The National tribune., 1882-01-14


leave the lighter ones behind. All being in read
mess, and finding the enemy had not discovered
us, at four p m. Colonel Brown proceeded to May
cocks Farm opposite WestOver with twelve guns
Colonel Coleman followed to Coggins's Point with
eight 12-pounder howitzers, Major Nelson with
eight guns to position ON his left higher up the
bank of the river, Colonel Cults with eleven long
range guns still above Major Nelson, and Cap
tains Dabney and Millidge were each, with two
siege guns, to take position fourth of mile be-
low the dwelling of Mr.. Ruffin, making forty
three guns in all AS night approached thous-
ands OF lights from the shipping and their tents
discovered the objects for attack
The guns were silently conducted over the diff
fcult ground and winding roads, and before
twelve all the guns were in position, Except two
siege guns under charge of Captain Milledge),
awaiting action. Silence as profound as the dark
ness of the night reigned in the enemy's camp
At signal the thunder of over forty guns startled
them from their midnight SAUNDERS. From the
screams scenes of wild confusion must have fol-
lowed as sailors rushed on the decks of their YES
sells, and soldiers fed from their tents in midnight
darkness, amidst bursting shells falling fast
around them.
"The gun-boats soon returned the fire, and in
fifteen or twenty minutes a rapid fire was opened
from their land batteries, but without any
damage many of the shots passing over the whole
length of the point or peninsula. The red glare
of the fire of so many guns and exploding shells
on such a night is seldom witnessed. Gradually
the firing on our part ceased, and the guns were
withdrawn, under heavy fire. The rain, the
difficulty of seeing the roads at all, and the
posed portion of the peninsula, induced us to
leave the caissons behind with the baggage
wagons and thus the number of rounds to be
fired was limited. Over thousand shots were
fired on our part. What damage we inflicted on
their vessels and their camps probably will never
be made known but, considering that many of
the guns were within from a thousand yards to
a mile Of the transports, and that behind them
was one vast encampment, it could not have
! been otherwise than destructive.
"Our loss from the enemy was one man killed
! and two wounded"
| General W. n PendletOn in immediate COM
mand of the artillery, (forty-One guns-Parrotts,
NapoleOns, 12-pounder hewitzers and three-inch
| rifed ordnance in his report to General French
says: "At midnight the sgnal-gun was to fire.
1t was, however, half-past twelve before all was
ready at Coggin's Point, where my own position
| had been chosen. Then, just after the cry from
the enemys sentries "AlPs well! " the fire was
ordered, and the whole line instantly pealed forth
! in all the terriblenesS of midnight surprise
| Lights were glimmering on ship-bOard along the
entire shore opposite; yet in the river and the
camp beyond the stiffness of sleep prevailed.
! "To be compelled, resisting outrage, to meet our
fellow men in deadly shock, cannot but be, under
| any circumstances, painful to Christian mind
| Especially is the trial glorious when we must be
| slain by, or Stay, those who were so lately our
countrymen, but who, having trampied upon our
rights, now ask to desolate our homes, appropriate
our soil, kill off our young men, degrade our
women, and subdue US into abject submission to
their WILL because we claim, under our own gov
| eminent, exemption from their insults and their
control and still more distressing to find it
requisite towards contributing to avert the
ruin threatened by malignant millions, thus
to send the sleeping however unprepared,
to their great account. But painful as it is lust
as it is, to snatch life from assassin whose arm
| is uplifted against our best beloved most sacred
| is the duty; as such was this attack made, the
issue being committed to unerring wisdom.
Such considerations impaired a mOurnful
| solemnity to the scene when so many sudden
| flashes through thick darkness, and multiplied
reverberations, startling profound Stiffness con-
stituted elements of grandeur rarely combined.
Not to give the enemy time to bring to bear against
US in so exposed position many of his powerful
| guns from his boats or his land batteries / had
limited the nearest pieces to twenty rounds each,
and those more remote ON Che right and left to
| thirty rounds. These were generally fred, max
ing, probably, one thousand shots in all, and the
pieces imbered up and quietly taken to the rear"
Note-The foregoing reports put the Union
loss as estimated from information gathered from
various sources, at thirty forty men, and fifty
horses killed, and some twenty transports injured
The truth is, there were only some ten or dozen
men killed and fifteen or twenty wounded, and
the loss in horses insignificant. With two or
three exceptions of the vessels were seriously
injured, and those struck were simply schooners
or barges loaded with stores.
The eloquence of Pendleton's sermonizing re-
port was, therefore, wasted altogether except so
far as it helped brace up the reasonable hearts
of his rebel followers and helpers
STRANGE STORY OF AN ADMIRAL.
A curious anecdote is told concerning Admiral
Bythesea V. c., c. B., who has just retired from