Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-02-12

OSh' ana 1AlS Men,
Every letter from hatteras that we have
seen, in which Gen Burnside is mentioned,
speaks of him in terms of the most entbusias.
tic admiration. The following incident, illus
trating the generals character, is related in a
private letter written by young man from
this city, who was on board the Admiral in the
late disasters at fort Hatteras The letter is
dated Jan. "a, and the writer says -
GA week ago to night one of our many yes.
sells, in endeavoring to enter the harbor, went
aground outside the bar. Great effort was
made during the day to get her off and to take
Oft the troops she had on board. They con-
sisted of the fifth Rhode Island battalion of
volunteers, about 500 in number. These at
tempts were unsuccessful, and the undertake
ing was relnquished tor the night. One of
the ferry boats, on returning from the vessel
that was ashore, passed our vessel, and was
hailed by Gen. Burnside. Those on the ferry
boat answered back, that it was impossible TO
get the vessel in distress off, and that so heavy
sea was raging that it was dangerous to go
near enough to take off the soldiers This
was Gen. Burnside's reply =" Haul your YES
sci alongside mine, and will go myself. That
vessel must be brought in to- might, or the men
taken off," The ferry boat was hauled along.
side, and Gen. Burnside got aboard Before
she left, however, he concluded, l presume,
that the welfare of the transport fleet required
that he shoulu remain in safe place. But
before he left the boat, he told the captain to
take the men of if he could not bring the YES
sci in; and it he could do neither to lay by
her all night, and render all the assistance in
his power.
While this conversation was going on, your
humble servant put on his coat and jumped
aboard the ferry boat. Ii did not take long to
reach the place where the vessel lay, but the
main thing was 10 get near enough, 1t was
found impossible to take the men off. The
vessel was humping against the ground every
moment, and slowly drifting towards the
breakers. After while we ran up near her,
and small line was thrown to us, attached to
which was very strong hawser. 1t was a
very tedious task to get the hawser fastened
to our boat. 1t was at last accomplished, and
We started for the harbor, where we arrived
in safety, bringing the vessel with US. This
shows what was accomplished and what OBJ
stacles were overcome, just by the will and
determination OF one man.
The pilot,of our vessel, who volunteered his
services, and who is well acquainted with the
shoals and nlets of this coast, said that if we
had not rescued that vessel just as we did, she
would have been beyond redemption within
half an hour, and probably most or all on
board would have persisted. cannot say that
ever worked harder in my life than did for
about fifteen minutes when taking in the yes
sells hawser. The cheers that went up for us
when that vessel cast anchor in safe place
were enough to repay any one for making the
attempt even had it been more toilsome and
dangerous A few members of Co. II, Massa-
chusetts twenty-fifth regiment, happened to be
on the ferry beat, and all acquitted themselves
honorably. You can have no idea what a
rough coast this is. 1t is the most nhospita-
bic part of the Atlantic coast"