Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1862-04-03
vised the Department to that effect in
the following dispatch
I. S. GrNBoaT CoSEsroGA, !

Y. S. GrNBoaT CoSEsroGA,
/ PADuCAu, Feb. 3, 1861.
SIR II have the honor to inform YOU tina
/ left Cairo yesterday with this vessel. hayin.
ordered the armorcd gunboats Essex, Clron
dolet, Cincinnati and St Louis to preceC!e m,
to Paducah, and arrived here last evening.
| To-day propose ascending the Tennessee,
| river with the four new armorcd boats and til,
| old gunboats Tyler, Conestoga, and Lexing
| ton, in convoy of the troops under Genera
Grant for the purpose of conjointly attackin.
and occupying Fort Henry and the railroad
bridge connecting Bowling Green and Colum
| bus. The transports have not yet arrived, al
though expected last night from Cairo, which
causes detention, while in the meantime
unfortunately, the river is falling. am rea
dy with the seven gunboats to act Extensively
whenever the Army is in condition to advance
and have every confidence under God that We
shall be able to silence the guns at fort Henry
and its surroundings, notwithstanding have
been obliged, for want Of men, to take from
the five boats remaining ut Cairo all the men
except a sufficient number TO man one gun
boat for the protection OF that important post.
have left commander Kitty as senior officer
i'm charge of the guns and mortar boats at
Cairo. ordering him, with the assistance of
fleet Captain Pcnnock, to use every effort in
obtaining more men and forwarding the early
arly unfortunate that we have not been able
to obtain men for the fotilla, as they only are
wanting to enable us to have ut this moment
eleven full manned instead of seven partially
manned gunboats ready for efficient operations
at any point The volunteers from the army
to go in the gunboats exceed the number ot
men required, but the arrangement of com.
panics and regiments in permitting them to
leave is the reason assigned for not more than
.ftty of the number having been thus fur trans
ferred to the tlotilla. ..
| enclose copy of my orders to the COM
manders of the gunboats, i'm anticipation OF
the attack on Fort Henry: also a copy of or
ders to Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, who
will have more especial charge of the old gun.
boats, and operate in a less exposed position
than the armored boats.
have the honor to be- very respectfully,
Your obcdicnt servant.
A. ii. FoorE, Flag Officer.
Hon. Gideon Welles, Sec'y Navy,
Washington, ID. C..
p. S. Several transports with troops have
just arrived. proceed up the Tennessee ear
ly in the morning and will then make the
Cincinnati my flag ship. A. IL. +.
On the preceding day he had issued
the following order to Lieut.. Phelps
SrEcIAL ORDERS No. 3.
T. s. GrNBoAr TAYLOR.
....- PADucAH, Feb, 81. 1864 (
Lieut.. Commanding Phelps will, as soon a,
the fort shall hare surrendered, and upon signal
from the flag ship, proceed with the gunboats
Conestoga, Tyler and Lexington up the river
to where the railroad bridge crosses and il the
army shall already have got possession, he will
destroy SO much of the track rs will entirely
prevent its use by the rebels. He will then
proceed so far up the river us the stage of wa
ter will admit, and capture the enemys gun
boats and other vessels which might prove
available to the enemy.
[Signcd.l A. II. FOOTE, Flag Officer,
Commanding the Naval Forces in the West
ern Waters.
The feet, consisting of the iron-clad
boats Essex, Carondolet, Cincinnati
aud st. Louis, and the three wooden
boats, Tyler, Lexington and Conesto-
ga, proceeded to Fort Henry, and re-
duccd it in one hour and twenty min
utes, Commodore Foote being, as is
his wont, in the fore front of the bat
tie. 1t appears from the order 10
Lieut.. Phelps, (Which that gallant of.
ficer promptly executed that Com
modore Foote knew before leaving
Paduch that lac should take Fort Hen
ry, no matter what might be the force
or the resistance he should meet there.
He was thoroughly inspired by that
great idea. The contingency of fail
ure did not enter into his calculations
He therefore addressed himself to
plans for reaping the fruits of victory,
rather than to plans for repairing the
consequences of defeat. 1t will be
observed from the foregoing letter to
the Secretary of the Navy, written
before the battle Of Fort Henry, that
the efficiency of the tiollla was much
impaired by the want of seamcn, or
10y a neglect to have those transferred
from the military service who had
been selected for that purpose.
After reducing Fort Henry and
sweeping the Tennessee river as far
up as Florence, in Alabama, Commo-
dorc Footc returned to Cairo to pre-.
pare for operations against Fort Don.
clson He was aware of the formida.
blc character of the rebel works at
Donclsen, and he desired delay of
"a few days to complete the mortar
BOATS, by which he believed the garri-
son, however extensive, could be shcl'
led ont without much loss of life on
our side. Gen. Halleck deemed an i'm.
mediate attack to be a military neces
sify. In this doubt not he was right
and only refer to it to show the Grip.
pied condition of the fleet and the
heavy loss of life on our side are not
to be attributed to rashness or bad
management on the part of the Flag
Officer. Of the gallant attack on
Fort Donelson no one need be remind.
ed. Subjected as our vessels were to
long continued and hot fire of three
rebel batteries at four hundred yards
distance, they continued the fight fol
an hour and thirty minutes, and not
until the wheel of one and the tiller
ropes of another of his boats were
shot away, did the well managed guns
of the Commodore cease to scatter
death and CONSERVATION among the
foes of his country. Although wound
n
ed himself, and his gunboats crippled
with the glory Of the gallant comba
on his brow, he indulged in no repin
ings for his personal misfortunes ol
laudations of his successes, but still
a true Christian hero, thought only oi
his men. In letter written the morn
ing after the battle to a friend, he
said l.:
"While I hope ever to rely on Him who
controls all things, and to say rom the heart
not unto US, but unto Thee, Lord, belongs
the glory, yet l feel sadly at the results o
our attack on Fort Donelson. To see the
brave officers and men, who say they will g
| where lead them, fall by my side, makes m,
sad to lead them to almost certain death
but obeyed what was believed to be the mil
itary necessity of the situation"
The next movement Of Commodore
Footc with his hotilla was to take pos
session of Clarksville, where he al
rived on the 26th day of February
and issued his proclamation to the in
habitants three days before the arri
val Of the land forces, though tha