, 1863-04-17
-E FIGHT BEFORE CHARLES
TON.

TON.
lie great expedition against Charleston,
"; I'll has occupied so many months to
u ;.are and equip for that particular ser
=. >, has at last tined its strength against
the distractions and Notifications Of the
1the1 city, and has failed utterly to reduce
them, whilst our iron-clads have been
driven back under such a rain Of shot and
shell as never before descended upon q
fleet Of battle ships. The people will not
receive this intelligence with the best grace.
We have had too many defeats and fruit
less victories already brought upon Us by the
1neapacity Of Met Clellan, to make us regard
with complacency, OF even. excuse,
this new and unlocked for disaster. It's
true that our commanders were ignorant
to great extent, Of the nature Of the diff
cultles with which they would have to con-
tend In The Charleston waters, and that
they were not well informed as to the
nature and force Of the rebel batteries and
earthworks- but whether they had right
to be thus ignorant whilst engaging in
venture Of such vast hazard and impor-
lance, is quite another question, which will
one day have to be answered before the
peoples tribunals.
1t took just two hours for the rebel forts
10 scatter, in confusion, all the preparations
and engine1y Of war, all the plans and de-
vices which we had been gathering together
for months and building up in such for
m1dable proportions; and with them have
gone, pell neil, down into darkness, the
long cherished hopes Of the nation for the
SUCCESS Of the assault. We have been
trained and educated by the Government
and the press to believe, what we all SO ar
IDENTITY desired, in this case; what may vet
come to pass, also, in spite Of this repulsc =
that Charleston would be taken, and not 4
stone left, one upon the other, in its streets,
to testify to the infamous fact that it had
ever existed.
The rcpulse, however, which We have
sustained, is by no means defeat, and our
little gunboats that received the tremcn-
dous fire Of three hundred guns Of the
heaviest calibre, having only thirty-two
guns to reply to them, have covered them
selves with glory. Such fight never oc-
CURED before in the history of the world.
In one half hour, five out of the nine ships
which were our effective force against the
rebels, were 30 smashed, and dented, and
e1uahed, and riddled, that they. were disa-
bleo for service. The enemy Ind. 80 ar
ranged his operations that the fleet vas
detained By chains, cables and Other oh.
st1uctions. for that space Ct time, within the
focus Of q circle Of artillery where .hey had
it all their own way.
A hundred and sixty shots were counted
in one minute from their batteries and
some Of the commanders Of the boats de-
clared that the shot struck their vessels as
fast as the ticking Of clock. The Kcokuk
WIS struck ninety times, and it was cyi.
Gent to all that she must, sooner or later
80 down. But the brave Captain ran hc1
within 600 yards Of Fort Sumter, and
1lazed away at its stone walls us if nothing
particular vas the matter with her. When
she made her final exit beneath thost
waters, there was not a man in all tht
feet who did not feel like weeping for her
It must be remembered that cur attack
was confined in this action to Fort S1n1!cr