Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1865-01-12
Failure Of the Wilmington Expedition.

fallure OF the wilmington Expedition
According to advices from of
Charleston, the Wilmington expedition
has ended, and our fleet of iron-clads
have reached Charleston harbor to co
operate with Sherman in an attack or
that city. Benson j. Losing, just re
turned from Wilmington, has made O
full statement of that unfortunate at
tack to the President. The general
bearing of his statement is entirely in
favor of General Butler, in the contro
versy which has been instituted be-
tween him and Rear Admiral Porter
He maintains the primary cause of the
failure to have been the delay in the
sailing of the expedition which, as he
claims, wasted four days of fine wealth
er. Next, he places an unwillingness
on the part of Rear Admiral Porter to
cooperate with Butler. The powder
boat was not only exploded without
consultation with Butler, but absolute.
ly without his knowledge. Next, &C.
cording to this statement, after the
bombardment Porter sent word to Gen
Butler to go ahead and occupy the
fort that there was not a rebel with
in five miles of it. Weitzeps reconnoi.
sance, however, showed the fort to be
full of men, and in that officers more
emphatic language, he would have
held himself guilty of murder if he
had ordered an attack, for the success
of which there would scarcely have
been chance. Two days before, he
claims that the rebel force in the fort
was SO small that an attack made then,
as it might have been, would have
been entirely successful. The state.
ment that some Of our skirmishers
got inside the works and there captur
ed flag, is incorrect. The flag was
taken in one of the outer works
They were prevented from approach
ing nearer the main fort by the com
bincd fire of the rebel garrison and
our navy. Twenty-four hours before
the attack but one thousand men form
ed the whole garrison of Fort Fisher
and the adjacent earthworks. During
the needless delay Hokes' division ar
rived from Lees army, and these rein
forcements made the garrison equal, i
not outnumber Buffers force.
The powder boat proved magnifi
cent failure as Gen. Grant predicted
it would. He had not particle o.
faith in it, saying that he did not be
lieve that 10000 tons of loose powder
exploded on ship board, would serious
ly damage mud fort several hundred
yards off. The expedition ought to
have sailed two days earlier. Gen
Grant became very impatient at the
delay Of the navy in getting ready
He wanted the feet to get off by the
Sd Of December, and in consequence
of the long delay lost his faith in its
success. Finally it started on the
18th. The time wasted in preparing
the humbug powder boat and the sue.
ceeding inclement weather postponed
the commencement of the attack till
the 25th, when all rebeldom knew OF
the expedition, destination and exact
strength. Fort Fisher and the other
works had ample time to put the fin
ishing to their preparations for defence
But it is only question of time
sooner or later not only Fisher but
Wilmington will be captured. Gen
Sherman is moving Northward with
his invincible Western Warriors
Men who never experienced the sensa.
ton of defeat, and don't intend to.
Gen. Buffers report of the Will
mington expedition had been received
at the War Department. 1t is very
lengthy and tends to exculpate Butler
from the responsibility of tine failure
1t is understood to reflect severely OF
Admiral Porter.
b. S. Osborne, naval reporter o
New York, has been arrested by ordel
of the President, and ordered to b.
tried for furnishing to the public press
and requesting the publication of tn
details Of the Wilmington expedition
thereby causing the enemy to reinforce
their works at Federal Point.
The storm through which Admira
Porter's fleet rode in safety, is said t
have been the most terrible that ha
occurred on the coast in years. Tn
rebels regard it as special act Q
Providence in their favor, as it CAV