Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1863-04-24
THE. ATTACK ON CHARLESTON.


THE STORM OF SHOT AND SHELL.
There now cnsues period of not NOR
than 80 minutes, which forms the climax ant
white heat of the fight; for though from tn,
time when fire was opened on the head of tn,
approaching line to the time when the retir
ing feet passed out of the enemy's range
covering AN interval of two hours and half
S(froms half past two till five,) yet the essenc,
of the fight was shut up in those thirty tire
mendous minutes. ...- -.
On the order being given to disregard the
movements OF the flagship, the brilliantly au
odaciOus Rhind ran his vessel, the Keokuk, UP
through the others and laid it seemingly un.
der the very walls of Sumter, and within q
little moro than five hundred yards from it.
Close behind him, " ithin six hundred yards
l1of the fort, is the Catskill, commanded by
George Rogers, soul of courage compact
and to both of them one could not help ap.
plying the exclamation Of Nelson at Trafal.
gar" See how Collingwood, that noble fel.
low, carries his ship into the fight!'
Sc Close by the Montauk, commanded by the
.horoic Worden while not far removed are
the Passaic, the Patapsco, the Nahant, the
Nantucket, the Weehawken and the Iron.
sides. aas sv asa "a. lG 't..5 .ng...
J, The whole feet is devoting itself mainly to
the face of Fort Sumter presented to it, with
the exception of the Ironsdes, which, from
its position, can do better work on Fort
Moultrie,1 ard is pouring forth its terrific
sbroadsides from its seven 10 inch guns on
that work, ......s. b.. .... ......-..
Could You look through the smoke, and
through the flame lit ports, into one of those
reovlving towers, spectacle would meet
your eye such as Vulcan's smithy might
present Here are two huge guns which
form the armament of each Monitor the one
eleven and the other fifteen inches in dame
ter Of bore. The gunners, begrimmed with
powder and stripped to the waist, are loading
the gum, The charge ofpowder- thirty-fiye
pounds to each charges passed up rapidly
from below; the shot, weighing four hundred
and twenty pounds, is hoisted up by mechan
ical appliances to the muzzle of the gun, and
.rammed home the gun is run out to the
port, and tightly compressed ;" the port is
open for an instant, the captain of the gun
stands behind, lanyard in hand" ready,
tire" and the enormous projectile rushes
through its huge parabola, with the weight of
ten thousand tons, home to its mark.
That mark is the face of Sumter, which al
ready displays palpable proofs of the horrid
impact Half dozen Ugly peck marks show
conspicuous, and huge crater was formed in
the parapet near the eastern angle. We look
with interest at these effects, and look for
ward with good hope to seeing breach at
length effected, if only the iron caGs can re.
main long enough under fire to batter away.
What is this coming down out of the fight?
1t is the Keokuk-we know her by her doub-
le turret. She has defied Sumter under its
very walls, and now comes out to report to
he flagship that she has received her death
blow, and is in sinking condition. The
flagship herself has had one of her ports shut.
tiers shot away, thus exposing her gun-deck,
and red hot shot has penetrated her wooden
bows. In addition, three others showed
signs Of disablement, and there was little
more than sufficient daylight left for the fleet
to gain its old anchorage. So the Admiral at
five o'clock made signal to retire.
o.. Carleton, the excellent correspondent of
the Boston Journal, thus writes of
.,,.l go WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED.
e. Notwithstanding the Ironsides did not get
into action to do much; Notwithstanding the
Keokuk was SO soon done for; notwithstand
ing two or three of the Monitors had their
guns disabled temporarily by their recoil
good deal was accomplished. The eastern
wall of Sumter is almost ruin. There are
several holes apparently through the wall
Two or three ports are knocked into one
Captain Downes is confident that his 15inch
shot went through the masonry.
We have had near view of the obstruc-
tions. Two torpedoes exploded without dam
are to the feet. The Monitors have steamed
up and down and across the channel, be-
tween Moultrie and Sumter, and find it clear
sailing Sumter, then, can be successfully
approached without hindrance from obstruc-
tons. The obstacles in the way of taking
Sumter are guns, and guns only. The OBJ
stacles in the way of approaching Charleston
are Of a different character. After passing
Sumter there is a line of oil casks holding up
an iron cable. If a 1l-inch shot is sent thro'
the casks, the cable will be no longer an OBJ
struction, but useless chain at the bottom
Of the channel There are ropes, fish senes,
&C., designed to foul the propel!ers. Old
ropes are not insurmountable obstacles
There are rows Of piles, visible at low water.
There is one gateway or passage through
which the rebel rams and steamers pass
It is supposed that in the passage there are
monster torpedoes, containing thousands of
pounds to be ignited by galvanc battery
from the shore. Mr.. Ericsson has invented
and constructed raft and torpedo to blow
UP the piles, break them off at the bottom
of the stream: but the naval officers do not
like to try new inventions, and it has been
laid aside without even a preliminary trial.
These are distractions which will need at |
tention after Sumter is reduced-not before,
The fleet has met the heaviest possible |
fire which the rebels can give, and it has
been ascertained that at the short distance |
of four hundred yards the decks, hulls, ..tur-
rets and pilot-houses are not penetrated by
the polished English steel shot fired from
Whitworth guns. Their power to resist the
most tremendous fire ever opened upon
fleet is proved beyond question. The dam
age done by the enemy upon the Monitors
was mainly the knocking out of a few bolts,
and one indentation which for the time pre-
vented the Passaic from revolving it's turret
We have also ascertained that the damage
done in . close fight of two hours duration
can be repaired in season for renewal of
the attack on the succeeding day.
"A Coon ANswER.--A good story was told
Us few days since concerning our friend
John II. Brown of Cedar Falls. Mr.. Brown
was Douglas Democrat, and is now war
Democrat and thorough Union man. He |