The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-04-24
NEW SERIES-NO. 49O
construction and armament that his knowl.

NOAASoA oOCiO1 nAu al lldulVAU IACSO AiO kAhOVA
edge and experience was Of but little va
lue. Some of the captains have expressed
fears that the Monitors would be wanting
in aggressive power, while others, younger
IN years, not conversed by long service,
have had more ardent expectations. Now
that the Monitors have been tested and
have come out of the hardest possible
pounding which the rebels can give-al-
most as good as new-they are sanguine
that Sumter can be made ruin and
Charleston an ash heap.
The crews who reason of what can be
done by what has been, are eager to try
their strength in a decisioe contest,
which will be victory, or defeat, or
repulse. I have it from good authority
that the crew of the Ironsides will refrain
from giving the Admiral the customary
hearty cheer usual when the commander
transfers his flag to another ship.
In the army, where the discipline is lax
compared with the navy, wheresmen ex-
press their opinions freely, there is morti-
fcation, chagrin and disgust. The troops
of the department have had but few op-
portunities to meet the enemy. They were
ready for the encounter. The siege train
was complete, the ordnance ample for offen-
sive operations. All of these expectations
have vanished. They see nothing but an
inactive summer, a dull campaign, which
is a soldiers horror.
The result is not what was hoped or ex-
pected. We who watched the contest
were not surprised to see the fleet with
drawn, for it had been determined to dis
continue the fire at sunset. We were
surprised to find no loss of life, so few
wounds, no serious damage to the Moni-
tors after such pounding. Great was
the surprise when it was ascertained that
the expedition had been abandoned.
Mr.. @. @. Fulton, of the Baltimore
american, who is more than ordinarily
trustworthy, gives some interesting par
ticulars of the late operations against
Charleston, and the feeling among the Of
ficers and crews of the iron-clads after the
withdrawal from the attack. He says:
On the morning of the Sth, after the
fight, the seven Monitors were all exam
ined, and found them all in as good con-
dition for service as they were upon going
into the action on the 9TH. Half-past one
o'clock was the hour fixed upon for a re-
newal of the bombardment, and the Off
GERS of the different vessels were all in
readiness and most of them anxious for a
renewal of the conflict. The order for the
was momentarily waited for,
but the order never came.
AT o'clock it was ascertained through
out the fleet that the Admiral had decided
that Charleston is impregnable, that Sum-
ter cannot be taken with the vessels and
appliances placed at his disposal by the
government in other words, that the
power of the government is not sufficient
to humble this nest of rebels.
In conversation, with some of the COM
of the irohclads before this order
was received, was assured that the walls
of Fort Sumter were pierced and crushed,
and the opinion was expressed that in three
hours more the fort would be compelled to
Several of them testified that
their immense shot had entered the en-
brasures of the fort and dismounted the
guns, and that the walls were in most
shattered condition.
Two hours and fifteen minutes of bonn
bardment, one man killed and seven wound
ed, one inferior vessel sunk, and the great
effort of the country to retake the forts
and public property abandoned as imprac-
ticablei .
The reason why Charleston has not been
destroyed by the ironc'ad fleet, even if
Sumter had not been taken, is the dread
ful fear, that overshadowed the fleet au-
thorities, of rebel torpedoes. Farragut
had the same to encounter at New Orleans,
with wooden ships, but he dashed into his
work, and considered that the risk of life
was part of the duty of naval officer;
that great risks were necessary to secure
great results. yete1f
The Secretary of the Navy sent. down
here appliances to be used in removing
the distractions in the harbor. These
RATS and torpedoes have been here nearly
two months, and the attemp to take Charles
ION has been abandoned without their use
fulness being considered for moment.
One of the RATS was taken in by the
Weehawken, with grapnels attached to it
10 catch tOrpedoes but they refused to
nave the torpedOes connected with it. Thew
we're afraid the torpedoes might kick back
ward, although they had been experiment.
I'd with, and even the raft had not been in
ured. ar F
One Of these torpedoes, containing sew
IN hundred pounds Of powder, would have
swept away the obstructions in the harbor.
md enabled the fleet yesterday afternoon
70 60 up and lombard the city. They
we're, however, not used, and this great
rational retrlbutiOn is abandoned.