, 1862-05-17
The Gunboat C. lena on James River
Ehe Sf1enecs Il 10 Forts.


GES3oAT GAIEEA: Surf +, ,M;y11
DEAR BROTHER: Isunpo;e by this time you
have heard OF the G;le1a le 1.ug Hampton
Roads. was al1d of it, for such fine ship
as this ought not to be kept idle in such times
as these. and the boys were all anxious fer a
fight. We got under way and lef. the Roads
Gf.ecn minutes past seven o'clock on the
morning Of the 9Th, and it We : not 1on.r til
We passed sewalrs Point, without one Shot
nclrt5 trgd at us: AS We pasted Newport News
we ere hailed By loud and long cheers from
the men Of the folf, who were 81: to see Us
make move to help their brother soldiers.
But VIC had only passed them about twenty
i've minutes, when, to our great JOY, lit
tei; hove in sight. It was first seen BY the
well experienced eye Of our g-llant Captain
He gave orders to Lieutenant Newman to call
oil hands to quarters, Which he did In his
usuat cool way, for he is always cool and
brave Ibis order was promptly obcyeI by the
try. tllcir skill on the rebels. They soon had
a chance, for fifteen minutes to len o'clock
1le ball vas opened by our pivot gun forward.
The shot fell short The second and third
were fired, but there was no reply. We ran
in uDder their gun range, and Then they open
ed on as from SIX or eight guns. but all OF the
shot fell harmless against our iron sides. 1
hardly think they knew what WAS coming at
them. We let fly from our whole battery, and
naGc it pretty warm for them. We sailed
back ard forward by the fort three or four
tilnes. ard soon lestled their flag and made it
u1as II the dust After an action Of forty nlfu-
ntes they ran like tired sharks, II as they always
do from the well directed fire Of our brave
sailors. Not one shot struck us up to the end
OF the engagement
Fort No. 2-The action commenced about
one O'Clock, three quai tc.s of an hour after
We had silenced the first battery. In this fort
we found more formidable opponent than
the tjist- It mounted twelve guns, and :tter
an hour and fifteen minutes bombardment,
e1eveH of them were silenced. The remaining
one fought us for an hour afterwarl, making
this bombardment of tso hours and fifteen
minulcs' duration. The gunboats Ar.stook
and Port Royal were with us, but did not take
M active part in the engagement, though they
did some execution with their long guns.
The rebel guuboats jamestown and Patrick
Henry were lying under the guns Of the sec
ond fort, but, instead of assisting its defense,
they got up steam and ran away with all
speed toward Richmond. Our damage in the
engagement vas small One shot struck the
AElstook and went through her bulwarks un-
der the hammock nettio:s. No one was ill.,
jurcd. One or two shots struck us, but they
only left tteir mark on cur iron mail and
glided of. !.
After passing the second fort We stal scd up
the river, but the buoys have been removed,
and there we stuck hard and fast, waiting for
hi"h tide The batteries silcnced we're calIed
the Upper and Lower Shoal batteries. Great
praise is given to Cantain Rodgers, First Lieu.
tenant Newman and Enginccr-iu- Chief Thornp,
son.
LATER-We are just getting OF shore, and
boat has come on board from General Nc
C'cl'a1, by which send this. We will be Of
for Ci.y Point in the morning.