The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-08-27

she can make seven knots, which is without
doubt above her capacity. Her draught is
about fourteet feet six inches. Her condition
at present is such that in spite of all the can
nonading she has received, in spite of the ram
ming she has undergone, In spite of her lost
smoke stack and her broken rudder chains,
she can be ehectually turned against Fort
Morgan tomorrow, and with a little repair
ing, which can be given her, as she lies, In a
few days time here, she can be turned towards
Mobile and made, il the new channel permits
her TO get there, a most formidable antagonis;
against those who built her.
Had this craft, with her three wooden con-
sorts, the Selma, the Gaines. and the Morgan,
been content TO have lain quietly under the
I guns OF Fort Morgan until dark, and have
then come out and attacked our feet with the
impetuosity which they displayed as il was,
they might, without shadow OF doubt, have
succeeded in sinking or destroying half of our
ships and gunboats if not all, as the darkness
would have led TO our fleets firing, and run
ming down our own boats, and committing ir-
reparable and fatal injury upon each other
This matter Is so much discussed in the fleet
that again recur to II, to show how great a
danger We have escaped by the fight and cap
ture which we have made. do not wish to
be understood as ssying that the Tennessee
presents no evidences of the struggle in which
she has been engaged, for most assuredly and
unmistakaby she does. Her iron armor all
over shows the deep indeniations where our
balls have struck her. Her iron plates are.
many OF them, bent and warped by the tre
mendous blows which she has received, while
many OF her iron plates have been torn away
and displaced by the action OF the shots She
received.
But for all this the rammng she received
RON the stanch old Hartford, the 0ssipee, the
Lackawarna, and the Monongahela, who sew
orally tried 10 run her down, have caused no
seam to open in her unyielding hull. and She
IS to-day just as sea-worihy as before the
fight, and when some OF her scars shall have
been healed she will do just as effective SER
vice for US Ia repelling foreign foes as she did
against US IN the hands of domestic ones.-
With few Yankee improvements in non.es-
sentials, she will | trust live long to the Glory
OF the heroic old Commodore who captured
her.
would suggest that when we get tbronob
with her here she be brought, at a suitable
time, to New York, where she would. in GER
tain possible contingencies, be invaluable.
l shall now proceed to sum up the result of
our late achievement IN this quarter.
FUSt-The heroic old Admiral has taken
his wooden ships, manned with iron hearts.
his monitors and gunboats safely past the fiery I
ordeal OF forts Morgan and Gaines. through a /
channel sown with more than three hundred .
torpedoes, and with the loss Of one of our !
monitors only, out of eighteen vessels. has
ant hored them inside OF the bay beyond the
range of the guns Of the fort.
Scc0n1-He has met and vanqushed tha
formidable tennessee above described, cap
tured the wooden gunboat Selma, with her
entire crew, also, he has disabled the gun
boat Gaines, and caused her to run under the
walls OF fort Morgan, where she was burned
nlsrs q ~
driven the Morgan, their last remaining gun.
boat, IN fear aud trembling TO the northward.
toward Mobile or beyond there, wherever
she can tnd a resting place for the sole of her
foot.
Third-We have been enabled to throw
land force nuder the brave Col Grier of the
ttth Illinois, across into the peninsula TO the
rear OF fort Morgan, which completely iso-
lates That fortress, and gives the first turn of
the tourniquet which will soon loosen the
rebel grasp upon the last stronghold of this
harbor, and which land force will prove a
strong auxiliary to the reduction OF fort Nor
gan.
foafh-We have uBbolted and funp vide
open The gates to Mobile and The Stote ~
Alabama, and sent a sickening thrill OF dis
may and despohdeney to the uttermost ends
OF the ooniederacy, which will rack the
rheumatic bones OF that diseased and con-
sumptive patient worse than they have been
rscked since the fall OF Nieksburg.
fuut-We have wounded and captured the
rebel Admiral
oar loss by the operations thus far are ca
silly told and quickly repaired OF the fleet
we lose the single turreted monitor Tecum-
sen with IlO OF her crew, who went down 10
grave more glorious than any who read this
recital may ever I'LL She was probably sunk
by torpedo and went down in a twinkling
when struck.
The loss OF life 10 our fleet apart from this
casualty was 240 killed and wounded. OF {
our land forces, one killed and none wound !
ed.
Finally, we have the certainty of an early (
capture of Fort Morgan If its Immediate
capture is deemed worth the trouble of a /
vigorous assault, or we can by patience and I
small force judciously disposed soon s,arge /
its garrison into capitulation
Moieoyer, Mobile lies PROSTATE at our feet
whenever we may reach forth and gather il
up, and with her the last southern city falls
rom the palsied grasp Of the Confederacy in
this part OF the South. How long, at this
rate shall the hiekering light burn on in the
socket where the oil is SO nearly spent and
wasted
The seige guns OF our land forces will be
in position in day or two more. at latest.
whcn they and the fleet win without doubt
pc able to shell out in a few hours the garri-
son OF fort Morgan. Notwithstanding the au-
swer OF Gen. Paige to our demand for sur
render on the 9th, that he had provisions and /
ammunition for six months and should de-
fend the fort while they lasted.
This is bombast, of course, and worth
what il may be proven to amount to by the
course of future events. Thank God, the
world is yet advancing, and the first streak
ings OF the dawn glimmer through the dark
ness.