The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-05-21
un was moving at the rate of 10 knots

gun was moving at the rate of 10 knots /
an hour.
For deadly execution the best shot of
the civil war and perhaps in all the
annals of naval warfare was fired in
an action scarcely known to history.
The gun was a 80 FOUNDER naval rifle
which had been landed on the bluffs of
White river Arkansas. to repel the adj
vance of Federal gunbOats up stream
The United States ironclad Mound
City attacked the land battery and
moved up within 600 yards. Lieuten-
ant Huntington directed the firing of
the guns of his own ship, which We're
on land, and after the Mound City
came into unobstructed view by round
ing point in the bluffs he fired a shot
which entered the port casemate for
ward of the armor and went straight
through the steam drum. AT the gun
where the shell entered 8 men We're
killed. BY the explosion of the steam
drum "a were scalded to death or suf-
located in the casemate, 43 who jump
ed into the water to relieve their pain
met death there, and % were wounded.
ss'""- =, .-.-e-e
Veterans of the second attack upon
Fort Fisher often recall famous shot |
made by Gun Captain King of the
United States armorclad Ironsides. Aft
err the Federal infantry had preached
the walls of the fort and were fighting
from traverse to traverse it became a
! a 1,a
/ ships and not drop shells among
| friends. But the practice was splen-
did, and finally the commander of the
. Ironsides directed King to try shot up
on the fifth traverse of the fort, where
| the Confederates were holding out
! against the assailants fighting almost
at arms length. 1t was near dark, and
| if the traverse did not soon give in the
whole position might have to be given
up by the Federal troops. King fired,
and the shell exploded in the center of
/ the traverse, completely demoraliZing
it's defenders. With a rush the assall-
ing troops went forward, and the
bloody struggle of an hour and half
was crowned with victory
I AT the siege of Petersburg artillery
duels were so frequent that they came
to be looked upon as paStime for the
gunners and idle troops in the trenches.
AS the opposing lines We're close the
temptation to see what a well posted
gun could do in a crisis was very
great. The artillerists in "Fort Dam
nation" as the Confederate Fort Ma
hone was popularity called, and the
Federals in Fort He'll" just opposite.
were solely responsible for the nick
names of sulphurous suggestion at
taching to their batteries. A favorite
trick with the gunners in "Fort He'll
was to shoot down the flagstaff of
"Fort Damnation.' A battery of the
famous New Orleans Washington artil-
i lery manned the guns in Fort Dam
nation" and its captain learned from
. a deserving bounty jumper that party
of general officers frequently met for
consultation in the tents which could
be seen on the parade grounds of Fort
He'll" The exact hour of the meet
ing could be determined by group of
saddle horses hitched in the shelter Of
! the parapet back of the fort. Two
guns were trained on the target and
i the best marksman in the battery Sc
4 lected to demolish the tents. crowd
of interested spectators looked OH
through the embrasures and ports of
I ''Fort Damnation," and when the tents
I flew into the air like feathers under
! the force of the exploding shells there
! was a wild cheer, which brought the
{ gunners of Fort He'll to their pieces,
2 and savage fire was kept up the rest
: of the day. The fun and glory cost the
! lives of five officers, and another was
disabled for life.
: An American soldier bore off the
i palm for crack rifle shooting in China
The feat was performed at the siege
D of the legations in Picking and was a
: combination of strategy with sure aim
= AT the west end of Legation street q
Celestial sharpshooter fixed his lair in
8 the ruins of the Dutch legation an6
9 made it warm for any of the besieget
Il 'Si'T minimum