, 1863-04-16


an actual fact-~f1yc Thousand pounds Of pow
der! Furthermore, above this first line Of
piles Is a second, and above the second 4 third
Gwhile above al, and inst behind the upper
line Of distractions are the three rebel iron
cinds; drawn nD In battle array, vomiting huge
clouds Of smoke,
You can rcadily conceive TINT this unlocked
for estoppel utterly derangea tho original In
5eoes were aute 81
its weakest point; that it was, In fact, never
finished, and, therefore, that 1t would be first
attacked; and they used means, which admt-
rable engineering 1kill would suggest, to pre-
vent our reaching It.
4 CHANGE OF PLAN.
Thus brought to pause, it only remained
for the iron clads to take up such positions as
they could. And the complication WIS fur
ther INCREASED by the IL behavior OF me nag.
ship, the 1ronsides. This embarrassed n9t 70
loving hcr, Tie two Monitors Immediately
behind 1.-THE Eatskiu and the NantuckeD tell
! foul Of her, the one on one side and the other
ou tie otlcr, and it was full fifteen minutes
before they could Be Got se'E saa Admiral
<DnDpnt 10 sip,pal to tile fleet to disregard the
movements Of the Tag snip
THE CRISIS OF LIE Fight.
While the ,nanuuvres indicated In these
paragraphs are going on. you must not sup,
pose ths enemy is inactive. The powerful
work on Cummings Point, named Battery
Rec. opens, the long range rifle ordnance Of
Of Fort Beauregard join in; Moultrie hur1s
its heavy metal, the fifty guns that line the
| 'Rcdan swell the fire, and the tremendous ar
mament Of Sumter vomits forth is fiery hail.
There now ensucs Il; period Of not more
than thirty mi inntes, which forms the climax
and white heat Of the fight.
such tire, Or any thtsg approaching it, was
never seen before. The mailed ships are Ia
the focus Of concentric fire Of the i've power
fu1 works already indicated, from which they
yards, and which In all could not have mount:
ed iehs than three hundred guns. And, un-
dcTstand, these not the lighter ordnance, such
as 50 or 42-pounders, which from the ordinary
armament Of forts, but Of the very heaviest
callbre-the finest and largest guns from the
sspoils Of the Norfolk nary yard, the splendid
~ and 11.inch guns cast at the Trcdeyar
works, md the most approved English rided
guns, (Whitwarth and othsrs,) of ths largest
ca1ibre madc.
ALEU- D'ExRER.
There was something almost pathetic in tho
spectacle Of those little floating circular
towers, exposed to the crashing weight Of
the terrific force Of modern projcctilcs, and
with such charges of powder as we're never
before dreamed of in artillery firing. During
tho climax Of the fire, . hundred and sixty
shots were, counted in single minute! Some
Of the commanders Of the iron c1ads after
wards told me that the shot struck their YES
sells as fast as the ticking Of watch, aud not
less than thirty-five hundred rounds could
haye been fred by the rebels during the brief
engagement
THE IRoN-CLADs.
Or the order being given to disregard the
movements of the flag. ship, the brilliantly au-
dacious Rhind ran his vessel, the keokuk,
up through the others and laid it seemingly
| under the. very walls Of Sumter, and within .
| little more than 500 yards ftorn it. Close be-
! hind him, within GOO yards Of the fort is the
Katskill, commanded by George Rodgers. !
PEcKISG AWAY At SUMTER.
The whole fleet is deyoting itself mainly to
| the face OF Fort Sumter presented to it, with
| the exception Of the 1ronsidcs, which, from
| its position, can do better work on Fort Moul-
tric, aud is pouring forth its terrific broausiue
from its seven l0>inch.gun on that work.
Close By the Montauk, commanded by the
heroiW Worden: while not far removed are the
Passaic, the Patapsco, the Nahant, the Nan
| tucket, the Weellawken and the 1ro1lsilcs.
| THE 1RoN-cLADs' INJURIES.
The Nabant received in all thirty wounds,
| several of them bad fractures Of the deck and
sides below and abs,ve the. water line. The
most fatn1 blow. however, was giren BY
| heavy ritled shot, which struck tho pilot
house, and dislo1ged several Of the blots, ono
of which, driven violently inwards, wounded
! MI Of the inmates Of the pilot house,
Tie Passaic also received twenty-five or
thirty rounds. The most extraordinary shot
| was from large 10-inch rled projectile,
which struck the top Of the turret, scuopIng
out huge portion Of the iron, breaking Ill Of
the eleven plates of an inch thickness each,
and spending its force on the pilot house
(Which is placed on the top Of the turrct, J in
which it mudc d enter three inches deep, and
producing such Ehock on the pilot house Is
to start Its top and raise il three inches! Had
not the force Of the impact been broken on
on the turret, there can be little doubt that
this shot would have gone clear through tho
pilot honse. Another shot hit the Iurret,
forcing the place struck inwards, and produc.
ing big swell on the Interior. The same
shock disabled the carriage Of the n-inch gun,
while portions Of the interior iron casting
fell down, and lodging in the groove of the
1urrct, stopped Its revolution.
The Nantucket, besides receiving a number
1t wounds, bad her turret SO Jared that the
cover Of the port could not be opened, and
consequently the 15'inch gun could not be
used.
In addition the other monitors each rceeiy.
ed shots more or less, though not disabling
! them. Thus the katskill was hit twenty
| times. The worst wound was from ritIed
shot, which broke the deck-plating forward,
going through If, breaking a beam beneath
and spending its force on an iron stanchion,
which it started half an inch.
The Ironsides was frequently struck. Ons
Of the shots broke Oft and carried away one Of
: penetrated BY shell, though they were pre-
vented from doing the damage they otherwise
must have done, by Commander Turner's pre-
caution Of protecting tho exposed part Of the
i tesscl with sandbags.
But the keohuk5 Of all others, WAS the
most fcarfully maltrcated. This vessel was
struck "Dincty times, and she had nineteen
: holes above and below the water line, some OF
, 3 asize through which boy might crawl. Her
tur1ets tive and three quarter inches Of iron
7 in tlickness) were ftir1y riddlcd, and came ont
of the contest mere sieves. During the action
| twelve pf her men were wounded, among
whom was her commander, the gallant Rhlnd
During the night her pumps were kept at
work, to throw out the leaks sbewas making.
. | The sea had become somewhat rough, ho@-
, ever, and was washing in through the holes in
her bows. By daylight it became obsioua
that she must sink. had remained on board
, the katskill during the night, and at o'clock
word was brought down that the Keokuk,
: which was hard by us, had made signal ot
+ distress: Passing up on deck, .we saw sht
boats and tugs had contto her assistance, ant
I were busy removing her wounded men.
Barely time enough was afforded to get of
t them and her crew, for she had settled &c
E turrets. Two or three of the men, indeed
: had TO jump into the sea, and were hauled in
! to the small bouts. Suddenly she gives Iurcl
! to one side, and lurch to the other, ant
: p1unges under. She went down at s o'clock
. ut tic spot of her original anchorage, uea
Lighthouse Inlet, and all that is visible Of he
. is The upper portion Of her smoke STACK,
Thus ended the brief and glorious career o
: this interesting vessel.
THE RESULTS.
Such were the results Of these thirty min
utes fire, which presented then,sclyes to th'
| naval chiefs when the reports came 10 the da,
after the battle.
! There was but one conviction in the mind
Of all who were made acquainted with thes,
facts, whether among the naval people engaged
or Intelligent outside ohserTcrs-thc iKh1
could not be renewed.
Admiral Dupont decided that the contcs
! must end here. This afternoon {Sth) ther,
was an informal gathering Of the CaptainG
? | Of the irvn. .clads OH board Of the flagship.
} TIE CONCLUSIONS
! Let us see on what consideration their op3n
ion isfonnded. Viewed strategicalIy Charles
ton harbor forms q cn{ Sc sac, four miles it
!. length from Its entrance ut Fort Sumter up tt
= the city. This blind Tassage varies in length
from one to three miles, and Is capable 0
! bearing defensive works on each side, and OF
shoal places In mid channel.
On these natural advantages have beel
brought to bear the finest engineering skill IL
:. the Confedcracy during period Of two years
+ exhausted their professional efforts to max
l. It imprcgnable. Everything that the mo.
+ improved modern artillery and unlimited re
l. sources Of labor can do hAve been done t
make the passage Of a feet impossible. An,
+ it is impreguablc, Sebastopol MAS as nothin,