Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-07-12
CHERBouRG, June 20, 1864.

| -L.H CHERB0URG, June 70, 1904.
This morning paid a visit to the Marine
Hospital, to which the wounded men Of the
Kearsarge and Alabama were taken imme-
diately on the return OF the former from the
scene of action. Twelve of those from the
Alabama and three from the Kearsarge are
| living, with wounds of greater or less grav-
Iity, in the same ward. first passed to the
bedsides of the men of the Kearsarge. The
| first one saw was William Gowan, ma
tive of the city of New York, where he has
a mother and two sisters. Gowan has
Lcompound fracture of the left leg, it being
broken both above and below the knee. 1t
NAV be necessary to amputate it, although
| the surgeon, who is bestOwing the greatest
care and attention upon all these wounded
men, is of the opinion now that 1t will not
| be necessary. I'D ."'..t fft
John w. Dempsey, quarter gunner in the
| Kearsarge, now in the hospital, had his
right arm blown off, so that it was necessa-
| nv that it should be Immediately amputated
near the shoulder. The samputation was
skilfilly performed by Surgeon Brown of
the Kearsarge, and Dempsey isnow doing
well. He is a native of Boston, and told
me that this was his twenty-eighth BIRTH
day. ',+i.T ....la ilg
THE MEN OF THE ALABAMA 1890 81
| in the hospital appear to be none of them
very seriously wounded. There are two or
three fractures of the legs and arms. One
man had an eve put out and his face all
blackened and bruised by shell which just
grazed him. Several of them are wounded
with splinters. One man has terrible cut
on the face, which he says was caused by
his being struck with the arm of man who
was killed alongside of him, and blown all
to pieces. The arm, after being detached
from the rest Of the body, flew against his
face. W. ~. -l'-r
e. found but two American born among
the twelve wounded men of the Alabama;
one of these, whose leg was cut off by a
shell below the knee, gave me his name and
birthplace with great reluctance. His name
is Robert WRIGHT q natirn Of RnEsca..tf b1s-
tiers living. He is a very intelligent man,
and gave me considerable information. He,
and most of the men with whom | con-
versed, attribute the destruction of the AL
ALBANIA to the immense force Of the two
cleven-inch Dahlgren guns in the Kear-
sarge. Wright said: :-One of these eleven
inch balls went into our coal bunkers, an
other cut off our rudder, so thaCduring the
latter part Of the action we steered with
tackles. think six or seven were killed
on board. The third shot killed two men.
= THE SCENE ON THE ALABAMA.
was an awful one-blood actually running,
and pieces of flesh and bone lying all around
the deck. One man was killed by piece
of shell going into his temple and taking
away his left eye and part of the SKULL SO
his brains ran out. M. ..i to-r- fa~II
Leaving the hospital, secured The servi-
ces of an intelligent and handsome young |
Englishman, who shipped in the Alabama |
at Singapore about six months since, and |
from him received the following
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGHT FROM THE ALA
~ BAMA POINT OF VIEW. i55I
took down his statement verbatim, and
1t is as follows: G ~. f9
We came to Cherbourg from Cape Town
to be paid off and for the purpose of maxi
ing repairs The greater part OF our copper
was off the bottom. Our boilers were in a
very leaky state. Our pay as able seamen
was four pounds ten a month, and we were
paid off yesterday. We had received per
mission to 60 into the dock to repair, when
we heard the Kearsarge was outside. We
came in here ship rugged, and so disguised
totake her by surprise. We fully
expected having fight with her. AS soon
Is we saw her outside Captain Semmes or
lered the after yards to be sent down and
The vessel turned into her usual rig as
bark. This was Immediately done. He 1
Ient ashore at the same time for permission
% coal, and intended to go outside and com
nence the fight without delay. We COM
nenced eoaling Immediately, and were oc-
,upied three or four days in this. We fin
shed coaling on Saturday afternoon, the
18th. Captain Semmes then prepared to go
,ut the next day. We went to general
quarters twice while in port, as a general
lTill, and the ship was put in fighting order. |
A mir fha .f,os sr,f 1
lay we weighed anchor and stood outside.
After getting clear of the breakwater we
last loose our starboard battery and ran outsl
he guns loaded for action. The order was
hen given for all hands to lay aft. Hg fNt,
Capt. Semmes handed the clerk written I,
paper which was read us. The substance
If it was that we were going into action;
hat we were to fight in the English chan
lel, the seat Of so many important naval
andarecalledi the acts we had
llready performed; said the eyes of all Eu-
.ope were upon us, and thathe expected ev-
ny man to do his duty. The men wereen-
men had no, idea but that they would gain
he victory, and an easy one. The crew
'ully expected from the beginning that they \
would be led by Capt. Semmes close along !
,ide the Kearsarge, SO as to commence the
action at losequarters and finish by board
ing her. wasexpected that Semmes would
ead the boarders in person; for though
we had as finea crew as any ship adoat, vet
we had not single competent gunner on
board, excepting the captain OF the forward
pivot, a hundred pound rifle gun. He was
an OLD Engiish man-of-war man, trained In II
tile British navy, The captains Of the 9TH
er ginswere not competent gunners, though
brave men, We came in sight OF the Kear-
sarge and, she steamed towards us, We L
closed as rapidly as possible. The men 4
were all lying down at their guns, smoking |.
and resting, the order having been passed |
to make ourselves as comfortable as posi-
BILE and reserve our strength till the com.
mencementof Of the action. When the Keaf-
sarge was within about one thousand five
9 5e q " We " L epensS hrs eac sca