The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-01-20
THE FIRST TEST OF THE IRON
 CLAOS
M. o..d. Detroit Free Pres.. !

.Admifal Du Font cf her did not oesleve in the monitors. or he had too much faith. Ii has been repeatedly charged that he was in hun when they were sen, down to him in the winter of iS6.-,. and that he pi,ted them against Fort McAllis- ter with secret hope tha, they would be sent to the bottom.
 IL Is more reasonable 10 believe that this test was made with a slcw 10 finding out what they would De able io accom- pIish when brought to face the sea-wali of Fort Sumter. IL was a test which proved them through and through; and while the results temporarily disappointed the friends of the new style of fighting craft. they had strong grounds for future hopes.
 Fon MeAllister was the gate which guarded Savannah. l. was built on desolate site on the river within two or three miles of OssabAw Sound. the eoun- try being swampy and thes river lined for part of the way with thick growth of forest. The long years have settled the sandy parapets and wrought destruction 10 blanks and timbers. but the fort still stands and the visitor will md much 10 surprise him. l believe that one might to-day dig out and pick up from the site three or four tons of shot and shell. and this would not be the tiftieth part ot the metal hurled at 1t during the war.
 Fort Wagner. at Charleston, was built of sand because no other material ~aS convenient. Fort McAllis,cr was de- signed as a sand fort. and httle else was psed in it's construction. Its walls of sand were in some places thirty feet thick, and it's bomb-proofs were unusually safe; but at the time of the federal attack m March, iS6s. its armament included none Of the new and powerful cannon used on fed eral gunboats Long before any attack was looked for the engineer of the fort was told that one monitor would knock the fnst 10 pieces m one hour ; work. but he merely heaped on more Sand. m thickness of cmbrasures no other confed crate fort cyer matched II, and though Sherman finally captured the works, il was after the confederaey had been cut m two. confederate armies scattered. and every soldier knew that the end was a, hand.
 Du Pont had learned that he could not pass the fort on account of obstrueuons in the river. and he determined To batter down the fort itself. The fleet assembled consisted ot the passaic. Patapseo, Mon tauk, Nahant and..three mortar-schooners. Each iron-clad carried two guns of the heaviest ealibre. and the sehooners were armed with thireen-inch mortars.
 On the confederate side the only prep .aration made after 1t was seen that an attack was to be made consisted of a slight increase of the garrison and some addition So the stock of ammunition. sa- vannah was thoroughly excited. but such was the confidence in the fort that no alarm was felt.
 The attack was made on the first Tues day in March. The morning was bright and balmy, and both fleet and fort were in hghting condition. The lron-clads were 10 steam straight up the nver and make a direct attack, but the mortar schooners were lowed no further than the bend in the stream. about mile below the fort. Here they were not only out of range, but out of zig h, of the enemy. and in position to drop their -mensieT-saei.. fair within the works.
 There was almost perfect silence on the Ogeeche as the iron-clads moved out from their anchorage and steamed slowly np the river. They were still advancing when the mortar-schooners opened re with a roar that shs.,k the earth taG miles around. The grand attack so long con templated and so carefully prepared for had begun.
 Previous attacks on McAlils,er had shown the coniedcrates that all future great movements towards reducing II would be made by way of the r,er. The stream had. therefore, been obstructed oy ioXs and piles until IL was impossible Tor vessel to advance nearer than ,oo yards. while the channel up which the iron-clads now advanced wa. so narrow that they had to move up in single tile.
 The pass,ac was m the lead. and as she came within range oi the fort a hot fire was opened on her The xcry tfst shot fired by the confcderates struck the ,irret of the Passalc with ihud tha, made the whole craft ,remble. The first shot fired by the i.,,ate- fell short snd exploded n the marsh and ;hrew up a shower ot mud and water which would have hidden q IT 1In:a.n from iA,ht for Il moment.
 The ron-olads nox took position and opened ire. and all the guns Tn the fort which could be brought to bear returned the compliment To this crash and roar was added the awful noise ofthe mortar Savannah. more than fifteen miles away kept up continuous tremble. Two wa ,er-glasses placed side by side wosld make a ringing tha, could be heard all over the house Doors opened or shut, dishes were jared off the shelves, and people standing on the cobble-s,one pavernents were jared in every nerve
 For upward of three hours the Ugh, continued at white heat, every gun being steadily worked, and almost every shot seeming to tell. The fort was a target too big to be missed when the range was once obtained, but there was a serious offset As the ports of an iron-clad are it's vital spots, so are the embrasures of a for-especially sand fort. The guns in For McAllister were 90 mounted that they were only in sight when being fired, the same as the guns on the vessels, and kkA Id sl,,r sl