Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-04-18

fixed as to be sure to get entangled in the
propelling apparatus of vessels and also con-
nected with torpedoes. Into this net the |
Weehawken, which led the van, fell, and for
q long time her machinery was useless, and |
she drifted with the current. AT last after |
great exertions, ihe extricated herself. The
other vessels shcered off and avoided the
same peril There was no getting into the
required position in this way. Any attempt
to persevere in that course would have
rendered the fleet unmanageabe and exposed
it to destruction. Baflied in the attempt to
get round or past Fort Sumter in that way.
The bulldog Monitors sought another open
ing but even the shoal ground between the
fort and Cummings Point was barred up
with piles. In fact, Fort Sumter was found
to be the appex of triangle, the two sides
of which were impenetrabe to our vessels
and at the base line of which they were ex
posed to concentric fire from Forts Sumter
and Moultre, the Redan, Battery Bee, and
Fort Beauregard. Thus brought to stand,
and nothing being left but either to batter
down Fort Sumter or to retire the iron-clads
went rseolutcly to their work. Stretching
themselves in a line between Sumter and
Moultrie, and only giving an occasional shot
to the latter work. they piled their guns
upon the walls of Sumter.
The Keokuk steamed up to within some
three hundred yards of the fortress, while
the other vessels lay at intermediate dis
tances between that and six hundred yards.
! The Ironsides--the Admiral's flag ship-had
become entirely unmanageable. refusing to
| answer her helm; So that, with the excep-
tion of one broadside which she poured into
! Fort Moultrie, she took no part in the attack
| although she was herself the target for many
| of the enemy's largest guns, and was hit some
sixty or seventy times, sustaining, however,
no material damage. For half an hour,
while our vessels were in the position have
| described, the cannonading was of the most
awfuly grand and terrible character No
words of mine, no words of any man, can
convey faint idea of it. l was sublimely
terrific. No less than three hundred guns
of the largest calibre concentrated their fire
upon the eight assailants, who had not six
teen guns with which to respond. The con-
test was too unequal to he pcrsevered in
The Keokuk was soon badly damaged. The
turret of the Passaic was so indented US to
prevent its revolving. The Patapsco had
her two hundred pound Parrott gun dis
ablcd and, besides. night was coming on.
The Admiral therefore sgnalized the fleet to
retire, and sullenly they fell back from a
contest in which they were so tremendously
0vermatched, not, however without leaving
their mark behind. The northeast front OF
Fort Sumter, which was the only one eX-
posed to our fire, was badly damaged. Nu
less than eleven holes, some of them three
feet wide, and two embrasurCs knocked into
one, showed the effect of the Monitors guns
But that was all we ellectcd-that and the
dissipation Of n popular error that Charles
ton could be captured by nine or ten iron
: clads. The signal to cease firing was given
about five o'clock 1t was abeyrd and tho
vessels fell back to the flag gship, the parting
shot being fired by the Nantucket as she
passed Fort Wagner.
And thus ended the most remarkable con
flict that has ever taken place between wal
vessels and land Ortiticatuns-rcmarkab
i'll this that the guns Of the forts outnum
bered by ten to one those of the vessels
And yet, after all, TO what is our failure tC
he attributed! To the impregnability ot
the land batteries or the weight and mum
her of their guns Only to a slight degree
The real instruments of our defeat were thC
apparently insignificant and contemplate
barricades of ropcworh and netting suspen
ded across the channel, and which kept ou,
vessels at point on which the rebel gun.
had previously been concentrated. Fort,
might have been passed and batteries 81
]
; like the serpent of LAGOON. coiicd them
selves around the motive machinery OF ou
vessels and prevented the play of their iroG
arms, were not to be got rid of by force. Ii
In their grasp our vessels were innocuous.-
And therefore the untavorahlc result of til,
, enterprise is not to be accepted rs test o
the relative powers of iron-clads and lane
batteries. Without these distinctions al
the forts that defended Charleston from Ligh
House Point to Castle Pinckney would have
been insufficient to stop our Monitors from
anchoring of the Battery at Charleston.
1t had been calculated that some $500
rounds were fired by the rebels In on
minute there were one hundred and siXt,
, counted. On our side there were but on
hundred and fifty shots fired in all So tha
the rebels fred over twenty shots to our one
The Ironsides fred but one broadside an,
that was at Fort Moultrc. That was he
only offensive operation throughout the da
: The Kcokuk only fred three shots bctor
she received her death wound.
THE RESULT.
T. The result of the days operations may b
summed up thus: The injury to the rebe
Notifications is not such as will work an
great loss to them, as we cannot renew tn
attack Immediately. On our side we los
the Keokuk, which sunk this morning an,
which is to be blown up to-day, to proven
her falling into the hands OF the rebels. Sh
' was struck by ninety shots. of these nine
teen were on the water line, fifteen in tn
:. after turret, twelve in the forward turrct an,
| twenty-five on the side.
' The Passaic is disabled by having her tul
/, ret so injured that she cannot revolve, ant
/ she has to be sent to Port Royal for repairs
S She was strucl, fifty-eight times The PA
tapsco was injured by having her two hun
c dred pound Parrot gun disabled. She wa
' struck from forty to Fifty times The Nahan
| was struck eighty times and had her pilo
a house completely shattered. The Ironsidc
: was hit from sixty to seventy times, receiS
) ing no material damage beyond the knock
! off one of her port shutters, thus eXposin
I her gun deck. The Weehawken was struc
tilty-mne times, and had her funnel deepl
= indented, so that she worked with difficult
q The Montauk was hit twenty times. Til
j Nantucket and Catskill were each hit abou
r fifty times, having their decks considerabl
4 torn.