Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1865-02-08
CLEARFIELD, PA, WEDNESDAY. FRps o ,oc.

10o S"u Juoge Tor yourself how ia,
Ven buffers statement is true.
zen Butler states the. Admiral Porte,
was quite ssngaine that he had siIence'
tne shGs OF Fort Fisher, he vas then pro
Gu, II thas were so, 10 run by the batterie.
INTO cape Fear river, and then troon.
could land and hold the beach without
aimculty. or without liability Of heinz
sheiiea by the enemy's gunboat Tallabas
see, seen on the river" This is DELHI
, craze misstatement. Gen. Butler does
not say who urged me but never s,,s
him, or his staff, after the landing on M The
peach. nor 1@ ever have envs conyersa.
tion WIN him, or see him, (excep, on the
deck of his vessel as | passed bv in ,bo
hag-ship), from the time [ left Fortress
M9nroe anti he left here after his failure.
lie showed himself by that remark lust
as Ignorant about photography as the reb-
el General Whiting did when he built his
tort where he supposed large ships could
not &c. near enough to attack it. Meth
er myself or any one of the squadron had
lhe iaintest idea where the channel wos
or what depth of water there was in il
we knew there vas an outer and inside
bar, between which was included the beav-
/ lest tort'iications III this country, on which
bars the blockade runners constantly
grounded, and had to wait for high water
TO get off After we had no guns to anov
US, and had the channel sounded out
and carefully buoyed, nearly all the gun
boats of light draught got badly aground,
and remained there for whole tide. We
were forty-eight hours getting gunboats
OF light batteries over the frs t bar. and
they had to anchor under the guns of the
heaviest forts. They would have Jared
badly had the rebels manned them.
Three days were consumed in getting
the gunboats over the Rips" and one Of
them is stuck there still. The "Rips"
are commanded by about twenty 10 inch
guns and l00-pounders, and not aun-
boat would have been left had they al
tempted to run the batteries 1t might
have been sport to General Butler but it
would have boen death to the gunboats.
| never had The slightest intention of pass
ing the batteries until the fort was taken
The department. saw my plan, and the
utter impossbilily of doing So
Would certainly not have been inhu-
enced by General Butler's" opinions in
nautlcle matters, or risked my vessels 10
amuse him. .....
All the next paragraph in General But
ler's report, in relation to what the "Ad.
miral" said, and what the Admiral" de-
cli3ad IN dn il false from bepinning TO
end. ~
kind with any one-indeed the whole
report is tissue of Misrepresentation
including the part that says tho instruct
ions ke received did not contemplate
"siege, &c" when he knows he never re-
ceived any instruction, and joined the
expedition without orders.
General Butler speaks of pushing up
his men to within few hundred yards of
Fort Fisher aud capturing lIalfmoon
battery and its men. The General"
certainly must have had something in his |
eye, and did not see well. Halr-moon |
battery is four miles from Fort Fisher,
had one gun in il, which was silenced af-
ter few shots from the gunboats, and no
one ever entered it, 1t was a small sand
hill, that twenty men could have taken, |
Flag Pond battery was large work, |
thrown up by tie rebels, in which was one
eight inch gun that had burst some time |
ago. The gunboats shelied it, and, on |
the landing of The fret boat-load OF troops, |
tho seameE went up and foand some boys
and old men in it North Carolina Junior |
Reserves and carried them of to the
Santiago de Cuba. The prisoners were
quite willing TO 90. The troops after
Fort Fisher, and captured them.
General Butler speaks OF having run in |
the Chamberlain 10 within few hundred |
yards of the fort. If he ran that close and |
was not fired at, he must have supposed |
the fort silenced; but he never was within |
one mile and half Of the fort nor did he |
ever lard himself.
What General Butler says about the
difficulties of assaulting, owing to pail
sades. bitches, and other bugbears, has
been reluted by the successful assault,
made by General Terry on the land side,
and the sea face of the fort, when thirty
gallant officers and seamen reached the
top of the parapet and planted the flag.
Soldiers, who were accustomed 10 the
work, would have succeeded there easier
than where General Terry assaulted, as
the ascent (where the sailors went in) was
easier. The same troops that General
Butler had did the work finally, and
took the most difficult side of the
works.
General Butler admits that the 6re of
the navy did keep the enemy in his
bomb proofs but he feared it would keep
his (Botler'sl men out when they attempt
ed to assault General Terry was inhu-
cneed by no such fear; on the contrary,
we fred twenty yards ahead Of our troops,
while they we've fighting from bomb-proof
TO bomb-proof, and the General constant
ly signalled, Fire away your shells are
doing good execution, and our men are
in no danger from them"
In the meantime General Butler says
'the weather assumed threatening as
pect. and the surf came rolling in on
the beach, and the landing became diff ,
cult"
| assert that the landing on that day !
smoother than when General Terry
landed. | arranged with general Buffers
chief staff, General Weitzel, to lano the
troops early in the morning. gave
.,n .,oeeoIe ayarvthinp in fact that