Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-05-15
Land Ba,sey,es ver-us ounhoo,s.
rom the Mobile Adzertser and Reeister.I

Land Batteries versus Gunb0ass
From the Mobile Advertiser and Registerl
It hes always been en- established tbc DRY that
? one gun solidly mounted on shore is a match for
many times lie number adoat The opinions of
military writers ard the facts Of history fully sus-
tain and accord with the deductions Of the
theory. The question is Of paramount interest
L to the people of Mobile aud Of Alabama just now,
because II is by land batteries that we are to
keep of the enemy from the city, and from pene-
r tratiBg the rivers Of the interior. We propose
n tbis morning 70 glance at some of the . facts Of
history bearing upon the point. They are
( well calculated 70 encourage us in a stern defense
: of our city and rivers. We first remark that il
c must be admitted that the Federal navy, in the
! present war, has accomplished results hitherto
unknown 90 the annals Of this species OF war
faro Il is not enough % account for this Dn the
: ground OF the late improvements in the caiber
{ Of guns and the impGlsiga force OF prCjectiles
Il is very true that most Of Our Notifications
! we-e constructed 20 rasist the battsring power Of
guns u vogue twenty sGd thirty years ago. But
while batteries on board ship possess these ad
vGns8go5, it IS 20 be remembered that the equi-
iibIium between shore and ship batteries IS main
tanned By the fact that our forts are also armed
with these improved guns At Port R0ysl, the
two mud batteries weIe Overpowered by an I'M
mensely superior force, and a series of accidents
dismounting guns not properly protected. The
loss Of the g~arrisons was tri1ing when we con-
slider the tremendous fire poured upon them.
E0It Pulaski yielded, not to the ships, but to q
shore battery Of Parrot guns bearing upon the
weakest wall Of the work
Fort jackson, on the Mississippi, was passed
in the night by a desperate attempt Of the feet
to run the gauntlet, but not until o very heavy
loss 70 the enemy in sunken boats end life. 1t
viii be found, we think, that Com. Ferragut's
feet was severely handled. 1t is now believed
that the sloop-ofwar Falmouth was sunk, with
/ III -, h,orS aud sbr4 -ho E,-Ioo Lee IS l;E. !
was ut least a thousand. The batteries near and
below the city were useless, because the river
had risen so that they could not be manned or
fired. So, if we look at Hatterss. Roanoke, and
all the fortified land points, it viii be found that
the successes of the Yankee navy were excep-
tons to a general and uniform rule Of warfare,
that guns RdOst to the number Of from i've tC
fifteen 10 one, have always been discounted and
beaten Of by guns ashore
Mobile Is 70 be defended IL this vay, and be
cause jackson, Pulaski, HRttera5, Port Royal
and Roanoke have failed, constitutes no reason
why We should fail Ecre To encourage our
people &c have a faith IN this species of defense,
which has been SO shaken By The events Of this
war-to give them reason 70 discard the PERM
cioIs belief that has possessed the public mind,
that the Federal navy is invincible, we recall
some Of the numeIcHs tact5 Of history They
are as surprising os thoy are true In 1874, two
British ships, a "a and a p attacked Z small
Town IN the Day OF Naitt4i1s CeIstCds WHICH was
uLsd with Que gun IL 5arbette Gnd G garrison
t thirty zen. After a bombardment Of two and
d half hours, these ships were forced to haul of
with considerable damage and loss Of life. The
EEle tower received no injury and its garrison
was unhsTmed Here, enc gun ashore was sue
cosstUI against I06 a6oaJ,
In 1877, Nelson attacked .Lo little Inefficient
batteries Of Santa Cruz, with eight ships and
four hundred guns. de was repulsed with e !
f- a. - ~ IL - .
damage. 4 single ball rom the land sunk one :
Of his ships with every soul on board. 2
II lT96, a French AcGila Of 81 brigs aud gun a
boats, manned with 1000 men, attacked g small S
English redoubt on the Island Of Marcou, which 3
was armed with 10 guns, the largest SIS and I
smallest Z Founders, snd ggrrsoned witE $50 d
man The result was a retreat Of the French Il
feet with great loss Of life, seven of their vessels
sunk and CBe captured. \
IN 1901, Admiral Samsure1, with an English n
feet carrying SOP guns, attacked the Spanish Il
and French Gefenses OF AlgesTs5. The French a
land battery mounted only y guns, The dispsr- q
iy was reduced by q French force adoat, to I96 {
English guns on s~hipboard against - on shore. ?
Notwithstanding the inequality ofnearly seven y
teen % one the battery compelled the English =
90 retreat with great loss. Shortly after this the
French and Spanish feet attacked Che same Eng a
hsh squadron with q force Of three to enc, but 9
met with a signal defeat. Yet 2 land battery Of
y guns had whipped the same victorious feet. t
In 1908, en- English garrison near Port Royal t.
Bay, with 100 men and 10 guns, repelled @ q
squadron of two 74-guI ships, & frgate =
and a brig, assisted BY a land attack of200 men. Il
rsdcubt did not lose e man, and the French \
fifty men. Z
IN 1896 o French battery of only two guns b
aud twenty FIVE men, resisted two British eighty =
gun ships and two frigates. The caTi3ga Of one n
Of the land guns failed on tho secu-Dl sre. SO tbst E
the scti0u was fought with only one gun, Here !
a single piece OF ordnance and twenty-five y
men against q naval force Of one hundred and .
ffrv gums aud thirteen hundred men. The as r
salanis lost tn r.y-ssveu mel, tie eightygUn is
ship YVES disabled, while the garrison was IN
harmed In 1909, q French land battery OF three
guns drove of an English seysnty-1our and a ?
bomb vessel. 81
II 1914. when the English advanced againss Z
Antwerp, they established q battery OF two guns g
In a bend Of the Folder Dyke-the armament was "
@ long ls-pounder and 5a-inch hOwitZeT. The /"
determined to dislodge the English, and D.
down wi.h Che tide an eiguty-gun ship Ia
anchored her of the FiandeT shore, six hun II
bred yards from TIE battery. Only the IL ,,
FOUNDER could be brougt. % bear up0n the ship. "
E9rrsJu lad % leave their gun a. every f
broaoside, but Whenever the fire sitckeAed for q a.
moment they spraDg TO their gun and managed II
90 give ct least one shot for eighty. This strange \
comoat lasted COX Eve hours. when the ship had
20 give ~ he fight with forty killed end vound =
her commander among the latter. The re- is
doubt lost one killed, two wounded. af
Our limited space ednonishcs Us that We must I'll
stop with tho record before we have fairly begun ?,
il, but 70 return to the subject. The whole his &c
Of gunnery shows that land batteries are
invincible by ship batteries. The attack on Co u
psnhsgen in 1901, the passage Of the Dardenelles ~
10 1907, and the attack on Algiers in 1916. are
noted totes of the English navy but they are co
not even exceptions to prove the rule. CoPen- in
was not conquered by the feet of Nelson, IN
but by his diplomacy when ne was on the verge a
Of ruin. Lord Exnouth, at AlgieTs, was indebt b
ed to g lucky land breeze, which enabled him II
10 escape destruction at q lucky moment while -
case Of Admiral DuckwoGth IN the passage 1
Of the Dsrdanelles is only one Of wonderful es- 90
rape, favored By q strong current and fair wind. pE
Out Of eleven sail only two escaped. The w.
were terribly cut by the shore batteres- Ii ~
The latter had been properly prepared and ss
manned, Gen. Jomini says the expedition would III
18ve cost the English their whole squadron. -
Surely examples Ike these should give u In
JoBGdence in our ability to defend Mobile Bay,
its fats and shores commanding the chan !"
lcl at SO many points With courage aud faith >.
Yankee meD-ofwaT can never Tel to Mobile. ne
"a
An Emrseuso Cotton Boa4Te-
LOUISVILLE, MAY 6-TTc thoroughi- ge.s.