Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-03-27
Tss FiEAs Is vlel.barg.

Prom tho Citizen. March s5
About five c'clock, this morning, our piekets
sounded the elarn, and in q short time tho
whole community was out to see what was
going on il proved to be en- attempt of the
Yankees 70 run aoue Of thsir gunbosts by our
batsoriss-aour Of shem came down the river to
De point shove, two Of which were soon driven
going down and sacceeded IN passing the upper
batteries. Bei1e repsale3lY struck by the balls
from nearly every one eff our gun As they
came opposite the city a constant and unintef-
rupied shower of shot and shell was Fained
upon them. The foremost one succeeded il
( drifting down t0waIds the mouth Of the canal
under our FIRE, and received 3 great number Of
sbon; part Of her crew were seen to make their
escape 30 the opposits shore, and it was believed
/ by many that sha hsd been badly disabled, as
! she appeared TO BE- drifting with the current.
The other boat received = shot through her
/ steam chest, as a cloud Of steam was seen 70 is
sue from the aperture made By the shot. After
this she became stationary, when shot and shell
trained upon her without mercy. And a part Of
her crew made their escape 10 the yewl to the
~onposite shoro-sOme few were also seen 70 win
ashore. Tremendous havoc must have bean
made among the Yankees aboard by the seslding
steam. After sustaining the FIRE for some fifteen
minutes, she began to hll and settle slowly in
the water, and our guns kept up q vigorous fire,
until he careensd ever so that one Of her Chin
neys became submerged in the Wster. At this
%junctuTe a shile flag run up the bslyards, and
loud, wild hnzzss went up from shore at the de-
feat Of Che enemy. Bat il was now too late for
them to ask for quarters in a few minutes the
boat went Down head foremost, and disappeared
almost entirely in the water, leaving nothing
but . little black specg TO mark the place whore
inc miserable WTetchss found their Watery
grave.
The other boat ddfed down to the nighbor-
hood Of ths canal, 10 a disabled condition, and
was tryiag 60 avoid or lower batteries, when
she was finally relieved from her danger by Far
rsguts vessel coming up and towing her down
out of reach Of our guns. Neither o. these boats
fred q shot, aud must have had all they could
DO to take care Of themselves. The Hartford
and MonoRgshela kept up 8 terrific lombard
ment on our lower forts as they came up to tn
rescue of the crippled boat
The firing from our batteries was splendid
and su that could be desired almost every sho
: fell in q direct line with the boats, and though
. some Of tasm fell short, the line Of their aim wa
30 accurate that every one would have tskel
kefect if they had been within reach. In
rapidity with which oUr gus were handled ais
! speaks volumes in favor Of the energy OF On
c8nnonsers.
The result of this engagement is that we hsv
wiped out one ~iron-clad, crippled another, an
drove back to their kennels two others. By an
By the Yankees viii find out that the old hi
sissippi is mighty hard to navigate at Yieki
burg.
The Wig, Of the 26.b, contains the followin
in addition to its extra, which We published:
d The first boat which passed down and whie
q escaped the well-meritsd fate Of the iron-clad,
Z believed to be the old steamboat Aonarcl
which had been remodeled into a ram, and co
ton bound. She Is certainly badly damaged.
q The ron-clad is believed to be the Lafayette
one of their crack boats. She must have bee
D. completely nddled by our shot How man
men were killed or drowned, We have no NEAR
of knowing, but certainly they were suthelen
5 ly punished TO prevent another attempt soon
run the gauntlet of cur batteries.
The boats did net FIRE q shot, keeping the
I port holes closed al the time.
2 All cur batteries did e~Icsllent shooting, an
y deserve great credit. But tbs water batteTu
y of Major z W Hlsdley, and the battery
Z MEior Ogden, deserve especial mention.