Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-05-06
The Attack upon Charleston What a
French Officer Thinks of it.

From the New York Herald.
A French officer who was present at the attack
on Charleston by our fleet makes the following
valuable remarks, which We reproduce here:
Judging from the confguration of Charleston
Bay, and from the position of the forts defending
its entrance, he believes that the turreted Mon-
tors, the merit of which he fully acknowledges in
sea fight. were not suited for the attack Of the
place. He believes that the turrets offered too
large surface to the shots of the enemy, and
that the strength of the blow was, in many in
stances, sufficient both to put the revolving appa-
ratus out of order, and to render the boat unman
ageible.
He thinks that the only way by which the Reb
ell fortresses might have been successfully attack
ed was by means of razed batteries perfectly
tight and covered with iron all over, with no
tangible object above deck, and two rows of guns
one on each side, placed one foot or two above
the surface of the water. He believes that the
number Of guns mounted upon our Monitors was
quite insufficient TO silence the Rebel batteries,
and that it ought to have been four times as large
to have been felt in a sensible degree by Ou op-
ponents.
He believes also that IL, instead of venturng
our Monitors on that expedition, we had had six
floating iron batteries constructed upon the mod
ell above described. and provided with fifty guns
each. we might have opened a breach in one OF
the fOrtresses, dsmOunted most of the batteries
on shore. and perhaps been able to effect land
ing some of the points occupied by the Reb-
els To that effect several iron clad transports,
carrying several companies of sharpshooters
whose duties would have been to pick off the enc
my's gunners, ought to have teen attached TO the
expedition.
As an instance of the efficiency of this system
of reducing strongholds, he quotes the attack on
Kinburn. in the Crimea, by the allies In that
attack, the first in which iron plated vessels
moved by steam were used, the French had ony
three iron floating batteries, mounted with one
hundred and 6.ty guns, and the English half a
dozen bombards and gunboats. supported, howev-
er, by powerful feet which was almost useless
The floating batteries and the gunboats did all
the work. In less than six hours the fortress of
Kinburn and several earthworks, defended by
one hundred and seventy-four guns and two
thousand men, were compelled to surrender. In
that attack the Russians had nearly three hund-
red men killed. while the allies had only sixty
men hors du combat.
Our informant does not believe that the Rebels
were provided with the best implements OF mod
ern warfare. He thinds that if they had been
they would have sunk all the Monitors which
were five hundred yards distant from their guns.
The French navy, he saysl has found an ex-
posive prolecte which, at that distance, goes
through any iron plate, however thick, and pro-
duces an explosion sufficient to blow up any yes
sci of the size of the Monitors. 1t is obvious
that the Rebels had no knowledge of it; for most
of their shells were solid, and had not that
strength of impulse peculiar to the newly in
vented French shot.