American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-01-04
Wilmington.

-Sez--aN--~S--
Wilmington.
1t is unpleasantly plain that the great
Wilmington expedition has ended in.
wrangle Gen. Butler and Admiral Por-
ter did not find Themselves able to agree
on the conduct Of the enterprise which
depended for its success on their cordial
cooperation, The dispatch of Admiral
Porter, which is confused on many other
points, is clear in this: that the land and
naval forces could not be efectually com
bned Thus far we have only his side
of the story. The letter from Gen. ut
Ter referred to in the dispatch has not yet
come to hand If received in season to
appear in our news columns this morn
ing il will probably illuminate what is
now obscure to Va, and the reader will be
able to make his own comments At
present we express no opinion, except
upon such facts as'seem to be established
by the statements and admissions Of Ad-
miral Porter.
1t is remarkable that Admiral Porter
began his attack on Fort Fisher without
waiting for the arrival of the troops.
The fort has been repeatedly declared on
the highest authority impregnable by
naval force alone 1t would seem that
Admiral Porter did not share the opin-
ion of hls official superior There ap-
peared to him to be an opportunity not to
he lost; as he himself expressed it, the
weather was too fine to be wasted. Ac-
corlingly the attack began at2 o'clock
on Saturday morning by the explosion Of
the torpedo-boat Louisiana, within five
hundred yards of Fort Fisher We had
understood that this torpedo was intended
especially to destroy the moraie of the
garrison, and that Immediately upon their
confusion and assault should follow by
the troops. We do not know how other
wise it was expected to take advantage of
the explosion. But Admiral Porter chose
to try the experiment when no troops
had been landed or were even near the
coast. Unless, therefore, he hoped that
the walls of the fort should be actually
blown down and the men within it de-
stroyed by the torpedo, it is difficult to
understand why the attempt was made
at all; and even if these consequences
had followed, it is equally difficult to see
how they could have been taken advan-
tage Of IF no land force on our side
was at hand to occupy and hold the de-
moished fort, the enemy Of course could
renew possession Of the ruins at his leas-
ure, and could cover them by the ada
cent batteries
But the explosion of the torpedo pro-
duced no visible effect Admiral Porter
says the shock was slight, and it appears
from his report that Fort Fisher, which
remained unmolested from two till half
past eleven, was subsequently able to con-
tinuc an engagement of five hours dura-
ton with his powerful feet At the end
of that time-about five o'clock on Sat
urday atternoon-the guns of the fort
were silenced, and the fleet withdrew.
On the following day-Sunday, the
25th-Gen. Buffers troops arrived I'm
der coyer of the fire of the fleet, they,
or portion of them, we're landed be-
tween II and O'Clock on Sunday after
noon. Admiral Porter puts the number
on shore 5000. The account which fol-
lows is unintelligible. From one SEN
tence it appears that their decentralization
began Immediately, and yithout a de-
monstration against the fort From an
other, it appears that Major General
Weitzel and party of skirmishers re-
connoitered the FORT. that few of the
soldiers actually entered the work; that
one officer brought away the flag which
had been shot from its staff; that a sold
ier fired a shot into the bomb proof where
the garrison were concealed, wounding
eight or ten Rebels; that Rebel orderly
arriving at the fort with dispatches was
killed aud his dispatches captured; and
that while all this was going on the feet
was still shelling the fort, and succeeded
in woundinga number of our own men.
But it is nowhere indicated that anything
like an assault took place. On the con
trary, Gen. Weitzel reported an assault
impracticable-an opinion in which Ad-
miral Porter, though properly protesting
to under-value his judgmens in compari-
son with that of an able and experienced
officer who had examined the ground in
person, does not concur But notwith-
standing Gen. WeitzePs rep rt, Admiral
Porter proceeds to remark: "We drew
off at sunset, leaving the iron-clads to fire
through the night, expecting the troops
would attack in the morning" The rea-
son why they did not so attack are set
forth in the letter of General Butler,
which at this writing we have not yet
received.
Our readers, if they have been able to
follow us thus far, will probably agree that
the whole business on which we have
hesitatingly commented is in great need
of elucidation. For our part we have
only to suggest again that there are two
sides to the story, and that but one has