The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-01-20

ute and then took the other siIe oi the curve and pumped down into the for with Jar plainly heard hal a mlle away. Then followed the explosion. spreading terror ..Hd working destruction all over the works.
 Men Sho have served on both iron clads and mortar >shaoncrs .sssr, th4t the deck ot the latter is the worst place Tn war during aa engagement. The dis charge of the moTtais fairly lifts man oil hts feet. The ears soon gel Aecus- toned to the roar oi cannon, bat the below of a mortar IS not only positively painful to ears, but has been known Ia produce too;h-ache and violent cramps Men on the deck of a mortar-sc hooner W ha do not stand on up-toe and with teeth apart. ~ill be disabled III an hour
 It was the mortar shells which set the wooden quarters within the fort on htc. but such an event had been anticipated and therefore produced no confusion. \ few men were quietly detailed to remove property and the rest continued the hght
 Jus, before noon lieutenant ln the fort had a most singular escape. lie had mornted the parapet to exainine and re-
  when one fell within ten ice, of him. He heard l, descending. bu, dare ne, move. shutting h,s eye, and cienchins his teeth he waited for what seemed to hlIn two minutes. and then heard the ,hud of the missile. The nea, ,hing he knew more than quarter of an hour had passed away. As the shell exploded the officer was lifted iiiteen feet into the aiI, whiried over. and oscr and he came down ,hiIty feet from where he had been standing.
 After the tirsi halt hour of the hght the confcderates directed the tre of SIX can non It the fs.ssAlc, she being ,oo yards nearer than either one of the others and almost upon the spot where the target had been placed for practice firing Be tween , and |. o'clock she WAS sruck twenty tunes. while the others were ht two 1T three tunes each by glaneing balls. While the contcdcraics were doing some me shooting. thcif ordinance Nas ,o iisht that the solid shot scarcely left a dent in the armoT. When II was seen ihe-iron- CladS were receiving no damage. orders were gwen m the toft to tre al longer in- ,eryals and only A, the pcrt-holes ot the vessels.
 About noon the ifon-olads ceased iItlne for two hours to pipe Ia dinner and gise the men d rest. During ,hs interval the subject of land infantry to attack the fort was sharply eahvassed. but finally aban- doncd. Had such 4 movement been cal ned out II Moula haze fcaulicd la a ,c.Il- blc slaughter to the attacking party. as the bonl b-pioofs were full of infantry and .l L.. .t.f. to a> adv ancing foe. One of the last shots fired before piping to dinner struck d colGnibIad in the iort and di-moun,cd and rendered. Il useless.
 During the temporary truce both pidea made ready for another .rapple. Thus iar four iours had been throuu away in tremendous eannonade. for not man had been killed.
 From un,il . o'clock ;herc was
 grand crash. and the news went round that the fort MAS being knoo k~d 70 plee es- This. however turned out ;e be false news. The iron elads had now incd themselves and knew what they could do, and al halt-pa , they renewed the hgh, ~lth such energy tha, the a'tilleris,s m the fort were more than en- c dnyen te 
 and so terfife the desiIaciien c. the shells that for m hour hundreds of men locked eNpeoiantly for 4 white flag 10 be run up Tn token of surrender.
 4, o'clock the passalc was 90 heavily hit an the iurre; iha, Il @2s m 2 measure 1 sabled and the ship dropped down olt of the fight. soon folioaed by the others. 1, was generally believed that Fort Metilsier had been SD badly knocked to pieces that II would either be abandoned during the night or i,s de- stTuction could be accomplished n an hour neai forenoon, To proven, the from making any repairs the mor.ars on the schooners were kept going the remainder of the afternoon and all night.
 The fort mounted only one mortar, but this was manned early m the fight and was worked in reply 10 those aboard of the schooners. In either case the bombs had to be thrown over belt of woods which completely hid the schooners from the fort, and the federals had a great advantage not only in number of nor tars, bu, the fort was great target and the range was reported by lookou,s until II was exact.
 The bombs from the confederate mor- tar were thrown by guess. and no actual damage was inflicted. Two of them fell within six fee; of one of the schooners and exploded at the bottom of the river and sen, up such showers of water as to near ly hide the craf, from view for moment. Others fell ia the forest along the banks and tore great trees to pieces. but not one of them injured a federal.
 Al an early hour next morning the iron-clads moved up to hnish the fort, but To grea, change had taken place ln the few hours. Notwithstanding the fire of the n,orsars during the nigh, ihe garrison had made all repairs and placed everything in complete preparation for a new hght. Those walls of sand were again smooshed. every cannon ready 70 belch forth is ball. and one could not have told that d sho; had ever been tlred at the works.
 In this emergency the fleet was ordered to retire, and this ended ,he,,nrst real tes,