The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-06-09
Hin ADVANCE.
IN UMBER l.

posing spectacle. ...... ID
Still we pushed her broadside-to before us
our engine at full speed, pressing our bow
deeper and deeper into her. Still she gave
way, and now we threw hasty glance to-
ward our consorts. Were they coming to
assist us? Would they seize the golden
chance we so invitingly held out to- theln
and pushing on to the monsters unguarded
side, help us to crush her down, out of sight
forever? Not sound not a movement
not gun. All was quiet as uthe11night
throughout our fleet. 1t was a grapple for
life A silent but fearful struggle for the
mastery, relieved only by the sharp, scat tier
ing volleys of musketry, the whizalng OF
Ieaden bullets, and the deep muffied eXplo-
sion of land grenades, which the brave Tel
low in our foretop was flinging into the en-
emys hatch, driving back their sharpshoot-
ers, and creating CONSERVATION and disnay
among the closely packed crew of the iron
clad but not until our pilot house and
smokestack had been spattered all over with
the indentations of rife balls. No one had
| vet fallen We had thrown shot and shell
square into her ports from our rifle guns on
the hurricane deck, and driven volley after
volley of musketry through every aperture
in her iron shield, and now our heavy 100
FOUNDER was training for another crushing
blow.
Presently movement was felt in the two
ships We heard a crashing of timbers, as at
the moment of the collision. The ram
was swinging under our starboard bow, and
now suddenly the vessel trembled with a
shock, as our 1O0-pounder, and that of the
enemy Numbered at each other with sim
ILL
full than bursting shells Or belching cannon.
now reached our ears The terrible sound
of Embossed unmanageable steam, rushing III
tremendous volumes seething and kissing as
it spread, till both combatants were hidden
in dense suffocating cloud of vepor. Hei
shot had pierced our boiler and all was lostl-
No! not lost yet! Our sharp false stern,
which had cut deeply into the side of the
ram, now gave way as she forced herself
ahead across our bow, crushing and bruising
our more delicate craft in her progress, aud
this stem thus wrenched off allowed the two
vessels to pass side by side
Now came the fierce duel for life. Our
gunuers could only hope to injure our antag-
onist by firing into her open ports, while eve
ry shotof the enemy wod tell with fatal effect
upon O ur wooden vessel The guns now
| served and fired muzzle to muzzle, the pow
der from those of the Albemarle blackening
| the bows and sides of the Sassacus, as they
passed within ten feet. A solid shot from
our 100 FOUNDER struck her porJ-sill, and,
crumbling into fragments, one piece reboun-
ded on to our own deck; but the rest flew
into that threatning port-hole and silenced
the enemy's gun. A 9-inch solid shot
and 3O-pounder shell followed through the
same opening in rapid succession as the tough
sided monster drifted clear of US, while our
starboard wheel crushed and rent its iron
braces in grinding over her quarter, smash
ing her launches that she was towing into a
shapeIess mass ofdriftwood, and grating over
the sharp iron plates with a most dismal
sound. Now she passed our wheel, and the
crews of the after guns, watching the mo-
ment, drove their solid shot into her ports
The elevating screw of our Parrot rifle
was broken, and the gun could not be de-
pressed to bear on the enemy's port, but
hurled its missile against her iron armor,
leaving a rent to mark the point of its impact.
A 9-inch solid shot, fired with an increas
ed charge, struck her inclined roof, and
flew en- ricochct like pebble bounding from
the pavement into the air beyond and this
at distance of not mora than fifteen feet.
All this cool gunnery and precise artillery
practice transpired while the ship. from fire
room to hurricane deck, was shrouded IN
one dense mass of fiery steam The situa-
ton was appalling. The shrieks of the
scalded and dying ,as they frantically rush
ed up from below, with their shrivelled flesh
hanging in shreds upon their tortured limbs
the engine beyond control, surging andre
volving without guide or check, abandoned
by all save one, who, scalded blacken9d,
sightless, still stood like hero to his post
| Alone amidst the mass of Embossed steam,
and uncomfortable machinery, the chief en-
gineer of the Sassacus remained, calling to
his men to return with him into the fire room
to drag the fires from beneath the uninjur-
ed boiler which now was in iminent danger
of explosion Let his name be long remeln-
bered by the two hundred beings whose
lives were saved in that fearful moment by
his more than heroic fortitnde and exertio n.
There were no means of instantly cuttin g
off communication between the two boilers,
and all the steam contained in both rushed
out like a fash exposing our ship to more
fearful catastrophe, should our brave engin-
Ger be too late in drawing the heavy fires
which threatened our destruction. All this
time, our consorts looking toward US, could
see only a thick white cloud, lighted up in
cessantIy by the flashes of our rapidly served
guns as the gallant Sassacus rose gloriously
above the storm of disaster that surrounded
her and challenged the admiration of her anx--
ious comrades by the stubborn thunder of
her battery The ship still moved, working
slowly ahead on a vacuum alone. 'Ihe
cloud of steam at last lifted and we could
see the grim enemy of the Sassacus gladly
escaping from that embrace of death IN
which we had held her for nearly a quarter
of an hour and retreating discounted and
demoraized toward the port from which she
had sailed with so much bravado only a
few hours before The broad ensign, which
had waved so proudly over her casemate, on
our approach now lay dragged and torn,
with its shattered flagstaff, on her deck; and
turning our vessel around, with hard a-poft
helm, which she answered slowly but steadi-
ly, we again passed down by our enemy.
Our division still stood at their guns, and
our brave Commander, firmly enunciating
his instructions and orders, and guiding eve
ry movement of his ship with GOODNESS, pre-
cision and relentless audacity that lind no
parallel since the days of Decatur and Balm
bridge, those days of splendid gallantry and
magnificent courage calmly smoking ms,
cigar through the whole eventfuI conflict and
displaying perfect Inference to dangers
worthy of one of Farragut's salamander,
kept his guns at work on our retiring foe, so
long as they could be brought to bear till
the Sassacus was carried by her disabled
engine, slowly, gracefully and defiantly out
of range Thus ended the single-handed en-
counter between the Sassacus, a delicate
river steamers nd one Of the most fornlida-
bic iron cIads that the enemy have as yet
put afioat.. The result of this novel and
most unequal engagement are most crafty
ing. The gunboat Bornhshell, with four
!, rifIed guns and a large supply of ammunition
was captured with.all her officers and crew,
and the Albernarle, which.was on her way te