Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-27

iEto the bank
Thirty thousand voices rose In one desfeulng
cheer, and univcral Joy aeemqi to pervade iace
OF every man present.. The Neosho followed next
AL her matches battene.l down, and every pre-.
| caution taken against accident, she DID not lsre
a. well as the Lexington, her nilot having become
frightened AZ he sppronched the AbysT, and stop
ped her sngine, whe lpNr,Ieglyrly ordered tnl
head Of steam to he c,rrtd. Tue result was that
Der S he Vfe %s,e AZ EvSy very one ID
With the current, and m iotiun sieiy cacsrcd with
| only one hcle In her bottom, which was stopped
IN the course Of an hour: The hiaGman and olsge
| thing, and | thought II | was only fortunate
| enough to get my large vessels M we'll over the
tails. my feet once more would do good 'nryice on
The accident to the dam, Instead Of dIAhrnrttn-
ing Col Bsiley, ouly induced him to renew hts ex-
ut ,bo ne nSd sen S the sSss q gs,ns
| seeing their labor Of the last eight days swept
away in moment, chserfully went to work 20 re-
guAboau would be finally brought over The men
had been working for eight days and rightp, up to
thetr necks In water 10 the broiiing sun, cutting
trees and wheeling bricks, and nothing hut good
| humor prevailed among them. On the whole, II
was very fortunate the dam WAS carried away, As
the two barges that were swept away from the
centre swung around against como rocks on the
lelt and made hue cushion for the vessels, and
prevented them, As 1t Afterwards appeared, from
| runnins on certain destruction.
The force OF the water and the current being too
great TO construct continuous dam OF six hum
dred feet across the river in short time, Col.
Bailey determined 10 leave gap Of hfty-hve feet
in the dam, and build series OF wing dams the
upper falls, This WAS Accomplithedin In three days'
time, and on the 18th instant the Mound city, the
| Carsndolet and PltGburg came over the upper
falls, good deal OF labor having been expended in
hauling them through, the channel being very
NE %Ss SnoSFh S5 them
| tugs also succeeded 10 orossisg the UPPER fails.
| immediately Afterwards the Mound city, Caron-
delet, and Pttsburg started in sueceilion 10 pass
the dam, all thetr matches bAttened down, and
| every prGcaulon taken to prevent accident.
| The passage of these vessels was most beauti-
ful sight, only TO be realized when seen. They
passed over without accident, except The un-
| shipping OF ono or two ruddefb. This was wit
messed by all the troops, aud the vessels were
morning, At 10 o'clock the Louisville, Chillicothe,
oI'rk, and two tugs passed over without Any nc
Oft the deck OF pne OF the tugs. by O'Clock that
afternoon the vessels were all ooAled, ammunition
replaced, and all steamed doEu the river with the
convoy Of 'rAnspnrts in company, A good deal Of
difficulty anticipated 10 getting over the bars
In lower Red river-depth Of water reported only
I'VE feet, g,'nbosts were drawing six. Provden-
| tally, We had rise from the back water Of the
Mississ pPi-that river being very high At that
ume-the back water extending 10 AleNaulria,
100 miles defiant, enabling us 10 pats al! the bsra
| and obttruetlons with safety.
Words are inaiequAte to express the admir- alton
icsl Tor the ability Il Lieut. Col. Bailey. This Is
WITHOUT doubt the best er gnesTnR feat ever per
| formed. Under the beat eIrCunstaEcer, a private
| company would Aot have completed This work
under one year, aud to an orilniry mind the whole
thing would have appeared an crtiTe impoEsitihty.
Leaving out his abilit. cnKir eer-the credit
| he has conferred upon the r0uHtry-hc has BAved
| the Union u valuable heet worth nearly two mil.
lions OF dOllsrfi more, he hAa deprived the enemy
| o triumph which would have en- bol lhenei them
TO ehtFy on this war year or two longer, for the
ME ded depRrtuIs Of the army fixed ihot.
and there was nothing left fOr me 70 do IN ctSe
that event occurred Tut to destroy every p,Tt OF
The ressels, 80 that The rebels could m-ke nothing
OF them. The highest houors the Government can
bestow on ol. Bailey can never repay him for the
| service he has rendered the country.
10 Geo. Banks, perEonAiy, an iaush ind, ht6d
| lnr TIE happy manner in W iCh 10 has forwarded
this entGfpnS", gtving It his whole Nc!tiCn night
| and day scarcely sleeping while tho .a ork was
going on attending pFrsonhlly n ace mat all the
requirements OF Col. Bailey were complied with
| on the instant
I do @ot believe Tiers ever was case where
| Huch dimculiitB were overcome in such a short
| space OF time, and without suy preparation.
| beg leave to mention the names Of somC OF the
peFIoRG engaged on this work. as | think hat
| credit should he given to ever man employed on
1t. am unsbc 10 give the names Of ali, but rim
eCre trust that Gen. DSnks will do iull justice 20
| every oricer engaged in this undertaking when he
| makes his report. only regret that time did not
| enable me to ret the names Of all concerned
Th' following nre the names ofthe most proTi-
| Lieutenant Colonel BAILEY, Actirg military cng!
reer 18th army corps, in charge ot the work; Lieu
| tenant Colonel PeRrcall, AEtiEtant' LOl Dwight
nnel W. d. Kinney, 18th New York volunteers
Lieutenant Colouel Hubbard, sOth Maine volun
| WilliNmson, otdnAnce officer.
The following were portion Of the regiment
employed:
2sth Maine. commanded by Lieutenant Colone
| Emnersoni 10th New York, Col George n. live
l6lst New York. Captain Prentis;i l91d New York
The engineer regiments atd of,cts of tho 1911
army corps were also employed.
II | ieel that have done but feeble iuttee TO The
work orne persons engaged in It, Bel gneverely
ibdisnosedl feel myTelf unable to go into further
detsila trust come future higtOg Ian will treat
this matter ~ It deserves to be treated, because II
| iB subject In which the whole country phopl'
feel 40 intersst, and the noble men who sueoeedst
| so admirably in this arduous task should lot los,
one atom OF credit so jnStly due them.
| Tho Nlssistippi squadron will mover forget thC
obligations II 10 under 10 Lieut. Col. Bailey actinI
mil tAry engineer Of the 18th armycorps,
Previous to pssHins the vessels over the falls,
had nearly all the guns ammunition, provisions
ehAin onblrS, anchors, and every thing that aoulC
affect theiI draft, tAkeR out Of them
The commanders were indef igNble IN their eN
srtiOnS to accomplish the object befhre them, Ant
happier set Of meo were ne er seen, than wheI
their yesiels were once more 10 Hghling trim.
| NthiS expedition has not been 30 successful NJ
the country hoped for, 1t has exhibited the indom
table spirit of Eastern and Western men to over
come obstacles deemed by most people inSurmOunt
able. It has presented a new feature In the war
nothing like which has ever been accomplished
before.
regret to inform you, amongst the misfortune e
Of this expedition Of the loss Of two small light
draft gun boats, the Signal and COvlDFton. I sen
them down from Alexandria to eoDvoy q quarter
: |
and some 900 troops on board, not knowing thA
the enemy had any artillery on the river below US
or anything more than wandering gangs of gueT
rlllAb, armed with meJkets, which these vessel
were competent to drive Oft.
| II hppoara, hOweyef, that the rebels were en-
, Abled to pASB our advance force, ~ night will
5000 men and some twenty-five pieces Of artillery
with these they established a IeFies n batterie
At place called Dunn'A bayou, thirty miles below
Alexandria, very comm mHndinB position. Thea
batteries were 80 masked that they could not b
seen IN passing, even by the closest observation
The tTGt notice the vessel received OF the bat
terry was furious nre, which opened on the quar-
termAHteTis boat, the Warner piercing her boilers
and completely disabling hers at the same time
5000 infantrY opened with musketry, killing an
wOunding half the soldiers on the vessel. Sh
drifted into the opposite bank, where a numbe
managed to make their escape in tina bubhel
though mAuY were killed In attempting to do 90.
| The Signal and COVi1gton Immediately roundet
to and opened their gurb on the batteries, tnl
pushed up, endeSVOrng 70 secure the Warner froT
her psTilOuB position. They had, however, a
much As they could do to take eaTe'Of the maelYeI
tho eroEs.hTe OF the three batteries cutting theI
up In = terrible manner. Their hteam pipes wgI
notwithstanding which thei fo,b hi the bAttehe
; for Ave long hours, the VeGsea being cut all Il
pieees, and many killed and wOunied on bOArt
Acting Volunteer Lieutenant George p. LORD
commanding the CoVinl ton, haVlpE expended a.
his shot spiked his guns set nro 10 hts vessel an
escaped with what was left OF his Drew to III
shore, and his vessel blew up. The SigIAl, Actin
Volunteer Lieutenant EdwAd Morgan, bt.ll Tough
his guns for half an hour after the deEtructioR
tho COV.nEton. He found It Impossible TO destrO
his vessel by burning, her decks being coTere