Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1862-06-06

her tnan sne was hilhS peas 'he
Louisiana's shot, on the contrary, went
through and through the above named
sloop of war. as if she was glass.
The iron ram Manassas hit three ves-
sells before her commander ran her ashore
and abandoned her. She has been troub-
lesome customer all through.
In New Orleans our naval officers found
the most splendid specimen of a floating
battery the world has ever seen, "a sea
going affair." and had she been finished
and succeeded in getting to sea, the whole
American navy would have been destroy
ed. She was six thousand tons, two hun
dred and seventy feet long, sixty feet
beam and four engines, three propellers,
four inches (and in some places more) of
iron, and would steam eleven knots an
hour. She cost Mr.. Mallory g. Co., two
millions of dollars
The best one saw floating by me was
a dry dock turned into floating battery,
mounting sixteen guns, and the entire en-
gine, which was to propel it, hermetical-
ly sealed by thick iron turret against
shot. She was sunk, but foated down to
South West Pass and is now aground
on the bar and can be easily raised.
Besides these monsters, the naval part
of the enemy's defences at the forts con-
sisted of six or seven iron-clad gunboats;
almost impervious to shot, and certainly
so against vessels coming bow on. We
had nothing there on our side but twenty
frail mortar boats, five sloops-of-war, nine
or ten poor gunboats Gin all a little over
one hundred and forty guns, to contend
against two of the most impregnable forts
in this or any other country, mounting
one hundred and twenty seven heavy guns
(many of them rifed), three iron plated
batteries, mounting thirty-one guns, six
or seven iron-plated gunboats, and nine
or ten things got up for the occasion, some
destroyed and their power never to be
known. 81 u 81 81
Allow me to send you perfectly cor
rect tracing of Fort Jackson, made by
the coast survey party attached to the
mortar feet. They acted in the same ca
pacity as the photographed party held
in the army. Without them our work
would have been tedious. They triangu
lated every position occupied by the NOR
tar vessels, and it is safe to say that w
knew to a yard the exact distance of thu
mouth of the mortars from the centre O
the fort. The enemy never saw US ex
cept for one day, when one Of the divis
ions of six vessels was placed in sight
getting pretty roughly handled. | movet
them under point of woods, where, witt
their masts covered with green bushes
and their rigging with vines, they wer'
invisible to the best glasses. Our firing
was matter of calculation, and you may
judge how accurate it was when | tel
you that 1878 bombs struck in the centre
and solid parts Of the works; 1880 il
the moat near the foundation, shaking
the whole fort to its base; nearly 1906
exploded in and over the works, and l.,
357 struck about the levees, in the marsl
close around and in the paths and nea
the waters edge, where the steamers at
tempted to come. All small boats, scow
and armed barges were sunk; and if tn
garrison had desired to get away the,
could not have done SO easily. neve
saw so perfect scene Of desolation ant
ruin, nor do believe there ever was sucl
perfect mortar practice. We could clea
the batteries whenever the soldiers ap
peared on the ramparts. In fact no gun
there could be worked.
This sketch may interest your friend
in the far West. 1t will remind then
that the influence of the navy is fel
everywhere over this great country, ant
when the vast riches Of the Western
States are floating securely and PEACEFUL.
to the seabord in the swift waters Of tn
Mississippi, let them remember that i
was the navy which opened the doors t
a commerce that might have shut up 70
a qurter of century, and that they cal
dictate free trade now where they Nigh
have been obliged to pay'tributc.