Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-04-23
THE STORM OF SHOT AND SHE'LL.

on the head of the approaching line to the
time when the retiring feet passed out of
the enemy's range, covered an interval of c
two hours and half, from half-past two e
till fve,) yet the essence of the fight was u
shut up in those thirty tremendous min. ?
utes.
On the order being given to disregard
the movement of the flagship, the brilli- I
antly audacious Rhind ran his vessel, the I
Keokuk up through the others and laid it /
seemingly under the very walls of Sumter, {
and within little more than five hundred
yards from it. Close behind him within
six hundred yards of the fort, is the Oats
kill, commanded by George Rodger, sor i
of courage compact; and to both Of thu m
one could not help applying the excla NO
ton of Nelson at Trafalgar" See -
Oollingwood, that noble fellow, carr 90 HI.
ship into the fght!" '''S
| Close by is the Nontauk con- ,,.,aoa
| by the heroic Worden; while - TO- ~
moved age the Pcssaac, the Pa so,,sco Tho
Nahant, the Nantucket, the Wa.6o u, 10
and the Ironsides. "''0''
| The whole fleet is devotiI ,c ;,so,f main
| ly to tie face of Fort Stunt or nresanted 70
it, with the exception tbe h,ons;dss
which, from its positio n can do hettor
"orh on 1ors Moult.n ), and is pouring
lol.n us 'eifiio o,oaos ides from ITS seven
10 inch guns On that work
Could you look tr ronoh the smoko ona
through 'he nan s.lt ports, into one of
'nose ie'ol'ins " Wers. spectacle would
"eeI yooi eye such as Vulcan's stithy
fn'gh' present. Here are the two huge
guns "niou ioi IN the armament of each
Moni1or-'ne one eleven and the other if
teen lncnes in diameter of bore. The
gunners, be grimed with powder and strip.
pea 10 the waist are loading the gun
Inc char' Sc of powder thirty FIVE pounds
10 each ,harge-is passed up rapidly from
peio"' the shot, weighing four hundred
ano Tenty pounds, is hoisted up by me.
, chah' cal appliances to the muzzle of the
gun. and ramnled home; the gun is run
o gu to the port, and tightly ''compressed;"
re port is open for an Instant, the CAP.
D ain of the gun stands behind, LANYARD IN
Q hand-''ready, tire!" and the enormous
d projectile rushes through its huge para
It bola, with the weight of ten thousand
IT tons, home to its mark.
Is That mark is the face of Sumter, which
3 already displays palpable proofs of the
r horrid impact. Half dozen ugly peck
P marks show conspicuous, and huge cra-
d ter was formed in the parapet near the
eastern angle. We look with interest at
y these effects, and look forward with good
e hope to seeing breach at length effected,
j, If only the iron clads can remain long
y enough under fire to batter away.
y What is this coming down out of the
e fght9 1t is the Keokuk-we know her
it by her double turret. She has defed
le Sumter under It's very walls, and now
J. comes out to report to the flag ship that
IS she has received her death blow, and is in
10 sinking condition. The flagship herself
ID has had one of her port shutters shot
1T away, thus exposing her gun deck, and
!, red hot shot has penetrated her wooden
y bows. In addition, three others showed
y signs of disablement, and there was little
more than sufficient daylight left for the
g feet to gain its old anchorage. So the
81 Admiral at five O'Clock made signal to re.
- tire.
~ DAMAGE RECEIVED.
- The Nahant received in all thirty
- wounds, several of them bad fractures of
- the deck and sides above and below the
water line. The most fatal blow, how
il ever, was given by heavy riaed shot,
% which struck the pilot house and dis
~ lodged several of the bolts, one of which,
40 driven violently inwards, wounded all of
a. the inmates of the pilot-house-the cap
tain, Captain Downs, OF Massach usetts. J
the pilot, Isaac Scofeld, New Jersey
and thes Quartermaster, edward Cobb,
Massachusetts,
e The Passaic also received twenty-five
W or thirty wounds. The most extraordi-
D. nary shot was from large ten-inch rifed
N projectile, which struck the top of the
Is turret, scoopng out huge portion of the
g. iron, breaking all of the eleven plates of
r. an inch thickness each, aad spending its
force on the pilot house (Which is placed
is on top of the turret), in which it made a
% crater three inches deep, and producing
ell such shock on the pilot house as to start
IS its top and raise it three inches Had
n not the force of the impact been broken
10 On the turret, there can be little doubt
l. that this shot would have gone clear
through the pilot-house. Another shot
hit the turret, forcing the place struck in
" wards, and producing big swell on the
r interior. The same shot disabled the car
it riage of the eleven inch gun, while por-
a tons of the interior iron casing fell down,
If and lodging in the groove of the turret,
l. stopped its revolution.
r, The Nantucket, besides receiving a num-
}, Der of wounds, had her turret so Jared
). that the cover of the port could not be
o opened, and consequently the ffteen-inch
/ gun could not be used.
:, These three are all of the Monitor type.
e In addition, the other Monitors each
). received shots more or less, though not
y disabling them. Thus the CatskiU was
i hit twenty times. The worst wound was
It from rifle shot, which broke the deck
1T plating forward, going through it, break
d ing beam beneath, and spending its force
on an iron stanchion, which it settled half
|, an inch.
b The Ironsides was frequently struck.-
s One of the shots broke off and carried
: away one of her port shutters, and her
g wooden bows were penetrated by shell,
g although they were prevented from doing
= the damage they otherwise must have
# done by Commodore Turner's precaution
8 of protecting the exposed part of the ves-
o sci with sandbags.
But the poor ReokuE-she, of all others,
was the most fearfully maltreated. This
!. vessel was struck ninety times, and she
/. had nineteen holes above and below the
q water-line, some of size through which
r boy might crawl. Her turrets Give and
: three quarters inches of iron in thickness)
t were fairly riddled, and came out of the
:. contest mere sleeves. During the action
r twelve of her men were wounded, among
whom was her commander, the gallant