The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1863-08-19

Ihe New iofk lznteS, ol FRIDAY last
the l4th inst, has been received Il,
contains nothing Of much importance.
We give summary Of the news
| THE SIEGE OF CuARLEsToN--ATTACK FIXED
FOR TUE 13rn-MoNsTER Gun TO BE USED
| AGAINST SUMTER.
The Yankees have intelligence from
which brought it had on board the l76tl,
Pa. regiment, whose time had expired.
A letter from of Charleston Bar, Aug
10th, 5 p. ~" says:
General Gilmore has notified Admiral
| Dahlgren that he will be in readiness To open
| The grand assault on Thursday, the 18th
| instant.
The Navy is all ready, waiting for the army,
| so that the fight il is believed, will COM
mence on that day The greatest confidence
| is felt rs TO the result The fall OF Sumter,
Wagner, and Cummings Point is regarded as
| certain To take place inirom Two to SIX honrs
| after the ball opens.
A deserter from Fort Wagner says that
! two-tbirds Of the guns haze been removed
| from Fort Sumter and mounted ON James
| Island, and that the fall of Sumteris regarded
| by the rebels as certainty, the damage done
| by the monitors in April last rendering the
possibility Of the rebels holding it not TO be
| thought OF. The dcserter says that Sumter
was on the point OF surrendering at that time.
| when, fortunately for the rebels, the moni-
| tors withdrew.
| We have shelling night and day. Fort
| johnson keeps up a brisk fire, and our wood
en- g,nboats go in every day and amuse
| themselves by shellng them. At night the
rebels shell our land batteries, and we she'll
| them in return. O4 Sunday ssert ce WW Ger
t0iaisf hold Sumter, and 40 hin fer days after
Charleston or is ruins tgiHbe ia our possession
Two more mortar schooners, making FIVE
| in ALL and the wooden gunboats are strip
| ing for the fight The weather continues de
| lightful, though there is great suffering for
| ice lemons. and sugar. Cannot Boston, New
York, or Philadelphia, send some cargOes
here for the use of the gallant sailors and
soldiers? AS the Arago leaves, the Ottawa,
Marblehead, Seneca, and Ironsides are en-
| gagged sheliing the Cummings Point battery.
The Washington Republican has de-
| scription of 10-inch 300-pounder Par
rott rifed gun about to be used against
Fort Sumter. In explaining its breach
| ing power il carries out comparison
with 24-pounder siege gun, and says:
4 a4-pornder round shot, which starts
| with "a velocity of 1925 feet per second,
| strikes an object at the distance of $500
yards with velocity of 300 feet per second.
The l0-inch rife 3UO-pound shot las an ini-
| tial velocity of l. III feet, and has afterwards
| a remaining velocity of 200 feet per second
| at distance of $500 yards. From we'll
known mechanical laws, the resistance
which these projecties are capable of over
coming is equal to 81, 700 pounds and ,9l4,-
$50 pounds, raised one foot in second re
spcctivcly Making allowances for the dii:
ference of the diameters of these projectilcs,
il win be found that thcirpt ietrating power
wiii@bc as | to 1876.
The pcnctrations of the "a -ponndcr shot
al 3 $40 yards in brick work is 62 inchcS.--
The penetration of the 10 inch projcctil
will, therefore, be between six and seven feet
into the same material. TO use more IA
miliar illustration, thc power OF the lo-inci
rifle shot at the distance of . 800 yards may
be said to be equal to that OF the united
blows of 200 sledge hammers, weighing 100
pounds each, falling from height of ten feet
and acting upon drill ten inches in diam
ctcr.
THE LATE EXPEDITION urJAMEs RIyER-THE
DAMAGE DONE by THE TORPEDO.
The New Bedford Standard publishes
letter from one of the crew of the
steamer Commodore Barney, giving the
following particulars of the late recon
noissance up James river:
Last Monday We started up the river with
one monitor and one small tug, beside our
SELVES We got within eleven miles Of Fort
Darling, when crowd of sharishooters
fired on Our three boats, and the way we
poured the canister and shell into those
woods WAS Il caution Well We shut them
up for while, and went up within nine miles
of Fort Darling, and the monitor anchored;
but Gen Hunter and his aids We're on the
monitor, and they came on hoard and wanted
us 10 proceed further up the river; so We
venlnred, and when we got within six miles
OF Fort Darling We picked up a white man
in n boat, who was making for the bushes.
We told him we'd shoot him If lie didn't
come aboard SO he came on board, and in
five minutes after that torpedo burst under
our starboard bow. ! and several were right
over it when it burst, and such report you
can hardly imagine. was senl about fifteen
feet into the air and came down in the water,
which was Whirlng in all directions. A tug
that followed behind rs picked me up. Two
of our crew went down to rise no more;
many others were nearly exhausted; two or
three got wounded, not seriously, though.
One of them was by my side talking at the
time his head was cut with piece Of iron
plating The water WAS thrown up in tor
rents rs high us our smoke-pipe and then
came down on our decks, oyeriiOwing every
thing for time. Some jumped overheard
before they were hurt was the only one
thrown overheard. 1t ripped up our decks
forward and carried away considerable of
our plating.
We came down to the monitor and anchor
ed all night of the 9th inst. On the 9TH, at
| 1 A. NJ, got under way and came down the
river, which is very narrow, and with high
bluffs all the way At 4 A. NJ, about two
hundred sharpshooters fired on lis, WHICH
drove It's from our guns, and then they pcar-
ed in six-pound howitZer balls with "A ven
9eance. As We got past the bluff so that We
could get range We poured in the canister,
but one of their shot passed through our
boiler, and we soon lost steam aud driited
ashore. We were leaking badly, having
been struck two feet below the water. We
had rot ont OF their range then; We were
aground three-fourihs Of an hour ,and expect
ed every minute they would be upon lis. We
were under a very high bluH aud couldn't
get our guns to bear at all. We were in q
tight iix, and all that stopped them from com
INC on that hill WAS a long marsh that they
couLln't cross Finally, the tug came back
aud towned us Oft. When we got down
to the monitor there was another tug
there that had just come up the river:
The tugs towed the monitor and she towcd
lis behind. We came out oi it iirst-rate; not
Il man was hurt. When we got down to alal
yern Hill they opened IN awful fire on us, the
same way as the others did--sharpshooters
to drive us away from our guns, then the
shell and shot were terrible, raking rs tore
and aft. Remember We had no steam al all.
| They waited until the monitor got by, then
| they socked iron into Us rough and ready,
| and we into them, when the sharpshooters