The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1905-11-02
ARKANSAS POST.
The Effective Work Done by the list Wis
Battery I'm Reducing the FSrf.

The Effective Work Done by the s.t Wis.,
Battery In Reducing the Fsrf.
Editor National Tribune: Allow me
TO congratulate you and Comrade Nc
Elroy upon the good work he is doing
in writing and publishing through the
columns of The National Tribune the
best popular history of the war of the
rebellion yet published. There are
however, some minor errors for which
Comrade McElroy is not responsible, as
his information is obtained from the
reports of officers and correspondents
relative to the incidents narrated. One
of these errors is found i'm his report
of the capture of Arkansas Posi-. or Fort
Hindman. 1t is this: THE gUnboatS
moved up within few hundred yards
OF the fort and opened a terrific fire,
which speedily knocked the guns ana
bOmb-prOofS to pieces The trouble
with that piece of history is that it is
not true, Notwithstanding the reports
Of Gen. Sherman and Admiral Porter
say it is. AS for the position of Ad-
miral Porter during the engagement I
am not informed, but / doubt If he had
as good an opportunity to observe the
effect of his shots as / had. while /
know Gen. Sherman could possibly not
have had any personal knowledge of
the effect of the fire from the gunboats,
as he was at the extreme right of the
Il
from the river, and the banks of the
river were fully % feet high, 50 that
only the smokcStackS of the boats could
be seen 100 yards from the stream.
Gen. McClernand says that at the re-
quest of Admiral Porter he had placed
a section of 20-pounder PARROT guns
about 500 yards below the fort on the
bank of the river for the purpose of
diSmOunting the guns in the lower case
mates or the fort. which had given the
gunbOatS SO much trouble the evening
previous. Those were two guns of the
1st Wis. Battery. and 1 had the honor
of being in command of them. My in
Structions were to keep under cover of
some brush growing near the bank of
the river until the gunboatS should
move up the river opposite, when /
was to run them out and open fire
upon the classmates. as the gunboats
would take care of the ninc-inch gun in
barbette. A the approach of the first
boat the PARROTS were uncovered and
run out in plain and unObStruc ted view
of the fort and prepared for action So
accurate was the aim of our gEnners,
Gabriel Armstrong and Ira Butterfiald
that we We're soon putting 20-pound
shell into each casemate at such rate
that the rebels could not load their
guns. and the guns were soon dismount-
ed and the classmates knocked In pieces
In the meantime the Sunboats were try
their special game, but had not Sue
ceeded to any alarming extent. After
we had silenced those classmates we
turned our attention TO field battery
that was giving some trouble to the in
fantry in our front. dismounted a gun,
blew up a caisson and killed six herss.s
In the meantime this same gun that
was TO be the game OF the gunboats
rad put shell into the Louisvi ie or
DE kalb, l forget which, and uDset Il
gun carriage and set the boat on fire.
besides killing several men, At this
Ien- OSterhauS sent orders to me to 81
.ence that gun before it sunk the fleet
The PARROTS were loaded with solid
shot and trained upon the offender, and
soon put it out of commission, with
about 100 pounds of metal knocked off
It's muzzle and a solid shot through the
cheek under one of the trunnions After
TINS was done the gunboats moved up
and poured broadside after broadside
into the bank of the river under the
tort and then bOasted of what a big
bear me and my Betsey killed." The
fact is, the fort was so much higher
than the boats in the river that the lat
ter could not elevate their pieces at
short range to do effective work d,
not make this claim upon my own un-
supported evidence, but on the authori-
~ of others who were there and saw.
Gen. l.. A. Sheldon, then comma: ding
Il saw your guns silence one case
mate gun and dismount the barpette
gun and also explode the caisson a lit
tie to our right of the fort"
Sergt McKeeth says: From my po-
:ition on the bank of the river I had
the guns OH my right, the gunboats on
my left and the fort I'm my 'front.'
Gunner Armstrong would ask me the
erect OF each shot, which was not diff
cult Tor me to give, as | could see every
shot from the time it left the smoke of
the gun until it struck. / know or
guns silenced the casemate guns and /
know it was shot from Armstrong;
gun that broke the piece from the bar
bette gun, for / saw it from the time
1t raised from the smoke until il
struck
Gen. Osterhaus in his report says: II
heartily congratulate Lieut.. Webster
and his men upon their reduction of the
lower classmates. The silencing of four
formidable guns is their exclusive mer-
it,
In talking with a Lieutenant who was
In charge Of one of the classmates. soon
AFTER the surrender, he said: That lit
tie battery on the bank of the river did
them more harm than all the gunboats
AZ their hrlng was SO rapid and accurate
that the men could not load our guns"
So sure were the battery boys they
had fired the shot that broke the niece
from the big gun that they had the
piece boxed and shipped home ~ La
Crosse, Wis, where the battery YVES re-
cruited. and where il was on exhibition.
M show window for many months
These are the plain, unvarnisheG facts
in the case. and il you think they are Of
interest enough 10 warrant YOU in SO
doing you can publish them-DanieI
Webster, 1st Wis. Battery L. A., Salem.
Ore.
The Fight mt Wauhatchie
Editor National Tribune: | read in
recent issue of The National Tribune