The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-04-13

p!diDiy observe tDclr movements.
We lay there several days. waiting for
! dark night, 50 as tc take ,hcm by
surprise. We left our moorings one
night between | ana L.! o'clock, and
started toward them going at lalf
| speed. Being low '."cssurc, the boat
| made no noise, and we came TO within
thirty or forty feet Of the first vessel
Of the eDcmy's ships. was at the
| wheel and orders were given to port
the helm, which immcdiat ely com
piled with, thus bringing us in line to
ram the vessel ahead. We struck her
a aglancing blow on the port bow and
raked portion Of her sheet metal off,
but did not in jurc her enough to sink
her, as was intended We backed out
to prepare again, but the Yankee fleet
began firing her guns and sending up
signal rockets. They once slipped
their anchor chains, leaving the an
chors behind and made for the sea.
Our commander gave orders to 90
ahead full speed, and, keeping the
helm aport and steering by the com.
pass, | noticed that nc were going at
right angles across the river. saw a
ship on the starboard bow, the captain
being on the port side. called his
attention. to it., but we missed this
vessel bJ eight or ten feet We
cruiscd about the river all night, but
we met no more ships. When day
light came we saw the Yankee fleet
getting out over the bar into the
Gulf. Looking up stream above us
we noticed thA: one Of their vessels
had not succeeded in getting out, and
that we were between her and safety.
We captured her aod brought her up
to the city and anchored her opposite
the 3D. district ferry landing on the
Algiers side
II was not on che Manassas on her
succeeding trip, but would like to
say word as to what became Of he,
During the Spanish American wa /,
Northern paper stated that Admiral
Dewey, then u captain, had sunk her
dIring the fight at the forts, but this
was an errer. was in this fight,
stationed on boa,d the flag ship Louis
lana, Commodore Mitchell and Capt.
Mcintyre commanding. This vessel
was manned by company of the
Crescent Artillery and a part Of
company of Grivot's Artillery, Of
which | was first lieutenant. The
Louisiana was anchored in the sire am,
about 300 yards above Fovt St. Philip,
and the Manassas was tied to the bank
abreast of us, on the Fort Jackson
side, and this was the position we oc-
cupied the night Of the battle. Two
days before the battle Lieut.. johnson
came aboard in beat with dispatches
for Commodore Mitchell. Lieut..
johnson told US that from the infor-
nation he had gathered the Federals
were going to attack us within two
days. Capt. Mcintyre wanted to an
ticipate them and remarked to Com
modore Mitchell; Commodore, let US
go down and fight the Yankees The
Commodore answer was short No
Capt. Mcintyre had both arms
shot off and one leg broken in tho
fight, and was taken off the ship into
Fort St. Philip the morning after the
battle. The engagement began at ,
o'clock at night and lasted until day
light, but the encmys ships had
passed through our line. We had the
two best ships left. the Louisiana, six
teen guns, and the McCray, ten guns,
and suggested to Commodore Mitch
ell that we run them to Mobile.
said | would pilot shem, as l knew
the route, either by day or night, in
case we had to run through the block
aiding fleet. l got the same answer
that Capt. Mcintyre did two days be-
fore, short No
IF this brave captain had been in
charge of the feet think We would
have succeeded in preventing the
Yankee fleet from getting through our
lines. :
"One Federal ship, the Winona,
commanded by Capt. Schley, now Ad-
miral, was sunk by the Confederate
gunboat Stonewall jackson, but our
ships were but little damaged. They
we're all sunk or set fire to by their
crews during and after the fight, some
never having left their moorings.
This was .he case with the Manassas.
"Orders were given to abandon and
blow up our vessel, the Louisiana,
which we did, and along with the Off