The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-04-24

the damage they otherwise must have
done by Commodore Turner's precaution
of protecting the exposed part Of the YES
sci with sandbags.
But the poor Keokuk-one, of all 9TH
ers, was the most fearfully maltreated.
This vessel was struck ninety times, and
she had nineteen holes above and below
the water-line, some of size through
which boy might crawl. Her turrets
Give and three quarters inches of iron in
thickness) were fairly riddled, and came
out of the contest mere sieves. During
the action twelve of her men were wOun-
ded, among whom was her commander,
the gallant Rhind.
During the night her pumps were kept
at work to throw out the leaks she was
making. The sea had become somewhat
rough, however, and was washing it in
through the holes in her bows. By day.
light it had become obvious that she must
sink. had remained on board the Cats
kill during the night, and at seven o'clock
word was brought down that the Keokuk,
which was hard by us, had made signal
of distress. Passing up on the deck, we
saw-she was rapidly settling forward. At
her signal, boats and tugs came to her,
and were busy removing her wounded
men. Barely time enough was offered to
get off them and her crew, for she had
settled so much that the water was pour
ing into her turrets. Two or three of the
men, indeed, had to jump into the sea,
and were hauled into the small boats.
Suddenly she gives lurch to one side and
lurch to the other, and plunges under.
She went down at O'Clock on the spot of
her original anchorage, near Lighthouse
Inlet, and all that is visible of her is the
upper portion of her smoke stack.
Thus ended the brief and glorious ca
reer of this interesting vessel-the first
iron-clad ever sunk. Her story must form
a most important chapter in the history of
these new engines of naval warfare, and
her fate presents an astounding example
of the frightful power of modern projec-
tiles.
Of course it is impossible to leave the
corpse here to be resurrected by the rebels,
and it has been decided to blow her up
tomorrow morning with the torpedo ex-
ploder.
Another report says:
During the engagement on the afternoon
OF the 9TH, our ironclads were so near the
city of Charleston that their two hundred
FOUNDER Parrott guns could with ease have
landed shells in it; but as the movement
was only intended as preliminary one to
the grand attack, Admiral Dupont would
not permit the city to be troubled at that
time. The rebel ironclads, Palmetto State
and ChicOra were in sight, and tried the
range of their guns, but did not attempt
to use their rams; and it was not until
our ironclads retired that they came out
fairly from behind the walls of Sumter.
The fleet of wooden vessels was not en-
gagged in these preliminary operations, as
it was not thought best to expose them
before general attack was made.
THE IRONsIDEs IN ACTION.
The correspondent of the Tribune who
was on board the Ironsides, Admiral Du-
points flagship, thus describes her going
into action:
Duty did not absolutely require the
presence of the Admiral on one of the IRON
clads, but chivalric sympathy with his
subordinates appeared to impel him to
share the dangers of the fearful ordeal
through which they were about passing.
Her deck, in addition to it's iron plating,
was protected with untanned hides aft and
a layer of sandbags forward. To provide
against penetration by shot or shell Of her
unarmored bow and stern, barricades of
sandbags from three to four feet thick, and
rising from deck to deck, had been piled
up on the gun and quarter decks. They
filled the cabins, and deprived the officers
almost of their use The furniture had
been slowed away below. To increase the
resistance of the sand by moisture, steady
stream of water, that flooded the cabins,
was poured from hose upon the bags.
Upon the gun-deck the 11-inch Dahl
grens and 200 pound PARROTS shone like
Il glass. Muskets, cutlasses and pistols
were stacked and lying around. The
surgeons had their knives, pincers and
saws displayed. Upon the whole the flag
ship, though hardly replete with comfort,
was attractive enough to one wishing to
understand the stern pathos of prepara-
ton for battle.
AT noon, there is call for general
muster on the gun-deck. From the Adj
miral down to the powder-boys, all hum
bly, kneel to listen to and seek strength
for the coming trial, in short, touching
prayer by Commodore Turner. The re-
collection of the sight Of those four hun
bred determined, battle-eagered men,
forming in picturesque groups around the
grimest implements Of war, will never be
effaced from my memory.
Now comes the general stirring call to
quarters. The iron bulkheads fore and
aft on the gundeck, forming with the pla-
ted sides the classmates, are next closed,
and ingress to the Captain cabin shut off.
Streams of water are then again let upon
the sides and sand-bags above and below.
The pilot house received another liberal
dressing with grease.
These last measures of protection being
taken, Lieutenant-C Commanding Belknap's
command, 'Close port holes, rang through
his trumpet over the gun-deck. In Sec
ond the ponderous shutters fell. The
hatchways were the only sources of day
light to those below. A lookout for a
fore-and aft shot, from the trumpet next
brought the gunners down behind their
pieces