and then, despite every
| effort, it ran into the river bank.
The plan Of firing the feet was Immediately aban-
doned By Commodore HOll1ns on the occurrence Of
| this accident, and he proceeded down the river
with the gunbeats for the purpose Of making a
! legitimate attack upon them.
The vessels of the enemy found lying at the head
of the passes the steam frgate Richmond, the
sailing soop ofwsr Yneennes, the sailing slOop Of
war Preble, and the steam gunboat Water Witch
They were taken completely by surprise, and had
not the steamers had steam up at the time, perhaps
none Of them would have escaped. As it was their
| firing maneuvres and general conduct showed that
they were thunderstruck and frightened.
The Manassas led the way of our little feet and,
steering straight for of the slOOps of war; ran
rig ht into her. The force Of the conclusion was
Tremendous; so much as to put the machinery Of
the Manassas out of gear and render her perfectly
useless floating about in an unmanageable cOadls
ton on the water.
But the enemy were very quick in making their
arrangements to meVe, and the two steamers each
took one Of the sloops Of war in tow and started
down the river, making the best speed Of which
they were capable.
They defended their retire at with every gun they
could bring to bear upon their pursuePs, but their
aim was wild and showed that the gunnePs were
terribly alarmed.
The McRae, Ivy and Tuscarora led our fleet, and
were the boats that kept up the fire on the retreat.
ing vessels and dreve them down stream. The
other vessels Of our feet followed on down as we'll
as they could. .--- -s-e..-
The enemys vessels took the southwest pass for
their avenue Of escape, but some Of them got
aground on the bar there. The boats Of our feet
then came up with them, about O'Clock A. H., and
firing now commenced IN earnest IE being day
light, they discovered the weakness of our feet,
and they managed their guns in a far ADLER
ner.
For over an hour the duel was kept up, but ct
the end of that time Commodore Hollns slgnaled
our bosts to withdraw from unequal a contest,
in which nothing more was to be gained. At the
the time of leaving, they were taking the men off
the sl0op of-Wsr that had been run into by the
Manassas and she.wss settling in the water in sig
nifeant manner, so that there can be no doubt Of
her laundering and total loss. Our informant be-
lieYes that this Vess was the Rincennes, and not
the Preble, as was reported by Commodore HOllins.
Our little fleet returned up the river and cap
tured the cutter of the steam frigete Richmond,
which was full Of cutlasses. What became of the
men who hSd thrown down their eutlasses in such
Z hasty manner and abandoned their boat is net
known.
Returning to the head Of the passes q detachment
Of men were landed, who set fire to all the lumber
which the enemy had put ashore there after bring
ing it such a distance and st such great cost, and
it was totally consumed. The Manassas was then
taken in tow and all the boats returned to the forts
Not one Of our boats are injured in the slightest
manner, except the shght dlsarrangement Of the
machinery in the Manassas, but are quite ready to
repeat ths affair should the enemy give fhsm
ch tnee sNOs single man was hurt in the least Is
is believed that all of The enemy vessels are some
what injured, and that there must have been many
CASUALTIES among their crews, but Of this nothing
can be known "a yet
From the New 0rle'nI PieayEne, Oct, s..
From the hasty information we could get, it is
the Yincennes and not the Preble as previously re-
ported, which was sunk by our valiant Manassas
The Prebls and the Richmond got also their share,
and the latter is aground, in very bad condition
1t is expected there great loss of life on board
the Vincennes, a. the screaming and shrieks while