Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-03-02

We give below en- exceedingly important pri
vate letter, received from an officer on oosrd The
revenue cutter Bihb, now doing duty IN the
bloekading squadron off Charleston. The news
it gives of the iron plating Of Fort Sumter viii
take the country By surprise. Baaur8ggfd has
long been expecting an attack. aud It seems lac
depends on defensive arnor to resist the impact
of the $50 pound shot that win be hurled at the
fort AS they have q momentum OF niue hun-
dred iuns weight the walls of S1mter uuasslstod
would have been pushed over like so many pieces
of pssteboard It is to be seen what effect the
mailing viii have. The Charleston papers sIe
very defiant, and seem confident Of their ability
to resist the Yankees But we shall ses The
following is the letter:
OK BOARD UNITED STATES SVEAsIER BIBB.
on Charleston Harbor, December ., ls02
My DEAR H: The papers you were good
enough to send me, containing the accounts Of
the experiments with the nav Monitor. were,
you may be sure eagerly psrused- By the
report these rev iron-clais are terrible mon
stegs indeed am told that The fouF huafred
and ninety pound shot their guns carry f-iriy
made the palisades shiveT, and that one OF taefn
is capable Of going through row of houses
mile aud . half ia length, mski0g hole IN oach
the siza Of hogslead. If these big fellows
ever pat a ehancs as Charleston {and it is The
general impression ia the squadron that some Of
them are on their way here now, they VIII
make short work of that pessfeTous city
dozen or SO of those four nineties would bowl
the place down IS if it were ton pans and have
q spare" too, on every string, But p ls
nv private opinion, Harry, that that bowling
match won't be heguu Just yet a@ils aud III
tell you Why. The way in which became pos
sessed Of the reformation which if am not
mistaken, will astonish You was rather risky
one but a3 ] an safely Ous Of 1t now, don't
mind your letting mother knOw ths whole story
L was one dark. dTizzly night of last week
that our captain detailed me for special ser
vice This was to take the launch aud SIX mon,
null into Charleston harb0r, aud endeavor to
! 6nd the whereabouts of certain heavily laden
schooner, which he thought was waiting there
to Tua the blockade Il is so easy for any swift
ssiler to slip out of this port that The old ma1
was not quite certain in his own mind whether
/ the wished for prize had given him the go-hy or
not was very glad, you may be sure to get
] something to do to TeiieYe the dull work OF
/ bloekading, and as soon as supper was over
/ put off from the ship with the six trnsty men
| who were to be my companions in the adven-
/ ture.
The breakers bothered US a good deal at iFst,
/ and I thought at ene time, that we should have
/ TO put bael but the men were so snIleus to
20 ahead, and so confident that we would be
able to pull through, that gave the word and
on we went Fifteen minutes steady pulling
got rs over the bar, and then-having left the
/ breakers behind us lit was comparatively
smooth sailing. We now cTuised about in every
direction for our schooner. The bulls eye
! lantern that I carried made long fash OF hgat
on the water every now and then but we could
discover no signs of the craft Thinking that
shsmight be anchored somewhere near Fort
Sumter, I now steeTed straight in that direction
bs'ug guided by solitary light IN the fort
kept there for the guard, for 1t was nov past
taps,p and the garrison must have all turned
IN for the night
We soon came near the fort as near as we
thoneht prudent, and had the audaciIy to pull
all around it but the precious schooner was TIL
as faf away from us as ever. The men were
pretty well tired out By this sine, as they well
night be with three hours steady rowing, ard
determined to- give mp the search. Before
leaving the vicinity ot the redoubt9ole reoel
stronghold however, I thought 1 would hazard
one peep at it through my bulls eye. l accord
ingly put the boat quite near the fort and drew
the Slide Of my lautarn, as the Irishman let of
his gun. aisy, l. Of course, directed the
lirht as low as possible and keptit nearly even
with the water line. When it rested upon tne
walls of the fort-I discovered something that
looked very different from the masonry l had
expected to see. The fort looked as if 1t lad
been iron-psted.
3 Nv curiosity was fully aroused by this time
and determined to make further Investigations
{ There were no signs of life IN the fort, ana
2 was ouite certain that the sentinels would no
j eapose themselves much on such. night Ih'
syyash of the waves drowned the creaking OF IN
u oars in the Oar-locks ard by being careful witt
the lantern, Thought we could escape discovery
Inow ran the boat right under the shadow q
the fort, keeping Just far enough 70 avoid beng
dashed against it. I now could sec, bV oc
casionsl flashes Of the lantern, that, as l ha
sugpeeted at first, the whole fort was encased i
= guit Of iron arnOr Parallel bars OF rallroa
iron tYaversed this IRON coating, perpendienls
:, from the base to the upper line. The port hole
/ were protected by massive projections Of q
: same material, presenting AGATE angles at ever
side. This arrnor would offer very serious r
Z sistguce TO the 490poundeTs, even when ID
II msny angles presented did not cause them
n diveree, and send them spinning off IN sncth'
h direction ike so many peas
The clever Beaureyard has evidently nc
s been idle siace his occupation OF this port, an
\ it is to him that we owe this formidable sTrang'
- ment Without this barrier, have NJ doub
- that Fort Sumter could have been topplet owe
= BY our heavy guDs as easily IS one brushe
down card castle with his hand. 1t Will BE-
: hard tussle though, now, TO get mp to Ch1rie
ton. even if we succeed il getting thsre a. al
!. witch do not hold probable; for from what
!, have seen, I regard Sumter as perfectly impel
e erAbe You might as well batter the kock
so Gibraltar as attack it.
"A Fall of my discovery, I now made my "a
back to the ship ss soon az pos ssibls, and arr
inc there. communicated it TO the captain.
=. has probably advised the Navy Department
= Il ere this, so that thero Is nov no necessity
: your keeping the matter secret. Fhlia