Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-04-22

from the time when the FIRE wss opened
on the head of the approaching line tothe
time when the retiring feet passed out Of
the eneiny's range, covered an interval of
two hours and half, Qfrom half-past two
till fve) yet the essence of the tight was
shut up in those thirty tremendous min
utes. go
On the order being given to disregard
the movement of the flagship, the brilli-
antly audacious Rhind ran his vessel, the
Heokuk, up through the others ard laid it
seemingly under the very walls of55Sumter,
and within little more than five hundred
Yards from it. Close behind him within
six hundred yards of the fort, is the Oabs-
kill, commanded by George Rodger, a soui
of courage compact; snG - both eff them
one could not help applying the eAclama-
ton of Nelson at Trafalgar" See how
Collingwood, that noble fellow, carries his
ship into the fight p
Close by is the Montauk, commanded
by the heroic Worden while not far re-
moved are the Passaic, the Patapsco, the
Nah0nt, the Nantucket, the Weehaaokcn
and the Lonsides
The whole fleet is devotiEg itself main
ly to the face of Fort Sumter presented to
it, with the exception of the Ironsides,
which, from its position can do better
work on Fort Moultrie, and is pouring
forth its terrific broadsides from its seven
10 inch guns on that work.
Gould you look through the smoke, and
through the flame lit ports, into one OF
those revolving towers, spectacle would
meet your eye such as Vulcan's stithy
might present. Here are the two huge
guns which form the armament of each
Monitor-the one eleven and the other ff-
teen inches in diameter of bore. The
gunners, begrimed with powder and strip.
ped to the waist, are loading the gun
The charge OF powder thirty i've pounds
to each charges passed up rapidly from
below; the shot, weighing four hundred
and twenty bounds. is hoisted M hv me-.
chanical appliances to the muzzle of the
gun, and ranuied home; the gun is run
out to the port, and tightly Compressed"
The port is open for an instant, the cap
tain OF the gun stands behind, LANYARD in
hand-''ready, firel" and the enormous
projectile rushes through its huge para
bola, with the weight of ten thousand
tons, home to its mark.
That mark is the face of Sumter, which
already displays palpable proofs of the
horrid impact. Half dozen ugly pock
marks show conspicuous, and huge era.
ter was formed in the parapet near the
eastern angle. We look with interest at
these effects, ard look forward with good
nope to seeing a breach at length effected,
if only the iron clads car remain long
enough under fire to batter away.
What is this coming down out of the
ight2 1t is the KeoEuk-we know her
by her double turret. She has defied
Sumter under its very walls, and now
comes out to report to the flag ship that
she has received her death blow, and is in
g SINKING condition. The flag ship herself
las had one of her port shutters 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 re-
tire.
DAMAGE RECEIVED.
The Ndhant received in all thirty
wounds, several of them bad fractures of
the deck and sides above and below the
water line. The most fatal blow, how
ever, was given by heavy rifed shot,
which struck the pilot house and dis
lodged several of the bolts, one of which,
driven violently inwards, wounded all OF
u - iin-..--tto1 q t-e s..os-aouso-,ne cap
tain, Captain Downs, OF Massachusetts
the pilot, Qsaac Scofeld, New Jersey
and thea Quartermaster, edward Cobb,
Massachusetts,
The Passaac also received twenty five
or thirty wounds. The most extraordi-
nary shot was from a large ten-iDch rifed
projectile, which struck the top of the
turret, scooping out huge portion of the
iron, breaking all of the eleven plates of
an inch thickness each, and spending its
force on the pilot house (Which is placed
on top of the turret), in which it made a
crater three inches deep, and producing
such shock on the pilot house as to start
its top and raise it three inches Had
not the force Of the impact been broken
OF the turret, there can be little doubt
that this shot would have gone clear
through the piiot-house Another shot
hit the turret, forcing the place struck in.
wards, and producing big swell on the
interior. The same shot disabled the car
riage of the eleven inch gun, while pcr-
tions of the interior iron casing fell down.
and lodging in the GROOVE of the tn-ro.
stopped its revolution.
The Nantucket, besides receiving num-
Der of wounds, had her turret so Jared
mat the cover of the port could not be
opened, and consequently the fifteen inch |
gun could not be used.
These three are all of the Monitor type. |
In addition, the other Monitors each |
received shots more or less, though not |
disabling them. Thus the CatskiU was l
hit twenty times. The worst wound was /
rom a rifle shot, which broke the deck |
plating forward, going through it, break
ng beam beneath, and spending its force
on an iron stanchion, which it settled halt |
IN inch.
The Ironsides was frequently struck
One of the shots broke off and carried
away one of her port shutters, and her
wooden bows were penetrated by shell, |
although they were prevented from doing
he damage they otherwise must have
lone by Commodore Turner's precaution
If protecting the exposed part of the ves-
ell with sandbags.
But the poor Keokuk-she, of all others,
vas the most fearfully maltreated. This
Tessel was struck ninety times, and she
ad nineteen holes above and below the
vater-hne, some of a size through which
boy might crawl. Her turrets give and
hree quarters inches of iron in thickness) |
we're fairly riddled, and came out of the
= Ia |