The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-12-27


- ------N-----
officer Acting Master Chas A. !}outele of
Maine, whom shall take occasion to MEM
ton later; and Wayalusing, Lieut.. Com
mander Queen.
We moved down the sound, keeping just
out of the reach of the guns of the Alber-
marie, our object being to get her down to
the broadeSt part of the sound before
bringing Oh an engagement, for we wanted
, room to vancouver all onr ships. We had
proceeded down the sound about s miles
and were off the beautiful little town OF
Edenton, where the sound was about 3
miles wide, when at about O'Clock in the
afternoon on the 9Th day of May, 1864, one
of the most beautiful days of that beautiful
climate. We saw the three ships from be-
low approaching, and loyal hearts beat high
on board of ever ship, for though we look
ed for hard fighting and the loss of some Of
our ships we did anticipate a victory. And
if we had been properly led we should have
had nothing but a picnic and a glorious
victory, whereas we did gain a victory but
it was vague and uncertain; and just why
Captain Smith concluded to fight as he did
was past the comprehension of every sane
officer in the fleet, and he we'll earned the
appaation of Grandmarm smith, name
that chung to him as long as he remained in
the Sound, which was not long. 1t was
grand and exhilarating sight to see three
Ships approaching from below at full speed,
ready for the fray, the Mattahessett, Com
mander Febiger, leading with the flag
of Fleet, Captain Smith flying at the
fore She was closely followed by the Sas-
sacus, LeutCommander Roe, and the Way
abusing, eut-Commander Queen. AS they
approached US the flagship sgnaled for us
to take our place i'll the line, which was
next after the Miami, the Miami being the
fourth, the Commodore Hull the fifth,
Whitehead sixth, Ceres seventh and the
Seymour eighth We proceeded into battle
in that order. The ram kept on her course
down the Sound, and as the flagship APP
preached her she fired the first shot. We
all opened fire on her as soon as we came
within range. Her classmates were liberal
ly creased all over with beef tallow to
cause our shot to glance from her the more
readily. And before we were up with her
Our shots had caused this tallow to take fire.
We found ourselves firing at an immense ball
of fire and hoped that we had set the ship on
fire. But that delusion soon passed, for it
quickly burned off and we could plainly see
that every shot from the fleet that struck
her land they nearly all did) glanced off
! from her sides apparently as though they
were pebbles. At this juncture the flagship
had passed the ram, which kept steadily on
her course down the Sound, firing an Oc-
casional shot at us, but not often, for our
shot was pelting her SO rapidly that 1t was
with difficulty they could open her ports to
get shot at u.s. 1t subsequently came 10
| light that her bow gun was partially dis,
| abled by one of the many shots fired at her
from the fleet. None knew from what ship,
| but the flagship claimed the honor that
no one cared, or dared to dispute. The
Bombshell fired away at us for ii time, but
! soon surrendered, and the Cotton Planter,
which was loaded with troops, turned and
ran for the Chowan river.
| Previous to this the flag officer had sig
nailed for the fleet to follow where he led
and our disappointment can be imagined
when the flagship ported her helm after pas
sing the ram, instead of putting it to star
board, and circing around, keeping the
ram on the outside of the circle, where
at least forty guns could have played
upon her continuously. There were fifty
| four guns in the fleet, some of them 9-inch
and one hundred Founders, and some of
them could have played on the ram all the
time and every ship could have been en-
gagged at least three-fourths of the time
with their starboard batteries and could
have used their port battery at intervals
while passing to the rear of the circle, and
the continuous conclusion or jar would
have killed every person on board of the
ram in half hours time. We are assured
of this from the report of the captain of the
Albermarle to the secretary of the Confed
crate Navy, in which he says that the con-
cussion was so great that it caused the
blood to flow not only from the nose but
from the eyes and ears Of all on board. He
further said that the shots from our ships
had disabled one of their guns and damned
one of their ports SO that it could not be
opened, had started eight of the iron slabs
with which she was plated and smashed
one of her timbers badly. Besides there