The Texas Republican. [volume] (Marshall, Tex.) 1849-1869, 1862-05-31
BATTLE BELOW NEW cRI.gANs.-AN A,
COUNT FROM AN EYE WITNESS.

Enross ArrxAL IT appears to be the dispo.
.,'on Of the press veil ~ the public, TO eager
iy grasp aad believe anything they can hear Ia ne.
gard to the late engagement II Forts Jackson and
st. Phillip private letters navr been grabbed up
and passed aroslpd. AZ the only authentic infcrms
sich. they arc very mearsr In statements. rather
speaking teo much Of humber | and number |
sett, Being participant IN the engagement. or
having seen II all, we can furnish you with a few
items which may be intercst,ng 70 your rcadcry
Dat dcfen" consisted Of Forts Jackson and 81
Phillip. and water battery, mounting IN all over
1870 guns. many Of them being Of heat quality
and through the untIring energy o! the ooinman.
dcr-, all were well arranged and the men we'll.
drilled. and TO detAln vessels in passing there was
an excellent barricsde made Of old hulls, an.
chorcd about sixty yards apart. and conneet ted
with heavy chains. This work wss sll broken IN
by the had management OF some OF oar boa,s aud
frc-nats and was Of no service. Our navy fleet
consisted Of the iron.elad gunbos. Louisiana,
which. owing to the grand experimental fa,lrre on
the part Of the builders, in applying her power,
might properly be called floating b~tsery, me-.
ing Is excellent guns the iron.clad ram Man.a-
sAs, several gunboAts, and six ganboau Of the
river dcfensc service which we're powerful tow.
boats, lifted up on the ram principle The force
Of the enemy consisted Of about twenty ir,gaic-
soops, and gunboais. eight or ten mortar boats
with nombrrles- transports, etc They came up
on Wednesday the 18th, got their position and
o"mmsnceu Slowly rhriiinH from their mortar YES
sells, while their other ycs@es would occasionally
come In range Of IA, when brisk firing would he
returned. The bombsrdment continued eight
days. and ~hen they got our range II was kept up
day and night, sometimes throwing over 80 per
hour, a, a distance Of u miles which was he y6nd
/ our reach. During the second day ali Of the quar-
tcrs and inside works In Jackson were consumed
/ by the burning hnid from their she'll. which Dir
commojed our men greatly. The fort va. mach
torn up, but not materially injured NOR. than The
dismonntng Of several gnns and from the perse.
vering confidence Of our men. they could never
have taken II that way. hut while all attention
was given " the condition of the fort the Yam.
KEGS were arranging different plans To make
long story short the balance can be put in a uu,
shell. Our picket guard. betrayed ~, and about
three o'clock Thursday morning here they cam,
Ike the eiAtter wheels, past the forts, dfing ou
our gunbpat-, pouring broadside after broad.id.
among them. and soon obtained brilliant thcagh
dearly bought victory. The Louisiana had q trans.
port boat on each side. and could use but fcw OF
her guns. The other boats were LAYING crowded
against each other, and owing % the darkness Of
the night, great confusion wan made in tc,,ing In
wo'ien and each vent II blind on HI. cwa hook
Nearly all Of our men fought hrayrv and did all
they could until the forts were Disabled, when
they headed for shore. aud every one looked on,
1 for number one. Many acts Of hefoism were
shown.
/ Our loss IN men is greater than Is generally suu,
posed, and all our boats bu, three which stopped
nearest the forts. The loss Of the enemy was
much greater, several vessels going down. carry.
/ ing nearly all of their crews with them and the
guns RON the forts About fou? Of their vessel :
were sunk. We bad large number Of fre-iiais
aud combustitlcs, 10 send against them and light
up the river, but from bad management, pro ved
/ of no service, This WAS the greatest rasl en-.
gagcmept Of the war and a heavy blow u our
cause. VIII our leaders profit by 1t Many per
sons look on this as only another convincing proof
OF their superiority on water bat here we had
strong forts, good guns. good men iron-clad gun.
boaA aud rams, iirc.rsits, ETC.. etc. and how did
they achieve such complete victory As In
many other cases Of defeat. evacuation, aud re.
treats, through bad management on the part Of
commanders. and sometimes. from very apparent
lcowardiee.