The sun., 1864-12-30

| This ho was enabled 10 DO, owing to blockade
unner going in rish, ahead Of him, the forts
making the block ode runner Signals which they
also did 10 the Loulsians. The gallant party, amer
coolly making all their Arrangements for the cx'
plosion, ef, the vessel the last thing they did be-
| ing 70 set her on Are under the cabin. and then
taking to their bosu they made their escape of to
the wilderness lying closs by. The wilderness
then pu, OF shore with good speed 10 avoid any III
effects that might happen from the explosion. Al
forty-Gve minutes past one Of the morning OF the
94th, the EXPLOSION took plsce and though the
shock was nothing like so severe rs was expected
IL shook the vessel some and broke one or two
glasses, but nothing more.
| OPENING OF IuE ATTACK ny Tun rLrrr.
Daylight Of the Gath, the feet go, underway
and stood in lno Of battle. Az II 30 A. NJ the
| signal was made W engage the forts, the ironsdes
| leading, and the Monsdnock, Canonicus and hsho-
| pac following. The Irons'des took her position IN
| the most beautiful and scamanliko manner, and
opened q deliberate ere on the fort which was
fring at her with oil its guns which did not seem
numerous in the northeast face, though we count
ell what sppesrcd to be seventeen guns hut Tour
or Ave Of these were fred from that drechon aud
they were slcnced almost as soon as the lron''des
opened her terrific battery. The Minnesota then
took her position In handsome style and'the guns
after getting the range, were hred with rapidity'
whlo tie Mohican, the Colorado and The large vos-
sels marked the plan, got 10 her stations all
| airing u cover themselves while anchorins. by
the time the las, of the largo vesses anchored and
got tho batteries into play, bu, one or two
gums Of the enemy were fired, tbs fen
dsnrer driving them all 70 the bomb-proois
Tho small gunbosts Kansas unadillA, fequot'
Seneca, Pon,oosuc, Ysntic and Huron took n posi-
ton on the northward and eastward Of the mon-
tors, md endlsdng the works. The Shenandoah
T.eondoroz., MAckinaw, T.cony and Vanderbilt
took effective POSITIONS a. marked on the chart
and added their hre u that already begun. The
Santiago de Cuba, For, Jackson, osecola ChpPe-
Wa sa.sAcuA Rhode Island, Monticello Quaker
City and Iasco dropped into position according
70 order, and tho battle bccamo general. In one
e hour and hitoen minutes sher the FIRST shot was
B.. tired. not q shot came from the fort. Two maga-
, zines hsd been blown up by our shells, and the
fort set on fro in several places and such torrent
Of missiles were filling into and bursting over II
that 1t was impossible for anything human TO stand
. H. Finding that the batteries were silencod com
plolely directed tho ships " keep up
:, | moderate FIRE. in the hopes 81 attracting
a the attention OF the transports and bring
l. ing thcm IN A. sunset General Rutlc'
/. came in In his flagship with few trans
/. ports the rest not having arr, ei from Beaufort
), Being too late TO do anything more, signaled 4
the aaot 10 retire for the night a safe anchorage
=. which they did, without being molestcd by the
d enemy.
soME xIsIAEEs MADE
There were some mistakes made the DAY wher
| the yesscls went In ID take position. Ny plan o
d battle being based on accurate calculations sn'
~ made from information To DO rolod on, Was places
e, In the hands of each commander, and seemed i'm
ynssible to go astrsy, II was strictly followed.
ia required those vessels that had no, followed !
closely to get under way, and assume their propo
a. psuitions, which was done promptly and withou
A. confusion The vcssols we're placed somewha
I. nearer 10 the works, AMI were able N throw i
IN their she'll which were before falling in the water
at One or two nadiug vessels having made the mis-
lie take Of anchoring far OIL, caused those comm
Vi alter thom 10 commit Ike error bu, whom the
&c. all go, into place, and commenced work in carr
TX est, the shower Of shell Tone hundred and hftee
Of Ter miuutel was ;rrenstble. So quickly were II
IA enerny's guns slenced, thu, not officer or ma
sr was injured
II, ! rEsaIBLE ACCIDENTS BuRsrTsG OF ux PARHo1
,,o GUSs
,d re9rot however, TO have ~ report some seve'
IN casualties by the bursting Of loo-pounder Parro
~ cannon One burst board the rcouderog
40 kllling six Of the eruw and wouniug seven other
~, another burst ON board the YAntic, killing one OF
Ger aud two men another on the Junia,a, killii
two ofhcerA and wodnding and killing ten other
all another On the Msckinaw, killing one officer a.
es. wounding fvo other men another on the Qlak
ck. City, wouudlng, believe, two or three anoih
asst on the Susquehanns, kilhng anu "ouhdihs se'e
els think tie bursting OF the guns tsix in alb mu
uy Disconnected the crews Of the vessels when the
&c, cdenls happened, and gave one aud all gre
disrust Of the Parrou lOo-pOundcr;l aud, as sub
ned qucnt events proved, they were unfit Tor servi'
INV aud calculsied ~ kill Of our mon than the
ora Of the encIny.
ent RnuLTe or TuE KSRNY's TIRE
Dst. Some Of the vessels were struck once or twi
ing The Mackinaw had her boiler perforated with sh
ere and ten or twelve persons were badly scaded'
avy oscoolA struck by shell near the magaEii
pod and al time in a sinking condition, but
iful efficient commander sto9ped up the leak WI
1se the Machlnaw fought out the battle notwithstandi
heir the damage she received The fantc was the OF
1t, yes e which left the line to report damages.
Commander John Guest at the east end OF
line, showed unususl inte ligence in selecting
pro- position and directing his hre Twice his guns
-alls down the aaz-staf on the Mound Battery. and
yey, sleuccd the guns .here in very short time,
10 tiVape IA