Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-08-20
of the rivers of Virginia, with the view of CO.
operatingw with Pope's army.
Destruction of the Ram Arkansas

BATON ROUGE, Friday, Aug. s, 1862.
On Tuesday afternoon many of the officers
of the fleet came ashore, and meeting at the
Hope with the heroes of the battlefield, there
was Il general congratulation upon the bril-
liant victory of the morning. Among the
crowd was commodore Porter, who seemed to
get quite inspired, and in a moment of enthu-
Slasm, he remarked, lin the morning mean
to give my boys an early breakfast, and go
up the river, and finish up the affair by the
destruction of the ram" Upon the sugges-
ton that he might want some assistance, the
commodore replied that ''the ram was his pet,
and he intended to take care of it himself"
This talk was looked upon at the time as
pleasantly playful, but subsequent events
proved it to be serious, for on Wednesday
morning, much to the surprise of the sailors
IN the fleet and the land lubbers ashore, the
Essex was seen to leave her moorings before
the town and steam up the river.
The Arkansas, about which so much was
said in rebeldom-tor she was deemed invuI-
nerable-was intended to have annihilated onr
| fleet at the same time that Breckenridge made
Il breakfast of our army; but the ram did not
make her appearance in the fight, but for some
unexplained reason, remained a few miles
| above the scene Of its intended labors. On
the morning Of Wednesday, soon after the
Essex got fairly under way, the Arkansas was
| discovered, much to the surprise of Com. Por-
| ter, coming down the river with great speed,
as if intending to run plump into the Essex
| Now, the Essex is ga good un,' and a though
un, but she is not fast, but on the contrary,
| quite slow, and it seemed almost impossible
| so to vancouver her that she should receive
the shock in the strongest part of her hull
! While the crew of the Essex was thus waiting
IN suspense, much to their relief, the ram
| turned at a right angle toward the shore, and
wheeling round, backed into a little cove, pro-
| tected by innumerable stumps of what were
once cypress trees, and with her bow out she
| seemed to await attack.
| This is precisely what commodore Porter
! desired. The Essex is square in front, with
three large guns protruding out as bowsprts,
and all her strength lies in her head. The
Essex having everything her own way, took a
| favorable position, not more than four or five
hundred yards distant and opened with her
| bow guns. The ram replied with her guns,
but, from her position, with very little effect.
Meantime the Essex's fire began to tell, for Il
rifle shot from the Essex struck the ram amid
ships, tearing up her sheathing, displaying a
| large white streak.
An opening presented itself, the commo-
dore ordered one Of the best gunners to fire
! OhS VI lilo HlA-pOuIluST IOElerS 'lDCenulary
shells" The order was obeyed with precis-
ion; the shell was seen to strike and burst
exactly at the spot it was aimed. In a few
seconds smoke was seen curling upward,
coming from the interior of the vessel, and
evident confusion was witnessed among the
| crew. Cables were got out to faSten the
monster to the shore, and planters on horse
back were seen hurriedly riding to and fro
| along the river bank. Presently what APP
| peared to be some of the officers, got ashore,
and mounting horses, rode rapidly away
| Meantime, the ram got loose from her moor
ings, and with tall column of smoke issuing
from her interior, hoated out into the stream,
| the Essex all the while keeping up her attack
the ram occasionally replying. 1t was now
evident that but Il few persons had the vessel
IN charge, and that they were endeayoring to
put out the fire. Here destruction now being
certain, she was allowed to quietly 90 on with
here selt:destruction, which was finally ac-
complished, by her blowing up, worthily fol-
| lowing in the wake of the Manassas, the
Louisiana and the Merrimac, and, in the Ian
guage of Com. Porter's official announcement
OF the fact to Com. Farragut ''adding COM
pletcness to the victory, 50 brilliantly achieved
the day before, by our brave army on land"