Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-04-23

Nothing has happened. To her It has
been only handful OF peas, or gravel
Stones or pebbles. Some have ratified
against her turret, some upon her deck,
some against her sides, Instead of going
to the bottom, she revolves her turret and
speaks two words to Moultrie, moving on
the while to gain the southeastern wall Of
Sumter.
Again the forts and batteries begin,
joined now by Cummings Point and long
ranges from Fort johnson. All around
the shot flash, plunge, hop, skip, falling
ike the rain drops of summer shower
How quickly the Wabash, the Minnesota
- - --~"S"~ eh;.,- - ~ -
or ANY ono 49, ..ss.v.. s.s -. ..., ,...-
w would be bored through and through,
from port to port, from bow to stern, from
deck to keel, by the point blank and
plunging shot, converging from more than
30 degrees of the circle-bs made into
kindlings, sent sky-high by shell in boil
er or magazine, or to the bottom of the
channel by opening barn doors in the hull.
Unframed, undaunted she moves straight
on, feeling her way, with graphing irons
dragging from the raft in front to catch up
torpedoes. 1t is for the Weehawken to
clear the channel, and make smooth sail
ing for the remainder of the fleet. Two
torpedoes exploded-so much wasted pow
der, nothing more.
A little before sunset the signal to re-
tire was displayed from the flag ship, and
the battle was ended.
VISIT TO THE FLEET.
Steaming into the retiring fleet, we ran
alongside the keokuk. A glance at her
sides showed how terrible the fire had
been. She had been pierced as you might
stick pin through paper. Her smoke
stack, turrets, sides--all were SCARED,
gashed, pierced. A hasty inspection re-
vealed ninety four shot marks There
were none below the waser line, but each
wave swept through the holes on the sides.
Her pumps were going and she was kept
free. We Law alongside till the boats came
in from the blockading feet. But three
of her officers and crew were wounded,
although she had been so badly perfo-
rated.
"All right, nobody hurt, ready for
hem again." was the hearty response of
Ca, Vt. Geo. Rodgers, OF the Catskill, as |
sterne upon the slushed deck, OF that
vessel ana grasped the band of her wide
awake conn, 'ander. He had received
about forty shc,ts. One Soo-pounder;
thrown evidently from barbe-te gum n la
fallen with tremendous force upon 'i nc
deck, bending, but not penetrating -
,,,,raaking the iron, On the sides, On me
turret and on .ha pilot house were inden-
tations like saucers, but there was not any
sign of serious damage.
The Nahant comes down to her anchor
age with gashed smoke stack, Gong
on board, we found that eleven Of her of
ficers and crew had received contusolns
from the flying of bolt heads in the turret.
One shot had lammed the lower ridge of
her turret, interfering with its revolut'' .on.
She had been struck forty times, ,ot aside
from the loss of few bolt oeads. a di-
minsbed draft to her chimney, and the
slight jam upod her turret already men
toned, and the lr..mries received by the
crew, was unha med. Her armorwas in
tact,
ne ot' .er mentors had each few bolts
s1afte' 1. -Four gun carriages needed sllght
re- .,ars-iniured not by the enemy's shot,
Init by their own recoil. One shot had
rinped up the plating of the Patapsco and
per,ed the wood work beneath, This '9@8
the only shot out Of The tmenty fee h't''-
dred or three thousand supposed 10 @o0e
been fired from the forts aohach penetrated
the monitors
The Weehawken had received three
heavy shots under her side, the lndenta-
tons close together. The plates were
badly bent, but the shots had fallen as
harmlessly as pebbles upon the side OF
, barn.
The Ironsdes had received thirty balli
all of which had been turned by her ar
: NOR. She was about one thousand yard
a from the fort. One l50-pound shot tel
r upon the sand bags on her deck, doing n
Q damage. Had she been exposed to tn
r close fire to which the monitors were sub
r iect possibly her sides would have bee
: more deeply indented. In all about on
hundred and sixty shots were fired by tn
r fleet. The Passaic had shot which In
t terfered with the working of the turret.
: Montauk fired, Is tunes.
e Weehawken, rs
1t Catskill, ~
r Passaic,
81 Nahant 10
f Ironsides,
s Keokuk,
+ Patapsco, 10
1t Nantucket, (estimated,) ~ .
d Tolal, l53
10 One hundred and fifty, then, in reply t
}, nearly or quite three thousand 1t seem
3 a small humber. and is so. We are to re
/ member that the flagship, with half tn
l. guns of the feet, was hardly in the action
and that the Keokuk wac almost immed
e ately knocked out of it,
INSPECTION OF THE FLEET.
"A | At the close of the engagement it wa