Santa Fe gazette. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1859-1864, 1863-05-16


thickness each, and spending Its force on the pilot
house (which isplaced on the top Of the turret
III which it made n crater three inches deep. and
producing such shock in the pilot house as 10
start It's and raise il three inchcsl Nad not
the force Of the impact been broken on the turet
there can be little doubt that this shot would have
gone clear through the pilot house Another shot
hit the arret' forcing the place struck inwards
= ana producing big swell On the interior. The
same shock disabled the carragc of the II inch
gun, while portions of the interior iron casing fell
down, and lodging in the groove Of the lupet,
stopped its revolution
The Nantucket, besides receiving number Of
wounds bad her turet so Jared that the cover of
the port could not he opened, and consequently
the . inch gun could not be used NJ
These three are all Of the Monitor type.
In addition the other Monitors each received
shots more or less though not disabling them 49,
Thus the K0tsLill was hit twenty times. The
worst wound was rom tilcd shot, which broke
the deck pl0tlng forward, going through it. break.
log beam beneath and spending It's force on an
iron stanehion Which 1t settled half IN inch
The lronsdes was frequently struck Ono Of
tue shots broke off and carried away one Of her
port shutters tnl her wooden bows wee penetra
ted by shells, though they were prevented from
doing the damage they otherwise must have done,
by Commodore Turner precaullon of Protecting
the exposed part of the vessel with sandbogs
But the poor keokuk- she, Of all othris, was
The most ieorlully maItreated.
Such were tbs results of these thirty minutes
fire which presented themselves to the naval chief,
when therepors came IN the day Uier the but
tie. l.. ....
Admiral Dupont calls no councils Of war; but on
his own notion decided that tue contest must end
here This afternoon there was no informal ulth-
erl0e OF the coplons of the lron cais on board the
lIag ship. Rarely was ever fleet 50 commanded
hose men are Tho very flower Ortlle navy The
lips must -elusetheir Office to one who would
breathe whisper Of suspicion against their cour-
age or devotion. Now there w0s but one onnon
sharedn common by all these mcn--lhe fratIess
ness ofieuewing the attack at present, Let US
Soe on what consideration their opinion is found
ed
Viewed stptegically, Charleston harbor forms
a "cu desac four miles in length from It's, en-.
trance at Fort Sumter up to Lbe city. This blind
passage varies III width IRON one TO three miles,
and is capable Of bearing defensive works On each
side and on shOal places in mid channel
= On these natural advantages have been brought
to bear the finest engineering skill the Conrcd.
eracy and it was tho flower Of the genius Of the
couutry) during period Of two years. Lee,
: Beauregard and Ripley in succession have exhaus.
ted their professional efforts to nuke it npregna.
BILE. Everything that the most improved modern
artillery aud unlimited resources of labor can do
has been done to make the passage Of a fleet I'M
possible, And impegnable. Sebastopol was
, nothing 10 il. If
Oar lleet got but to tho entrance of The harbor
1t nGvergot wlthln it. Had the iron clads sue
ceedcd IN passing the distractions, they would
still have found those miles OF batteries to run-
lhgwould have entered an Inferno, which like
the portals Of Dautes he'll, might well bear the
Thinning legend. "Who enters here leaves hope
, bcbmd" .ts.. ..t.a-.
think am justified in saying that the Admir-.
al and bis siaIl aud the Captains commanding the
iron lcet, have 9ll along well undersood the task
, that was given them " do, and that they enter
tanned no Illusions regarding IT, But both the
= navy ond departnentand the public have illu.
slons as to the nature Of the work TO be done, and
delusiOn as to the heinstrumpnts with which It is to
be done, They saw all the weaknesses Of the
monitors as well as the strength, They knew that
/, their powers had never been tested 0II
But with the usual liberal logic which clarac.
terizes them cur people took everything for gran,
: ted Here was universal paOacoa for oil our
ills, Here was a key to unlock all riddles Take
these iron clads, says the Navy Department, knock
Sumter into brick pile, and sail proudly up to
demand the surrender of Charleston Indeed, 50
preposterou5ly did the government regard the mat
ter that it was thought even unnecessary to have
co operating land expedition, 1t will astound
= the county to learn that the whole force which
General Hunter could spare from his limited com.
mand was under seven thousand men! OF COURSE
= he could do nothing against the force ready to
= oppose him. From information received from the
Spanish Consul, who came out from that city a
few weeks ago, the rebel troops for the defence Of
Charleston numbered at that time $4,000 men, and
their railroad facilities would easily enable them
in twenty four hours, TO bring the force up to a
hundred thousand, General Hunter frankly told
, Admiral Dupont that he could do nothing to aid
him, lie could garnar in what ,he navy reaped
: but he could do nothing in the heat and labor Of
the field. The military force, indeed, never got
any further up than StOno inlet,a dozen miles from
Charleston harbor, wherei was TO effect landing
on Folly Island, for the purpose Of making di,
version, ! can make 10 report of what was done,
il anything, but il had no direct bearing on the
business IN hand Thus left asne, the naval chio
had eleven hundred men the whole force of the
iron feet, with which to take and hold dozen
forts Could the ecstasy Of folly further 90,
The Shooting Of Lieut.. Colonel I1Imban
LETTER FROM GENERAL CORC0RAN.
+, -U HsADQRs First DIVISION, SEVENTH