The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1905-04-27
and went forward rapidly. but General

and went forward rapidly, but General
William Sooy Smith met us and turned
us back to the rebel Notifications at
Mumfordsville. The next day we
marched all day and until IL o'clock at
night, and were scarcely in camp when
we We're ordered to draw and cook
four days rations before reveille. The
boys rebelled and refused to build fires
until the colonel peremptorily ordered
fires built Then there was a merry
time drawing and cooking rations, with
the enemy not ten miles away.
''We marched on Wednesday morn
ing without having slept for twenty
four hours, and covered before we rest
ed that night thirty-ive miles. The
men were so tired they could scarcely
keep in ranks, but they were picking
up rebel prisoners in nearly every corn
field, and they kept on. On Thurs
day, Sept. %. we were in advance. and
starting at ) o'clock, marched rapidly
to West Point, oil the Ohio. The first
glimpse Of the river put new life into
the footsore men, and great, unguard-
ed piles of meat and bread rations. to
which we were invited to help our
selves, made the world look good
deal brighter. We knew then we had
won the race and that with the Ohio
at our backs Bragg was beaten. The
next day we marched the eighteen
miles into Louisville, to be welcomed
as winners in the great army foot race
of the age:"-Chicago Inter Ocean.
Ramming a Man-of- War.
A modern ram is nothing more than
huge steel beak or spur. which is
fitted to the PROV of the battleship
for the purpose Of destroying an en-
emy's ship in wartime by the force
Of collision. Indeed, should d vessel
succeed TN driving her ram against
another warship;, the blow, if deliv-
cred at full speed, would be sufficient
to crush in the ships side and sink
her Immediately. A battleship's ram
weighs about forty tons. and is cast
all in one piece. 1t is of solid steel
and capable of striking tremendous
blow. Shell-proof a man-o'-war may
be made, but the skill of the naval
architect is unequal to the task of de-
signing ship that can resist ram.
Great care has to be exercised in
fixing such a heavy piece of steel. The
method generally adopted is as fol-
lows: The ram is suspended from
strong derrick, the bottom end of
which is attached to the extreme end
of the vessels keel plates. The gap
between the rain and tie uncompleted
part; or hull, is walled-tight compart-
ments. The weapon is SC fixed that
it strikes just beneath the armored
belt, where resistance is weakest,
while it is so Shaped that the ram
ming vessel can, by reversing her en-
gines, easily disentangle herself from
the ship she has struck.
70 gauge Something of the damage
a ram is capable of intiicting; one has
only to recall to mind the case of the
Victoria, flagship Of the British
squadron. which was rammed by the
Camperdown and sunk with Admiral
Tryon and 400 men in 1893. In 1895,
while the English fleet was off the
Irish coast, the Vanguard was acci-
dentally rammed by the Iron Duke,
and sank in an hour. During the Ger
man naval maneuvers in 1878 the
Grosser Kurfurst was rammed by the
KONG Wilhelm and sank Immediately,
$50 of the crew being drowned.
1t is interesting to note. that the
ram was first employed during the
civil war in the action between the
Confederate armor-clad ram Virginia,
in Norfolk Roads, in 1862. when the
Federal frigate Cumberland was
ramined and sunk by the Virginia.
Home Journal.