The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-12-07
A HOT FIGHT.
AN INCIDENT OF BANKS'S RED
RIVER EXPEDITION.
"A Federal FlotilIn Attacked by Con-
f>ic"atc ~IrOOpS-.A B~attcry'S
Warm N@crDtion-Cn-
der Il Heavy Fire.

{no'"i CluU uCCOIupd liCO ICnCful
1 anks's i'll starved Red hi.cr Expcdi-
ton had with the Confederatcs. Saws
the writer: We had ut Grand tcorc ut
the time a large guaboat called the East
port. which was in an almost helpless
condition from having struck n torpedo,
and three smaller ones, and all the crews
were q mixed set and not too strong i'm
numbers. l was then serving on board
the Cricket, which was the flagship, and
at least half our crew was made up oil
negro refugees, all Of whom c iu.d help
handle the big guns, but nonc of whom
had the least knowledge Of gunncry or
had ever been in a fight. We were left
ito ourselves, and in what every man real
lied was a dangerous position. We
were fur from Alexandria, in the midst
of a hostile country, with a river full of
bends. bars and sunken logs.
Had the gunboats moved off at once
we might have escaped much of the loss
we we've compelled to suffer by the delay,
but the Admiral refused to leave the
PASSPORT behind. She had been un-
loaded and something done toward re-
pa ring the leaks, and he determined
that she should go with us to Alexandria.
She not.only had to be towed, but to
drag q lighter after her, and such was
her draught, even when light, that con-
Seoho &c htku " NC CACCClSCu 10
keep her off the bottom. She got aground
twice the first day and in the next fifty
miles she was almost literally pull, d by
hand over bars, sunken logs and obstinate
snags. During all this time the gun
boats were pumping the water out of
her, and a full hundred men were kept
busy with hawscrs and chains. At length
a stiff current at a bend of the river set
her upon a bed of sunken logs and
8 .umps, and she was there to stay. She
could be lightened no more, and any at
tempt to pull her off would have ton
her to pieces. Thirty hours were spent !
in trying various plans, and she was then
filled with powder and blown up. I
The Confederates had been given am
pie time to concentrate between us and
Alexan 1ria, and we had scarcely gotten
rid of the Eastpolt wAen the woods
seemed to swarm with sharpshooters.
They fired on us at every bend and from
every bank, but fortunately did not seek
to obstruct the way by telling trees. We
had a 8 arp fight with infantry before
leaving the scene of the E%astport's de-
struction, and were made to realize that
we should NEE; with more serious diff
culties on the way down. Our three
gunboats were guaranteed only bullet
proof, but they were not even that. Our
guns were OF old pattern and small cali
Der, and, as | said Mt the outset, the gun
crews were made up from a misceiian-
cous lot of %strayglcrs. When we left
the spot where the PASSPORT was blown
up. the flagship took the lead down the
river, with orders for the batteries on
every boat to be in readiness to open fire
at any moment. We had, if I remember
rightly, eighteen guns in all, and the )
largest n on the Cricket was q twelve
FOUNDER.
We had been under way about three
hour and had just reached the upper
end of a bluff a mile long. when the pilot
blew a sharp blast on the whistle as q
danger signal, and the next moment there
was a roar and a crash which seemed TO
shake heaven and earth. The Confed-
crates had planted a score of cannon on
the bluff, trained them all on the channel
at short range, and as we came opposite
the whole battery was discharged as one
gun, and the Cricket received every mis-
s'le. Viii Q the runs were being reloaded
several hundred infantry opened fire, and
there was n a square foot of the gun
boat above water which was not Clipped
by bullets. The fire from the battery
Killed the engineer, pilot and ten other
persons, wounded twenty-one, in
Guiding every fireman and the best run-
ners. Inside Of two minutes we lost in
killed and wounded over half our crew.
We were five minutes under fire before
returning it. and in this time were struck
over forty times. The following gunboat
came in for almost as many hard knocks.
having twenty killed and wounded, and
she got out of range by returning up the
river.
Meanwhile, we in the Cricket had
floatcd down to a point from which we
could take the C~onfedcrates in reverse.
and we soon silenced half their guns.
though they worked a sufficient number
to sink one of our tow-boats and drown
her whole crew, and to bluff the other
gunboats from attempting the passage.
They left us below, and two gunboats
and a tow-boat above. We ran down
about seven miles, getting aground and
OIL again twice, and then fell in with
one of our ironclals. The latter was at
once ordered up the stream, but ran her
self aground after going q couple of
miles, and before she got off the two
gunboats came down. They had left the
other tow boat above the battery to fall (
into he hands Of the C~onfederatcs. and
they also raised the one sunk in the river. {
We lost in killed and wounded on the S
three boats nearly ninety men, and while
one had two and the other three guns
rendered helpless. the flagship had only
one which oould'b be used after the fl ht ,
was ov Many Of the missiles passed. .
through both sides of the boats, and =,
dozens of them fell into the engine room. =
and it has always been looked up IN as a !
miracle that the engines and bJilcrs es. =.
capped Injury. =,