The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-02-10
ANDERSONVILLE.
Continued from frst page.

strong rifles. AS if this were not suffi-
Gent, the channel was thickly studded
with torpedoes that would explode at
| the touch of the keel of passing vessel.
These abundant precautions, and the
telegram from Gen. Lee found in Fort
Fisher, stating that unless that strong
hold and Fort Caswell were held he
could not hold Richmond, give some
idea of the importance of the place to
the rebels.
We passed groups of hundreds of
sailors fishing for torpedoes, and saw
many of these dangerous monsters which
they had hauled up out of the water.
We caught up with the Thorn when
about half way to the sea, passed her, to
our great delight, and soon left a gap
between us Of nearly half mile. We
ran through an opening in the piling,
holding up close to the left side, and she
apparently followed our course exactly.
Suddenly there was dull roar; a
column of water, bearing with It frag-
ments of timbers, planking, and human
bodies, rose up through one side of the
vessel, and as it fell she lurched forward
and sank. She had struck torpedo.
/ never learned the number lost, but it
must have been very great.
Some little time after this happened
we approached Fort Anderson, the most
powerful of the works between Whining
ton and the forts ct the mouth of the
sea. 1t was built on the ruins of the
little town Of Brunswick, destroyed by
CORVALLIS during the Revolutionary
war. We saw monitor lying near it
and sought good positions to view thi:
specimen Of the redoubtable ironclads
of which we had heard and read sc
much. 1t looked precisely as it did il
pictures-as black, as grim, and as un
compromising as the impregnable float
ing fortress which had brought the
Merrimac to terms.
But as we approached closely we no
ticed limpness about the smokestack
that seemed very inconsistent with tie
customary rigidity of cylindrical iron
Then, the escape-pipe seemed scarcely
able to maintain itself upright.
A few minutes later we discovered
that our terrible Cyclops of the sea was
fimsy humbug. theatrical imitation,
made by stretching blackened canvas
over wooden frame.
One of the officers on board told us
its story. After the fall of Fort Fisher
the rebels retired to Fort Anderson,
and offered desperate resistance to our
army and fleet. Owing to the shallow
ness of the water, the latter could not
come into close enough range to do
effective work. Then the happy idea
of this sham monitor suggested itself to
someone. 1t was prepared, and one
morning before daybreas it was sent
floating iii OH the tide.
The other monitors orened up a
heavy fire from their position. The
rebels manned their guns and replied
vigorously by concentrating terrible
cannonade on the sham monitor, which
sailed grandly on, undisturbed by the
heavy rifed bolts tearing through her
canvas turret.
Almost frantic with apprehension of
the result if she could not be checked,
every gun that would bear was turned
upon her, and torpedoes were exploded
in her pathway by electricity. All
these she treated with the silent con-
tempt they merited from so invulner-
able monster. At length, as she
reached a good, easy range of the fort,
her bow struck something and she
swung around as if to open fire.
That was enough for the rebels.
With Schoield's army reaching out 10
cut off their retreat, and this dreadful
thing about to tear the insides out of
their fort with 400-pound shot at quar-
ter-mile range, there was nothing for
them to do but consult their own safety,
which they did with such haste that
they did not spike gun or destroy a
pound of stores.
When we reached the mouth of Cape
Fear River tie wind was blowing so
hard that our Captain did not think it
best to venture out, so he cast anchor.
The cabin Of the vessel was filled with
officers who had been released from
prison about the same time we were. |
was also given a berth in the cabin, in
of my being the non-com-
missioned officer ill charge of the men,
and | found the associations quite pleas
ant.
A party was made up, which included |
me, to visit Fort Fisher, and we spent |
the larger part Of a day very agreeably |
in wandering over that great stronghold.
We found it wonderful in its strength, and
were prepared to accept the statement of
those who had seen foreign defensive
works, that it was much more powerful
than the famous Malakof, which so long
lefed the besiegers of Sebastopol.
The situation of the fort was on a
barrow and low spit of ground between
Cape Fear River and the ocean. On
his the rebels had erected, with prodigi-
Jus labor, an embankment over mile
n length. % feet thick and 20 feet high.
About two-thirds OF this bank faced the
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