The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-04-18
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ess attack upon charleston. Inc SUD-
stance of the whole is, that after such
ong and tedious preparation, the iron lad
fleet under Commodore Dupont, consist /
ug OF s Monitors and the New lronsides, !
with lighters, tenders, &c, reached Charl- !
eston harbor on the 9Th, spent the 9th in
getting ready, and about2 g clock p. IN. on
the 7th moved up in body and attacked |
The Notifications and defences Of Charles
ton harbor. The action lasted about 40
minutes In that time, one of the iron
Keokuk-was put in a sinking
four OTHERS were disabled, and
all the rest more or less injured This
was the injury sustained on our side. AS
to the enemy, the only effect appears to
have been to dismount one barbette gun
on Fort Sumpter and to pierce 4 holes
through its monster walls. 49,
This brief experience satisfied Com
Dupont, and he ordered the fleet to witE-
draw, and day or two afterwards the
whole fleet returned to Hilton Head, and,
so far as all appearances 60, further opera
tions against Charleston are indefinitely
postponed. fc-.te
As to Gen. Hunter huge army of 40, 600
land forces, it appears they had no part or
lot in the matter. Gen. II. himself was
an idle spectator Of the bombardment,
while the bulk of his army remained at
Port Royal No movement by land upon
the rear of Charleston-no diversion 10
turn a single one Of the 400 guns concen-
trated upon the little Monitor fleet, was
attempted. So far as the attack upon
Charleston is concerned, the whole army
might as well have been in Kentucky or
on the Rappahanock. or course there
may have been good reasons for all this.
only we don't see them.
We copy from one of dozen, the fol-
lowing brief description of what is called
the White Heat of the fight
While tn. mannuveres indicated in
these paragraphs are going on, you must
not suppose the enemy is inactive The
powerful work on Cummings Point, named
Battery Bee, opens; the long range rifle
ordnance of Fort Beauregard join in !;
Mouitrie hurls his heavy metal; the 81
guns that line the Redan swell the FIRE
and the tremendous armament OF Sumter
vonlits forth its fiery hail.
There now ensues period of not more
than .hree minutes. which forms the eli
max and white heat of the fight.
Such fire, or anything approaching it,
was never seen before. The mailed ships
are in the focus of Il concentric fire OF the
five powerful works already indicated,
from which they are removed only from
four to eight hundred yards, and which in
all could not have mounted less than three
hundred guns And, understand, that not
the lighter ordinance such rs 50 or ~
Founders, whIch form the ordinary arnla-
ment of forts, hut of the very heavies. cali
berthe finest and largest gun. from the
sroils OF the Norfolk Navy Yard the
splendid 10 and | inch guns cast at the
Tredegar Works, aud the most approved
English rified guns (Whitworth and others)
Of the largest caliber made.
| There was something almost pathetic in
/ the spectacle OF those little floating circu-
| lar towers, exposed to The crashing weight
OF those tons OF metal, hurled against
| them with the terrific force of modern pro
jectiles, and with such charges OF powder
/ as were never before dreamed Of III artil
/ lery firing. During the climax Of the fire
/ a hundred ond sixty shots were counted
/ in a single minute Some of the command
! ers of the ironc,ads afterwards told ms
that the shot struck their vessels as fast
as the ticking of a watch, and not less thar
thirty five hundred rounds could have
been fired by the relels during the bIie
engagement.
On the order being given to disregard
the movement of the flagship, the brill
iantly audacious Rhind ran his vessel the
Keok uk. up through the others and laic
it seemingly under the walls of Sumpter
and within little more than five hund
rcd Yards from it. Close beside him, with
in six hundred yards ofthe font, the Kat
skill, commended by George Rodgers.
Close by is the Montauk, commanded
bv the hero Worden; while not far re-
moved are the Passiac, the Pata. SEQ, tho
Nahant, the Nantucket, the Weehaw ker
and the lronsides.
The whole fleet is devoting itself main
~ to the face Of Fort Sumpter presented
to it, with the exception of the lronsides
which, from Its position, can do bette
work on Fort Moultric, and is pourin:
forth its terrific broadsides from Its sever
0inch guns on the work.
Could YOU look through the smoke, anC
through the flame lit ports, into one o
those revolving towers, a spectacle woui'
I meet your eye such as Nulcans stith.
might present. Here are the two hug
guns which form the armament of eacl
Monitor-the one eleven and the othe
fifteen inches in damter Ct bore. Tn
gunners, begrimed with powder and strip
ped to the waist, are loading the qua
/ 1, -. l.. .,
to each charges passed up rapidly from
below the shot, weighing four hundre,
and twenty pounds, is hoisted up by me
cnanical appliances to the muzzle of tn
gun, and rammed home; the gun is rul
out to the port, and tightly compressed
} the port is open for an instant, the Captain
OF the gun stands behind, lanyard in han,
-"ready, fire = and the enormous prcIet
tile rushes through its huge parabola, wit
the weight of ten thousand tons, home t
its mark.
That mark Is the face of Sumptel
which already displays pa!pahle proofs G
the horrid impact Halt a dozen ugl
peck marks show conspicuous, and hug
: crater was formed in the parapet near tn
/ eastern angle We look with interest q
: these effects, and look forward with goo
hope to seeing a breach at length effected
If only the iron clads can remain Ion
enough under fire to batter away.
If only they could have renamed
But what craft, pray, could remain VI
, der such hurricane Of fire?
The ILI-FArED IEoN-CLAD KEoKuK-Th
Keokuk, lost in the encounter of the I'll
P inst was not q Monitor, but more nearl
e resembled the turtle-like guaboats of til
!. Mississippi river of which the rebel raj
Arkansas was one. She had turrets, bl
: they were immovable. the guns reyolyin