The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1864-11-11
The Defences Of Wilmington.

y
some two weeks ago caused considerable
aIarm which the sad experience Of the
year 1862 .scrvGd to augment. Appear.
ing in ditfcreut parts Of the town at the
same time, upon warm, saI'ry day,
1T was feared it would spread with .,rca,
rapidIty, and the people were advised to
90 into the country at oucr. bot these
fears were not realized. The weather
tnrued suddenly cold, providentialIy, and
consequently there were ouly sporadic
cases Of ibe disease. The latencss Of the
season reuders it highly imp robabie it will
become epidemic, and the physicians ere
ct opinion it has already had It's day
There have been Ten deaths already re-
port and two eases mentioned this morn-
ing ms IN GrttcV!o morris 1t is supposed
these cases were all contracted during the
warm weather two weeks ago; for black
fro.t9 are fatal to the disease, and We have
already lad two
! notice that the prospect Of an early
attack upon Wilmington is freely discuss
cd by tie papers, but here little abou! it
| is known There is not even iumor t."
disturb The usual quiet of the streets, and
no fears are expressed as to the result Of
the light, should one occur. For some
tune the Northern papers have been loud
/ in their demands for the closure of the
port OF Wilmington, which now appears to
/ them the rendezvous Of dozen pallahas-
sees, about to make u raid upon the ocean,
aud, TO u.e their own words, "a nest Of
rirntcs," ready to swoop down upon Yam
kee commerce. Especially along the
coast, whclc the maritime and fishing in
/ forests are at stake, and'in the seaport CT
/ Ties Of commercial importance, the people
are clamorous for speedy attack aud it
| IS not impossible their importunities may
be the means of bringing an iron-clad fleet
against our forts, under the rcdoubtable
/ Farragut or Porter.
/ Returned officers, it is said, report a
very large fleet gathering in Hampton
I Roads for the avowcd purpose of getting
command of Wilmington harbor; but it
is difficult to conjecture what they hope to
accom-; lish without the aid Of land force
Then the question arises, from whence eau
! this force be obtained? 1t would seem,
by his repeated call for more troops, that
Grant would not be likely to spare any Of
his veterans; Sheridan has all he can at.
tend to in the valley; Sherman seems. TO
be sufficiently amused in North Georgia,
and the Yankee forces in the West quite
INADEQUATE to take care of General Price.
There remain the recruits, il is true; but
they can scarcely DO made effective for
this attack, even if Farragut should have
the temcrity to make the attempt. Cur
reut report, however, points cut this place
as the destination of The iron clad fleet
nov assembling and, until it can be def
ritely determined, VIC must make prepara-
items TO meet it.
! The position of the Cape Fear defences
reuders them strong against IN attack by
sea, owing to their proximity to the clan
mel lhrous b which vessels must pass, to
tutcr the mouth Of the river. 1t is about
thirty miles from the town Of Wilmington
to the sea, the river navigablo for large
steamers, running through II level, marshy
country, well wooded Oh either shore -
Some eight miles below the town is the
first bar, and beyond this the stream is
clear aud deep unit the Grip" is reached
A long, low, narrow island stretches di-
rcc;iy across the mouth Of tie river, lcav-
ing emily Two narrow luiets at either end
OF the waters to join each other These
are here denouliuated Eastern and West
cln bar, or Old and New Inlet. Before
the war The Western bar was alone used
by vessels Of any size, and the United
States Government made an effort to close
the New inlet entirely, in order to force Il
Ger volume OF water through the other,
to render it deeper, and capable OF taking
over the bar vessels Of greater size and
draugLt. Many years was this work On
hand, and many thousands were spent i'll
/ hauling stones to throw into the channel,
not one Vi which has ever been heard Of
since. 1t was futile task. The chan
uel depend, if anything, and the projec,
was abandoned. This inlet is now consCk
cred the better Of the two by blockade
TuHnels, although majority Of steamers
going to Nassau 30 out the Western bar.
Along the whole extent of the North
Carolina coast the bays, inlets aud harbors
are constantly changing, the sands shift
ting from place to place, filing UP all
eu'ralce here and deepening another
there. Above Hatteras swash there is
not an inlet at the pres nj time at I'll navi-
gable, while no longer than twenty years
ago there were three or four. At this
place there is The same change constantly
going cn--thc channel moving about from
place to place, and the rip" filling in
! or deepening with astonishing rapidly
AT the eastern bur tho channel runs with.
IN fifty or sixty yards of the shore aud
close under the guns Of Fort Fisher and
: Fort Lamb, while at the Western bar
Fort Caswell guards it equally well. Be
sides these main d,feuccs arc several mi
nor batteries, strung along the beach, To-
Gated at points that, to an engineers eye,
seemed to bear most upon the track Of
vessels coming into the river. There is,