Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-12-13

torian and poet. But tho ono soldierly elc-
ment which insured success was strength
of nerve nothing less than marvellous
nerve in execution, nerve as firm and true
as that required for the most delicate and
prolonged operation in surgery. The opcr-
ation against the Albemarle was not a
mere exploit. 1t rose to the dignity Of a
campaign. The ram had bafiled the Un-
ion fleet and neutralized an army. Had it
been feasible tho government would have
dispatched squadron Of ships or q corps
d'armee to bring about her destruction.
A boy 20 years OF age planned and carried
out, unaided by other minds, tho entire
work. And from beginning to end his
course was beset with difficulties that
would have warranted him in turning
back, and most men would have been wor
ried out in overcoming them. ~
His outfit Of two open launches was Sc
looted in New York and taken by stealth
through the canals and\ bays to tho field.
In passing through the Chesapeake one
launch was lost-tho best one at that.
After entering the A]bemarle canal ho
found its channel filed up at one point
and spent two days getting over tho OBJ
struction. Tie launch had to be stripped
and loaded upon 1atboat, all with the
aid of only seven mon. On one stretch of
30 miles in the enemy 8 country there was
no Union guard or friendly inhabitant tn
be seen. ,",.. '-
At last the party reached the Union fleet
in Automatic sound, and then for the first
time Cushing disclosed his project to tho
men and gave thom their choice to follow
or not. All of thom volunteered, but only
one of the seven had ever been engaged in
q similar exploit. After coaling and vict-
ualing tho launch she was headed up Ro-
anoke river toward the town of Plymouth,
where tho ram lay at; the wharf. Gushing
had located her on a personal reconnois-
sance and had studied the ground and the
Confederate positions. He had eight miles
to make in the enemy's waters, and he
knew that an old wreck one mile below
the ram was occupied by Confederate river
pickets. The town of Plymouth and the
forts and camps on both banks of the river
held q garrison of several Thousand enemies.
"Thus 1t seemed impossible to surprise
Them" he says In his narrative, cor to at
tack them with succesS .1mpossibilities
are for the timid. We determined to over
come all obstacles st
Before entering the river = cutter had
been taken In tow, manned with IS sailors
of the feet, whose duty 1t would be to dash
aboard tho wreck In the river and silence
the pickets. Luckily the night was dark,
and tho party passed within 30 feet of the
piokets without discovery, as was suppos-
cd, and went ahead, leaving an enemy in
the rear. An attack might have raised an
alarm. Besides, Cushing had decided to
eight II no could get his 20 men to the spot
without discovery. His plan at that stage
was to "take alive the ram by boarding,
overpowering her crew with hand gro
nades, revolvers and cutlasses in the hands
of his brave crew. He counted upon sur
prise and thought that by cutting her fas-
Jennings and setting her adrift he would de-
moralize her crow and soon overcome oil
opposition on board. Once adrift he would
take the chances that her invulnerable iron