The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-11-16
A BRILLIANT BATTLE.
Vivid Description of an Action Between q
Confederate Ram and Several Gupboats.

IN tne Pnllauelphla I1meS; On
brilliant day in August, 1864, the AL
bemarle, commanded by Lieutenant
Cook, and accompanied by small
tender carrying extra supplies Of am
munition and provisions, made her ap-
pearance and started on her cruise
through the sounds. The mosquito
leet fled like sheep before her and were
soon out of sight beyond Sandy Point,
which stretched its long tongue far
out from our shore a couple of miles
below. Their precipitate fight was
only prudent, for their wooden sides
could not have stood moment
before the ram. That strange
craft, novel sight = to those
waters, moved leisurely and silently on,
conscious Of her superiority and re-
serving her force for greater foe, and |
one which her gallant commander lit
tie dreamed was SO near. She looked |
like the four-sided roof of house sub
merged to the caves, while dark line |
at each end, just above the water, in
dicated her deck fore and aft, her form |
idable iron prov or horn being, of |
course, wholly under water. The Con-
federate flag floated from short staff |
on the forward end of her roof, and |
amidships was her smoke-stack. Be-
sides these there were no other project
ing objects about her. She carried two
very heavy guns, one on each side, and
q picked crew of tried men but her
ports were closed men and guns were
concealed within her mailed walls, and
there was no indication of life about
her, except her steady, stealthy motion,
and an infrequent cloud of murky
smoke from her chimney, as fresh fuel
was thrown into her furnaces. Such
mysterious, almost solemn, object
had never been beheld on the fair Al
bemarle sound.
She had just passed my house, and
was hidden from view by intervening
trees, when my ear was startled by the
booming of heavy gun. fastening
to the shore q hundred yards distant,
could easily take in the scene. The
ram had fired Il shot, as the cloud Of
smoke in her vicinity showed, of de-
fance to an approaching enemy, and
had taken her position for a fight
Several steamers of unusual size and
rig were moving rapidly up the sound,
and were just rounding Sandy Point.
Hurrying back to the house, notified
my household, already excited by the
first appearance of the ram, and all,
white and black, including several
guests, ran to the fishery, about 300
yards down the shore, and gathered
upon shady knoll commanding fine
view of the scene at distance of
about two miles.
BY this time the strange vessels
were in full view, moving swiftly
upon the ram, which lay sullen and
motionless, surprised but not intimi-
dated, while her tender, few hundred
yards in advance, unarmed and help
less, awaited certain capture or de-
structiOn. One, two, three, in single
file came on the attacking ships, under
full steam, with sails close furled and
decks cleared for action. They were
large, sea-going gunboats of light
draft, of the class known as "double-
enders," and carrying each about ten
guns, of which the bow and stern
chasers were 1OO-pounders. They
were of a size far beyond any vessels
ever seen in our waters before, and as
they lOomed up the ram seemed but Il
speck in comparison. Any one Of the
three appeared large enough to take
her aboard and stow her between
| decks. When within about q mile of
| the ram the foremost ship fired shot
| at her, but it was aimed too high, and
we saw it richochet far beyond her.
She, however, reserved her fire till they
| were close upon her, when the fight
began in earnest. Meanwhile the mos
quito fleet, which had evidently
| warned the larger vessels Of the pres
| ence of the ram and thus haStencd the
| attack, had now cautiously moved up,
and lay in the ofllng to watch the con-
dict.
The attacking vessels strictly main
| tained their first order. Each in her
turn advanced bow on toward the ram,
fred as she approached her, gave her a
| broadside as she passed to the lar.
| board, rounded her stern with another
shot, then delivered another broadside
as she repassed to the starboard. This
| terrific waltz continued for some time.
to the music of tremendous rever-
berations, which walked the echoes
along shore and far inland, amid the
depths of silent woods and somber
Swamps. Our party gaZed with
strained vision and bated breath-the
negroes groaning and shrieking and
almost fearing that the end of the
world had come. But the ram-What
had become of her? For more than
once we lost sight Of her. When the
huge hulks of her adyersarieS circling
| about her did not conceal her from
view she was enyeloped in thick clouds
of smoke, which clung to her like a
shrOud. Once and again we thought
she was sunk, but the steady, gentle
beeeze would sweep aside the smoke,
and we had glimpses Of the intrepid
Albemarle still afioat and bravely re-
turning the murderous fire of her foes.
Repeatedly one or other endeayored to
run her down and sink her by sheer
force and weight, keeping up at the
same time their furious cannonade.
She was like a tiny beetle surrounded
by infuriated wasps; unharmed by
their stings, undismayed by their size
and buzzing. But the activity Of the
more easily-handled gun-boats and the
| yoct cIIDariority of Thair oIInc in pi,n,