Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1863-03-19
From New York Paper.
De Ecnses of ChRrl~stoIls

" give below an exceedingly important private let
Ter, received from officer board the revenue cut
er Bibb doing duty in the biockading squadron
of Charleston. tbe il gives Of the iron plating
OF Fort Sumter will take the country by SURPRISE
Beauregard has long been expecting attack, aud it
seems lie depends defensive armor to resist the in
CT Of the 45O Ponnd shot that will be hurried at the
fort. AS they have a momentum of nine hundred tuns
weight the walls of SuInter unasssted would have been
pushed over like SO many pieces OF pasteboard 1t s
TO be seen what effect the mailing will have The Charles
ton papers very defiant AID seem confident Of
their ability to resist the Yankees. But we saa see
Tie following is the ietter:
On BOARD UNITED STATES STEAMER BIBB,
Of Charleston Harb0r Dec. %, 1852.
MY DEAR II : The papers yon were good eGoogn to
send me- containing tie accounts OF the experiments
with the Monitor were, you may be sure eagerly
peTustd. BY the report, these iT0n-cad5 terri
be monsters indeed. | told that the tour huEdrcd
and ninety pouTd shot their guns carry fairly made tie
palisades shlver ard that Of hem is capable OF 60
Lg through ToW OF I0uss8 inie and hall in length
making h0;e in each tbs OF D bogsnead. II these
big fellows ever get nee 81 Charleston land it is
tee genera impression in t1= sQl@d.G1 that some OF
tbeU are on their way hare snwJ hey VIII make short
work Of th~t pestijerou5 city. dozen of those
tour niuegs would bowl the pace down as If it were
ten pens and have spare, too, on every string"
But il is my private opinion, Harry, that that bowling
match won't be begun just yet awhile and I'll tell you
Why. The way in which became possessed Of the in
formation (ThlCh, il l not mistaken will astOnish
you) rather a riskey one bat, as l sa.ey out
Of it no@, don't mind your lettDg mother know the
whole story.
It was one dark, drizzy night # last week that cur
captain detailed me for special service. This was to
take The launch and * mn' pull into Charleston bar
bor and euGeIvOI TO fad the Whereabouts Ct certa;n
heavily laden schooner which hc thought vas Waiting
aere to the blockade. It is So easy for ary swift
saiier to slip out OF ibis port that tie old
quite certain ia his 0En min whether the wished for
prize had given him the g0hy not, very glad,
you mag be sure get something TO do to relieve tbs
gll.l ~
over put oH from the snip with tie six trusty
who were 20 be my companions IN the adventure.
ihe breakers bother a good deal al first, and
thought ct one time that should laTe to put back
but The anxious to 20 ahead, and conf
cent that would he able 10 pull through, that gave
the word ard went. Fifteen minutes steady
pulling got the bar and theGhagiDg lett the
breakers o5hrd usit comparatively smooth sail
Ing. We Low cruisld about every direction for our
Schooner The bulls eye lantern that carried made
ofg Hash OF light on the WaCr every and then,
but could discover no signs Of the craft Thinking
that she might be sncho7cd somewhere near Fort Sum
ter, BOW seered straight il tbot direction, being
guided By solitary igsl in the oTt kept there for the
guard, for it was past APPS" and the garrison
must have all turned in for the night.
We soon came near tie fogt, we thought
prudent, ard had The audactly 70 pull all around it
but the precious schooner was still as far awav ON Us
as ever The men were pretty we'll tired out By this
time, they well might be with three hours steadY
rowing, ard determined 30 i've up the search. Be-
fore leaving the vicinity OF the reoubabIa bel strong.
hold, bow ver, thought woud haZ ari one peep a. il
through my bulls eye l Accordingly put tbe b1at
quite the fort 9Id drew the slide of my laOern IS
the Freshman let Off his gun, "a;sy l. ot~coucse, Gi-
rected the light as low possible and kept :: nearly
! even with the water line When it rested upon the
walls of the fort, discovered something that look
ed very different from the masonry l had expected
| to The fort looked as If it had been iron
plated
My curica:ty was falIy roGs by this ti0le. and /
GEFf
10 signs OF life IN the fort, and quite certain tat
the seatnels would not expose themselves auch on such
night. Tie swash Of the waves drowned the cgeak-
ing OF the Oarocks and, by being careful with the Ian
tern, thought We could escape discovery l ran
the boat right under The shadow Of tie fort keeping
just ar enough TO avoid being dashed against it.
now could see By occasional flashes Of the lantern, that
as had suspected at first the whole fort tnCas7d
in suit Of iron Parallel bars IF railroad roD
traversed this iron coating, perpendcuary, from the
base to the upper line The port holes we're protected
by MASSIVE projections or the material presenting
acute angles at every side. This would offer
very serious resistance to tie 4S0pounders when
the many angles presented did not cause them TO d.
verge and serd them spinning of in another direction
like so many peas.
The clever Beauregard has evidently not been idle
since bis occupation of this port and it is to him that
we owe this formidable arrangement. Without this
barrier, have doubt that Fort Sumter could have
been topped over by heavy guns easily as one
brushes down a card castle with his hand. II will be
hard tuasle though, now, to get up to Cha~lestop
even If We succeed in getting there al all, which do
not hold probable for, from what have seen | regard
Sumter IS perfectly impeDetrabe. You might as well
batter the Rock of Gibraltar as attack it,
Full ot'ny discovery now made my way back to
the ship as soon as possible, and arriving there
municated it to the Captain. He has probably ad-
vsed The Navy Department of it this, so that there
Is now no necessity of your keeping the matter secret
PHIL.
CHARLES CARROLL HICKs-A New York letter IN
the Baltimore american, of the Sd inst. SAYS:
Charles Carroll Hicks, who arrested in this city
about ten days ago charged with being spy. bat "a
rolled, there not beng sufficient evidence to bold him at
the time has been earrested and is now in the CUSTODY
of the War Department. The st thing he did aftt
being released TO commit acts which were fagrant-
~ reasonable The probability is that Hicks the
traitor, ke Hicks the pirate will meet with sudden
ana coereive disposition at the hands OF the proper au-
thorltles before the lapse of many weeks 1t is report
ed that suhclent evidence against him has been pro-
cured to Justify his being eYeented as traitor and