Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1865-01-12
LATER Fnom THE UNITED STATES.

the detention of the Transports by the storm the expo
sion of boat laden With two hundred and fifteen tons
of powder within five hundred yards OF Fort Fisher for
the purpose of blowing down that coucern, but which
only blow ed out If the lights and broke some Of
the glasses of he feet the attack by the et done 10
splendid style, its hook, Butler not having yet
come up the next days enmbined attack by the feet
and Buffers troops, 10 which the latter under Wezel,
after 'nd'Eg and capturing Ole Or two outposts and
two hundred prisoners, of Fort Fisher came to
conclusion that Confederate grape Sand canister
too much for them, aud fl d again to the feet the
cospcuous daring " OF two or three .1e2 waiie the
LAID attack Was going 10 peneuang 10 the rebel
parapets, woundlng eight rebels with solitary musket
shot killing orderly inside of sally port, and cap
turing dispatches from General Whiting asking light
battery to be sent him. and the regret of Admiral Por
ter at The failure of Wei'zl who declared Fort Fisher
impregnahe to assault om personal inspection within
six hundred yards Of tie fort, &C.. a.
Richmond Enquirer.
the Tribune gvts the folio wing review of the aft lr:
l, is unpeasant!y plain that the great W Whining tou
exp, dltiou has enjed ii wiaIge. Gen. Batter aid
dn,iral Porer dij not iod tnenselve able agree
on the conduct OF the enterprise, which depended for
its success teir cordial opera ion The dispatch
OF Admiral Porter, which is confused may other
points, is clear il tha that the laid aud nava forces
could not be htctuaiy combined,
1t is rsmarka bic that Admiral Porter began bis at
tack Fort Fisher without waiting Tor the arrival OF
the troops. Tle fort has bean repeatedly declared on
hghes au hority inpre gable by naval force alone
| IL would that Admiral Porter did not share the
to be cppor'unity not to be lost as be hims If ex-
pressed it, the Weather too f to be wasted Ac
cordiIg!y the attack hogan at O'Clock en- Saturday
morning by the explosion o! the torpedo DO, Louisi
ana within tive hundred cards of For Fisher We bad
understood that this torpedo Intended especially
destroy the ale of the garrison, and that Immediate
| ~ upon tre confusion assault should follow by the
troOpa We do not know how other wise it was expect
ed to take advantage OF the Xpl sion. But Admiral
Porter chose TO Try the experiment when trocps had
been landed the coast. Unless, there
fore be h0pd that the walls of the fort should actu
| ally blown down and tAe men within it destroyed by
the torpedo it is difficult unu and why the attempt
Was made at all and even if these qaences had
Toll owed, it is equally difficult to see how they could
have be taken advantage Of Ii no land fo1cs on our
side a. hand to occupy and hold The demolished
tort the entmy of could renew possession OF the
ruins at his leisure, and could them By the ada
cent batteries
But the explt sion oil the torpedo produ"ed visible
effect. Adm raj Porter says the shock slight and
appears from his report that Fort Fisher which
manned unmoles HON two till half past tleven,
subsequently, able to continue an engagement of five
hours duration with his powerful fset At the. end of
that time-abous o'ciock on Saturday Afternoon
the guns f the fort silence1 and the fleet with
drew
| On the following day-SunGay, the 25th-Gen. But
Iers troops arrived. Under OF the fire of the
feet, they, portion Of them, were Landed between
II aud O'Clock Oh Sand y afternoon. Admiral Por-
ter puts the number Oh s:lore 8 O0O The account
which follows is unr' eligible. From one sentence 1t
appears that their re embarkation began immediately,
and without demonstration against e fort. From
another, it appears thet Maj Gen. Weiz6 and party
OF skrmlshes reconnoteTed the fort that lev OF the
soldiers actually entered the work that one officer
brought way the fig which had been shot from It's
staff that soldier fced shot into the bomb proof
where the garrison concealed, wounding eight or
ten concealed rebels that rebel orderly arriving at
the fort with dispatches killed and his dispatches
captured and that while all this going on the
feet still Smelling the FORT and succeeded in wlurd
irg number of our own men. But it is nowhere ndi'
Gated shat any hing like assault took place. Ga the
contrary, Gen. Wezel reported assault impractical
ble-an opinion in which Admiral Porter though pro-
pery protesting to under value his judgment in CON-
par5on with that Of an abls and experienced officer wko
had examned the ground in person, does not
But notwithstanding General Wei'zels report, Admi-
raj Porter procee ds remark We drew of at sum
set, leaving the ironclad to fire through the night
pecting the troops would attack in the morning. The
why they did not attack set for in the
letter of Gen. Butler.
Our readers if they have kecn able to follow US thus
far, will probably agree that the whole business
which we have hesstingy commented, is in great need
OF eucdation. For our part we have only to suggest
again that there two sides to the story and that but
has yet been heard. We depore the failure which
has occurred, and still more ~keeny do regret that
any feelings of hostility should exist either between the
two branches OF the military service Of the United
States between the aders OF tie forces which were
meant to CO operate against Wilmington. We care
not to take sides in euch controversy. We only
that the whole truth should be knowu and that blame
should lie where the merits OF the case it properly
belongs. Meanwhile, Wilmington remains, and is ke-
~ to remain in posso ssicn OF the rebels.
Gen. Buffers letter states in substance that the
strength OF Fort Fisher had not been materially i'm
paired by the fire from the feet, and that its guns still
swept the strip of land by which alone it was
possible for assaulting column to approach. pos
ton OF Gen. Lees forces Rad been sent from Richmond
to strengthen he garrison and Gen. Weitzel, who ad
vanced his skirmsh line within fifty yards of the FORT
pronounced attempt impracticable, except by the
operation OF regular siege, which not c0nempla
led in the orders under which Gen. uler acting
The troops therefore, embarked and returned
to Fortress Monroe
OF the casualties to the q ct Admiral Porter says:
regret to have to report some casualties by
the bursting OF 100 pounder Parrot Ole
burst on board the Tic onderoga, killing six OF the
AID wOundng seven others another burst on board
he Yankee, killing officer and two men another
oa the Janata, killing two officers and wounding and
killing ten Others another the Mackinaw killing
one off GER end Tou1ding FIVE Other men another on
the Q1ak>I City, :d.rg, believe, two three;
anUtLer the Susquehannah killing and woundipg
seven think the bursting of the gins (sX in ally
much Disconnected the of the vessels where the
accident happened and gave and all great dstrust
of the Parrott l00pounder and subsequent events
proved they were uptt for service and calculated to
kill more of our than those of the enemy Some
of the vessels struck once or twice. The Mack-
nav had her boiler perforated with she'll, and ten or
twelve persons were badly scalded. The OsceoIa
struck with shell the magazine, and at one
time in sinking condition, but her efficient command
the battle, Notwithstanding the damage she received
The Yantic was the only vessel which left the line to
report damages.
NORTHERN NEWS.
THE EXPEDITION AGAINST WILMINGTON.
A despatch from Washington says