Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-04-17
The Attack ON Charleston.

| Various opinions are expressed by various
journals on the subject Of the Charleston battle
For the most part Il is regarded az great dis
appointment, and the idea Ia freely advanced
that irou-clads are failure. We must of
course submit to the logic of events. The trial
has been very fair one, and the result s be-
fore the world. At the same time, it is by no
means to be admitted that irou.clads have
proved an entire failure. On the contrary,
here is the memorable fact that, with one ex-
ception, q feet OF iron-clad steamers withstood
the most terrific storm of shot and shell ever
witnessed In the history of war, and the steam
engines which controlled them continued their
work, the officers and men who navigatsd them,
went to and fro within the iron walls unharmed,
and when the discovery was made that the chan
mel was 30 obstructcd that they could not pro-
coed on their voyage beyond Sumter, they
steamed back to their anchorage at safe distance,
without losing men or guns The turrets and
pilot houses suffered such damage as to pre-.
vent the vessels being useful for offensive
purposes, and that defect In their construc-
tion remains to be remedied. In estimating
the value of these new war ships, il ia instruc-
tive to look back two years to the hsrbor Of
Charleston, when the gallant Anderson was in
the walls of Sumter II the Unit ID States had
then possessed one boat like the iron Monitors
OF this feet, the relief of that garrison would
have been accomplished without difficulty. She
wonld have entered the harbor, steamed up be-
tween Moultrie and Cummings Point, laid her
self alongside the little wharf at Sumter, and
supplied the brave men in the fort with all the
provisions and reinforcements they needed
She might have made dozen trips back and
forth between the fort and large wooden yes.
sci or feet lying outside the herbor, and the
balls from the hostile shores would have been
harmless on her metal casing. So we have
learned something in two years about naval
matters, and the age Of iron has begun. We
shall learn more If the war continues two years
longer.
There is less to lament in the failure before
Charleston than 10 any battle on record of eim-
liar ferocity. We have lost one vessel, and have
learned the defects OF others, and sn expedition
on which great many persons had set high
hopes has proved abortive. But there Is moth.
ing more TO be said about it. The vast ex
pence ia the loss. There are no long lines of
graves to be dug, no hospitals TO be filed with
the wounded and dying, no villages and cties
to be desoated with the intelligence OF reei.
ments moved down on the field. In this respeet
the battle Ia marvelously like the first lombard
ment Of Sumter. Nevertheless, we are not to
forget the few gallant wounded and the fever
dead of our brave sailors, who are the ONLY vic.
tins on our side of this great engagement. -
They will be named in history bee iuee they are
the exceptions to the rule OF safety which the
iron age is supposed to have inaugnrated. And
wherever this first grand battle between iron
ships and stone fJrts is described it will be ad.
ded, as of special significance, that only two, or
three, or 80 many men on the ships were killed
in the conflict.
1t remains to try again. The occupation OF
ChaSlsston Ia regarded as of great moral and
practical importance 1t becomes more 80 since
| the failure of this attack We observe that
sone of our contemporaries announce that, as q
result of the attack, we have secured lodg-
ment or anchorage inside the bar, where we
can more successfully stop blockade runners.
This we had before the battle, and it is an error
to speak of it as anything gained 1t may be
doubted even whether it can be held at oil; for
an n-clsd, riding at anchor in the open bay,
ia not only very uncomfortable, but appar snt.
ly very unsafe residence, and perhaps We
should be quite as secure from hostile shot in q
wooden as in an iron vessel, at that distance
from anv Of the forts The way to stop block
ade running into Chareston 10 TO take Charles,
toH; and we are inclined to think that the army
OF the Union will have to dig lts way into the
city, or to the north eide OF the river, wheece
it can command it-Journal of Commerce.