The National tribune., 1886-09-09

ATTACK UPON THE FLEET.
Not so fortunate the Aeet. Admiral Porter
having been informed that glory hellelujah'
awaited him, was on the lookout for it, His
flagship the Cricket, was in advance in de-
scending the river. lt was called tinclad"
boat, being covered with a thin plate of iron
sufficiently strong however TO resist musket
bail. IL carried a battery Of six l2-pounders,
with a crew OF 4S men. One Of the cannon was
on the upper deck 10 sweep the banks Of the
river. Admiral Porter was sitting on the upper
deck reading, when he saw some Confederates
in the bushes. quote from him:
"Give those fellows in the bushes two-sec-
ond she'll" is his order 10 Lieut.. Gorringe, and
the next moment shell bursts in the woods,
but the second after, 10 his astOnishment, 10
solid shot and shells come crushing into the
Cricket. lie had reached "glOTy hallelujah.'
In less than half a minute another volley, and
then third, and then the crack and rattle Of
5000 muskets. The air is filled with leaden
rain. The balls rattle against the sides Of the
boat like hail upon roof In less than three
minutes not less than 40 solid shots aud shells
burst in and around that little craft.
Immediately behind the Cricket are the two
boats fitted with pumps, crowded with unarm-
cd poor. helpless negroes-men, women and
children, slaves who have escaped from their
masters and are making their way towards free
dom. Into these boats the Confederate cannon
The negroes jump into the river, and then the
Confederate soldiers deliberately shoot them.
IL our blood runs hot at the thought we must
keep in mind the fact that the spirit Of slavery
I'm its nature is barbaric. The Government Of
the United States had enlisted cOlored troops.
Gen Banks had a brigade of them. We need
not wonder If the sight Of so many negroes
escaping TO become, possibly, soldiers wearing
the blue aroused all the bad passions and
quonched for the time all the humanity Of the
COnfederatcs. But IL was a sad scene, and
w0lul commentary on human nature. 1t is one
of the lurid pictures of the war.
But what a scene on the Cricketi The gun
boat is drifting in the current The pilot, Mr..
T. g. Drening. is in the pilot house, but the
blood is streaming down his cheeks, binding
him. A piece of shell has laid open his face.
His hand is on the wheel. '' / wont let so; I'm
all right" he says. In front of the wheel
house are the bodies of six men, mangled and
bleeding, all struck down in an instant by
shell which struck the gun on the upper deck
and exploded on the instant On the lower
deck n mangled bodies are lying. There are
great rents in the sides Of the Cricket, with
splinters everywhere. DOwn in the engine
room the Engineer is lying dead beside the
engine. Among the slain is a woman, wife of
the Captains Steward, with haT arm torn from
her shoulder. Nearly all the crew have been
killed OF wounded.
Don't let them think we are hurt" shouts
Admiral Porter; fire the cannon!" Three
negroes FIRE one Of the guns and then the
Cricket drifts away. Both Of the Assistant
Engineers are killed or wounded, but, strange TO
say, the engine was not materially injured.
Admiral Porter opened the throttle, and the
Cricket surged ahead, turned point, and was
in a safe position.
Behind the pump steamers came the gunboat
Juliet. The shells tear through her sides kill
ing and Noundng and scalding the crew by
cutting one Of the steam pipes. disabling the
machinery. Ii is carnival of destruction.
Fortunately the Juliet drifts under the high,
steep bluii, SO that the rebel cannon cannot be
depressed to ht the little craft The Engineer
repairs the pipe while the Confederates are
turning their attention TO the other vessels, and
the Juliet slips away.
The other gunboats halting opened fierce
fire upon the batteries at long range, waiting
TIL night, when, under cover OF the darkness,
they ran the gantlet, receiving terrible storm
Of shells. Though posted in favorable posi-
/ tlon, the Coniederates did not succeed in stop
ping any of the gunboats or river steamers.
The account varies materially from the re-
! port of Gen. Taylor, who says: " To intercept
! the gunbOats and transports on their way down,
Col. Caudle, OF Polignacs Division, with Cor
nays four gun battery and 200 riAemen, had
been posted at the junction of Cane aud Red
Rivers, 20 miles below. Our fire speedily Grip
pied and silenced the guub0at, and a shot ex-
ploded the boiler Of the transport The gun
boat drifted out of fire, but the loss of life on
! the transport was fearful. One hundred and
eighty-seven severely scalded, most Of whom
subsequently died, were brought on shore.
These unfortunate creatures were negroes,
taken from plantations on the river above.
The Object Of the Federals was 10 remove ne
| groes from their owners; for the lives of these
| poor people they cared nothing or assuredly
they would not have forced them on an unprO-
tected river steamer 10 pass rifemen and artil-
| lery against which gunb0ats were powerless y
Gen. Taylor does not seem TO have seen that
| the inhumanity was displayed solely LS-t1e
| soldiers OF has command, who fired Y1on the
helpless aud struggling ereatup,s not only
men, but women and children, in the water
| There Is wide discrepancy between Porter
and Taylor as 70 the number Of guns. Porter
makes the number l9 and 1900 men, while
Taylor says there were but four cannon and
200 rihemen. Whatever the number, il il
plain that the attack was made and sustained
with spirit, aud was exceedingly annoying, bu
not sufficiently effective TO stop the feet, which
arrived at Alexandria.
BOW THE GUNBoATs WERE SAVED.
The water in the river was getting lower
falling two inches per day. There are rapids
in the river just below Alexandria. Not only
the fleet which had been up toward Shreve
port but all the ironclads which had taken par
at Donelson, Memphis aud Vicksburg wer,
above the rapids, with the water so low that i
would be impossible 10 get them over the falls
Every day the water was getting lower. Gen
Taylor was looking forward TO the time wheI
the feet would either be destroyed, or else fal
into his hands. A bright thought came b
sOmebOdy-that Of building dam TO raise tn
water and floating the vessels over the rapids
Who first conceived il i do not know. Quit.
likely several might have thought Of it,: for il
my boybOOd days built just such miniatur
dams In the gurgling brook by the roadside. a
doubt not many OF the men in the army hat
done
The Engineer-in-C Chief Of the army, Lient
Col Bailey, called a cospcil Of his brother En
gineers, aud after talking the matter over i
was decided 10 build dam at the foot Of tn
lower falls. The work was entrusted 10 Col
u. Il. Pearsall, Of the 4Sth Wis, an officer @
great energy and executive ability. He hai
come from the woods of Wisconsin. Tho pic
neer regiment IN the army was the 29th Nc
Detaehmcnts from other regiments were de
tailed 10 assist: also the two c0lored regiment
lthe 9Th and 99th) and the 6lst N. Y. Tn
bed of the river was rocky the banks hard. o.
the morning Of April 30 we see the parties a
work, one set loading barges with stone an
sinking them in the stream. Other parties beg
the building Of cribs against the banks The col
ored troops are in the swamps cutting lagoti
binding them ia bundles, which are laid 1
, the stream and weighted with stone Da
by day the structure grows: day by da
the water rises. Col Pcarsall is eVeryWhert
Day aud night the work goes on, parties reflex
1 one au8f her "A rpoulap intervals