Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-06-22
THE JAMES RIVER FLEET.
Where the Irsn. clads are Loeated--fhe
Removal Of Torpedses-Positien Of the
Rebet Flest57Cn nditien Of the Defenses
on the Sames River ~ 50

Removal Of Torpedses-Positisn Of the
kebst Elest67Gandiiien Of the Dsfenses
on the Sames River. ~
u. S. S. ONeSpAeAs EssRr Virginia,
June THE iron feet is now az an ehor In a,
hay-iike expansion of the river called Frent's
ling, and ten below Richmond. The river IL
very tortuous, making q little peninsu ula of the
land on our right, which Is low and marshy,
And And eyerfiowed at high stages of the river.
thls shore of course cannot be held, and is of
no Use if it could be- The western bank consists
OF series OF rolling hills Of considerable eleva-
tion, and thickly wosded. A mile liz front OF us
the river makes sharp turn to the right or east,
ana from this point the bank, like broad lawn,
rises TO the top Of the hifl, which is crowned
Win new, large, un finished country mansion.
of Beauregard's army rests upon the river. At
this point they have been endeayorine for
" eeks to erect batteries, which might serve to
annoy AM ns' as wen las as 70 oppose our ascending
"clear out" which always accompanies a Is
inch shell, has stopped the digging, and the
batteries are yet unfinished. We can see none
of the rebel army, for the land slopes gently
toward the interior, and their lines are hid by
the intervening woods. Immediately on our
lett. and almost abreast of us. the right flank
front Of the line Of the right Of this army the
woods have been felled, and the remainder Of
the mile. which separates the two lines, is
broken by ravines, and quite thick with tim
3
by the opposing pickets. So much for the po-
sition. Although we have seer the enemy in
no force OF any magnitude, either on or near
the riyer-that is, on the eastern bank-yet we
know there are scouting and skulking parties
who are yigilantly watching our move
ments, and from which the fleet has suffered
to small extent in the capture OF pickets, of
sailors and marines, who were sent ashore,
and, 1venturing too far, were surprised, sur-
rounded and captured. From rebel sources we
have been threatened in all sorts of ways, and
Ix~,A .<,(A A--A ar
res ulted in no recent material Manifestations
From the bed OF the river, both above and be-
low this point, a large number of torpedoes
have been taken, some made of three eighth
inch boiler iron. firmly riveted, and containing
large quantities of powder, one having nine
teen hundred pounds, In their exterior geom-
etry has been amply illustrated; for there arc
spheres, cubes, and ovals, and polygons, and
all other kinds of CONS. Some are anchored in
the river and fired by oncussi0n; some are at.
tached TO logs and sent floating down the Tiver,,
and some, l presume, from their exhaustless
store, are awaiting our moving up the river.
And we are hoping that the river may be suf-
ieiently high before long to warrant our NOV
ing still further up.i AT the foot OF Drury's
Bluff, which is the site Of Fort Darling, the three
rebel iron. clads, Virginia, Richmond and Fred
ericksburg, are lying. The first was built
in the early part Of the war, and was intended
to 20 to sea with the rebel Merrimac, and ia ar.
mored with eight inches Of iron, and mounts
eight guns Her draught is too great to admit
of her maneuyering In the river, except at its
hlghest stages. Inc other two are lighter
draught and smaller vessels. but more yul-
nerable, We have understood that the OBJ
structions placed in the river to oppose our
ascending have been removed, to permit the
rebel iron-clads to come down. This, hoW-
ever, is very improbable Opposite Drury's
bluff is another high. bank, called Chapins
blum, and this, too, has been and still is,
crowned with batteries, but from which, we
are assured by recent deserters, the guns have
been moved and taken to the defenses OF Rich
mond.' Above these bluffs there is sufficient
water, until you reach the lower suburbs OF
the city, called Rockets where there il
much draught. As Rockets is some distance
from the city proper, it is doubtful if the city
could be injured by the guns Of the fleet,
IN N frv