The Washington herald., 1915-01-24

Federal works on the north bank OF
the river. Before 10 o'clock Fort Brady
opened upon the fleet. but under cover
OF darkness the ships moved along past
three other batteries, all of which rained
a heavy FIRE upon them, down to the
obstructions in Trents Reach.
1t then was about II O'Clock The Nir-
glnia and Richmond cast anchor above,
while the Fredericksburg proceeded close
up to the hUlks to find passage. Com
modOre Mitchell made his way in small
boat to the distractions, where men from
the Fredericksburg were removing a lOE
boom. and when this work was completed.
about / a. m, boarded the fredericksburg
which Immediately crept through the gap
and cast anchor 900 yards below the bar
rier.
OnOndaEa Drops Downsfream.
Mitchell was rowed back to the Vir-
ginia and found that she had grounded.
Several attempts were made to get her
on. but as the tide was then falling
rapidly she was soon stuck fast in the
mud. About $50 O'Clock it was reported
TO him that the Richmond the Drcwry,
and the torpedo boat Scorpion were also
aground. All the vessels had been an
chored in plenty OF water but had been
allowed to swing round on their mOOrings
into the shadows.
All hope of passing the obstructiOns
that day was abandoned. and word was
sent to the Fredericksburg to come up
and rejOin the other vessels. There
would not be sufficient water in the river
to float the irOnClads much before 1880
a. M Commodore Mitchell had grave
fears for the safety of his fleet, for day
light would enable the Federal river bat
teries and ships to pour a heavy fire
upon it,
While this maneuvering had been in
progress the Federal land batteries had
kept up a hot fire upon the ships, but
there was no sign Of the Federal River
squadron. Early in the evening of the
I'D word had ZEN sent to Capt Parker.
of the Onon that the Confederates
were runnin hst Fort Brady. Parker
had immedia1 ordered his men to quar-
ters and hadSiven warning to the crew
of the gunbof Massasoit. which was an
ChOred near BY.
No attempt was made to prevent the
COnfederates from breaking through the
distractions. Shortly before o'clock the
OnOndaEa slipped her cable and ran down
stream through the draw in the pontOOn
bridge at Varena Landing and cast an
ChOr below II. a few minutes later Capt.
Parker sent word to the Massasoit to pa
troll the river in Trents Reach, and at
the same time the torpedo boats No.
and Spuyten Duyvil were ordered to pro-
Ceed against the Confederate feet and to
blow it up. The Massasoit passed up and
down the channel several times, but found
no trace of the Confederates below the
distractions, for the Fredericksburg had
by that time passed up through the open
ing. The torpedo boats were as unsuC-
cessful in their search.
At Grants HeRdquarters
Gen. Grant and his wife. who happened
to he with him on a brief visit, had re-
tired when news of the passage of the
distractions by the Confederate ships
reached City Point. Grant was at once
aroused.
In about two minutes the general
came hurriedly into the office" wrote
Gen. Horace Porter in Campaigning with
Grant" He had drawn on his top boots
over his drawers and put on his uniform
frock coat, the skirt of which reached
about to the tops OF his boots and made
up for the absence of trousers.
He lighted a cigar while listening to
the reports, and then sat down at his
desk and wrote out orders in great haste
The puffs from the cigar were now as
rapid as those OF an engine OF an express
train at full speed"
Mrs Grant soon came in and made
anxious inquiries about the situation.
When she found out what was up, she
Gained herself. and, as things developed.
even when news came in that the OnOn-
daga had dropped downstream, away
from the Confederates, she was easily the
most composed in the party.
'Clyss. will those gunboats shell the
bluff?" she asked quietly. And then later
on, when the excitement around here was
at its height. said: "Ulyss, what had |
better do?" To which Grant replied good
naturedly: Well the fact is, Julia, you
oughtn't to be here"
All the while Grant was putting furi-
ously at his cigars, lighting one from the
other But after a while things Quieted
down. and when it was learned that the
Confederate vessels had passed up be
yond the distractions he and Mrs. Grant
retired to finish out their interrupted
sleep.
GunbOat Drewry Blown Uu.
At daylight the Federal batteries re-
doubled their fire upon the Confederate
ships, which now afforded fine targets for
their craftsmanship. About o'clock a
shell crashed down through the deck Of
the gunboat Drewry. fired her magazine.
which exploded with a frightfuI roar
and reduced the gunbOat to splinters For
tunately her crew had just gone on bOar'i
the irOnclad Virginia for protection, but
two men on board the torpedo boat SCOT-
pIon were killed by the explosion. and the
SCORPION lltFSeI was ~ bttllN udlndEh'N
that she was abandoned by the COnfei-
crates.
After ? o'clock the OnondaGa. CLOSELY
followed by the MaSsasoit started Up
the river toward the distractions. About
10 o'clock the two vessels opened fire upon
the COnfederates.
By this time the rams were alOat on
the rising tide and headed upstream uU-
der a full head Of steam. Both the Rich
mond and Virginia had been considerable
damaged by the heavy fire from the bat
teries. and now the OnondaEa turned her
heavy guns upon the latter snip.
She was so late in getting into action.
however. that she only fired seven guns
at the Virginia before the Confederate
fleet was out OF range under cover Of tn"
batteries at Howletts, with loss of only
five killed and seventeen wounded. Both
the Richmond and Virginia were consid-
erabIy damaged by the fire from the land
batteries. the latter having been struck
seventy times.
Gen. Grant and the naval authorities at
Washington believed Capt. Parker might
have destroyed the entire Confederate
naval force on the James and opened up
the way to Richmond. Capt. Parker was
removed from command and afterward