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The Battle of the
Iron-Clads.

injured that it cannot revolve, | one hundred and sixty counted. On our side there and she has to be sent to Port were but one hundred and fifty shots fired in all; so Royal for repairs. She was that the rebels fired over twenty shots to our one. struck fifty-eight times. The Patapsco was injured The Ironsides fired but one broadside and that was by having her two hundred pound Parrott gun dis- at Fort Moultrie. That was her only offensive opeabled. She was struck from forty to fifty times. ration throughout the day. The Keokuk only fired The Nahant was struck eighty times, and had her three shots before she received her death wound." pilot-house completely shattered. The Ironsides was hit from sixty to seventy times, receiving no material damage beyond the knocking off one of her port shutters, thus exposing her gun-deck. The Weehawken was struck fifty-nine times, and had her funnel deeply indented, so that she worked with dif

ficulty. The Montauk was hit twenty times. The Nantucket and Catskill were each hit about fifty times, having their decks considerably torn.

"It has been calculated that some 3500 rounds were fired by the rebels. In one minute there were

That evening a council of commanders convened on the flag-ship, when every officer present counseled the withdrawal of the fleet. The obstructions encountered, and these known to exist still further up in the harbor, alone were sufficient to close the gates of approach; while the experiment of placing the iron-clads under concentric fire of rifled artillery was not a success save as far as the result proved their comparative immunity from

BATTLE OF THE IRON-CLADS.

harm.* Dupont's views of the infeasibility | menced the erection of a

The Battle of the
Iron Clads.

109

The Pattle of the
Iron-Clads.

sand battery to defend the
crossing, and thus matters
rested during the naval fight. Stevenson's
brigade, at Edisto, was ready to move at order,
by transports, and further forces were equipped

of the enterprise were confirmed, and, endorsing the opinion of his commanders, he withdrew his vessels, and the attempt to reduce Charleston from the sea approach was abandoned, permanently by him, to be renew-for instant service. All orders for co-opera

ed, however, by his successor. April 9th his vessels steamed away for Hilton Head-the Keokuk alone being left. Having sunk at her anchorage, Tuesday night, the attempt was made during Wednesday to blow her up; but without avail, for her impermeable sides resisted all efforts for her destruction, and the gallant ship was permitted to repose in her sea bed.

As a co-operative arm of the attempt, Major-General Hunter, in command of the Department of the South, had arranged that all his disposable force should be ready for a land attack on the southern shore batteries, commencing with that on Morris Island. To be ready at the proper moment he had thrown forward Darby's brigade, which, marching across Folly Island, quietly got into position at Lighthouse inlet before the enemy's pickets discovered his presence. They then com

tion however, were countermanded, and most
of the brigades returned to Hilton Head and
Beaufort, upon the withdrawal of the flcet.
It is impossible to regard this naval and
land movement upon Charleston in any other
light than an experiment. Government hoped
for success; but Dupont, unsustained by
a land diversion, felt assured, from the very
nature of the obstacles to overcome, of the
impracticability of the attack. His only hope
lay in being able to pass the batteries and
thus lay the city under his guns; but, three
lines of obstructions-each difficult to pass,
thwarted al prospects of reaching the
town. Could it have been reached, its
occupation by Hunter's forces must have fol-
lowed, and the several fortifications reduced
in detail; but, the many months given the
enemy to perfect their defenses, rendered them
quite secure from naval assault-so secure,
indeed, from any assault, that it was not until
the last days of the rebellion the citadel was

won.

Then it fell by the mere act of a grand army passing in its rear.

This collision was the first severe test to which the iron-clads were submitted. All other tests had been but partially definitive. The contest of Monitors with Fort McAlister [Vol. III. p. 450-52] was satisfactory in an eminent degree, but it needed a trial with the powerful artillery of the Charleston batteries to afford a full solution of the problem of the resistant power of an iron mail and the efficiency of the several patterns of vessels. Ericsson, the in-gren succeeded Dupont July 6th. When ventor of the submerged hull and revolving turret battery, regarded this last experiment as a definitive

success. He wrote:

"Admiral Dupont's preliminary attack on Charleston, the first practical test of iron-clads, must be regarded as the most important event in naval history. To this country the gallant assault on Sumter by the new and untried vessels, exposed to terrible flanking and raking fire of numerous oth er forts, is fraught with incalculable benefit. Whatever may be the ulterior object of government, the substantial advantage has already been secured of knowing exactly what the iron-clads can endure, and what remains to be done to render the new system perfect. The history of war may be searched in vain for an instance of costly preparations, kept up at such vast expenditure, as Charleston now requires to ward off the blow from half a dozen small vessels, manned, provisioned and coaled at less cost than an ordinary first class screw ship "

The interest with which European powers viewed this test trial was profound, for upon the decision rested the power of their respective navies.

General Hunter was re-
Gilmore's Operations.
lieved by General Q. A.
Gilmore, June 12th, and Commander Dahl-

these changes were made,* movements were at once set on foot by the new commanders for commencing systematic and decisive operations against the Charleston defenses. General Gilmore found in his Department an effective force of 17,463 officers and soldiers,

That Government was disappointed in the result of Dupont's operations was evident; and his relief from command was generally regarded as an expression of opinion regarding the failure in the operations thus far carried on against the Charleston defenses. But Dupont could well afford to wait the issue of events; and the final abandonment, by Gilof the enterprise of taking the forts, quite more, fully vindicated Dupont's judgment regarding the strength of the defenses, and the inutility of a sea approach against them.

Gilmore's Operations.

many of them veterans, brought hither by Foster, inured to the service. Naval co-operation could also be relied on for all purposes except an advance into the enemy's territory, thus rendering his active force equivalent to 20,000 men. In consequence, however, of the number of posts it was necessary to hold, and an extensive picket line, he could not venture to concentrate much more than half his troops for any offensive purpose which would require more than a few days in its execution, nor was he well supplied with munitions, engineering tools, etc. His artillery comprised ninety-six heavy guns, apart from those of the navy. The Federal forces were in quiet possession of the Sea islands, west of the Stono, with Seabrook and Folly islands, east of that inlet, while the pickets confronted those of the enemy across Lighthouse inlet, which separates these islands from Morris' island. Folly island, a low narrow beach of sand, barely elevated above the sea level, was made the base of operations. At its northern extremity, separated from it by Lighthouse inlet, is Morris' Island, which, extending due north about five miles, gently bends into Charleston harbor, its extreme terminus at Cumming's Point, reaching within two miles of Fort Sumter. On the south end of this island, a series of batteries had been erected to command the crossing of the inlet. General Gilmore's plan contemplated the capture of these batteries, which were to be firmly held, as the base of future operations. To distract the enemy's attention, and to conceal his own purpose, General Terry was to be sent up the Stono, to make a demonstration on James island, while Colonel Higginson, steaming up the Edisto, was to make a fresh attemp: to cut the railroad and prevent the reception of re-enforcements from Savannah. | Meanwhile several batteries were secretly crected on Folly island, forty-seven guns being placed in positi n, with ammunition and all necessary appliances for each, within easy distance of the rebel pickets. These batteries, thrown up at night, were skillfully screened by sand-hills, so as not to be visible in the daytime.

The preparations being all made, July 9th General Terry was conveyed up the Stono,

The Assault on the Batteries.

and menaced the enemy's works on James island, while General Strong's brigade of two thousand men, was embarked on small boats in Folly river, and silently rowed to the junction of Lighthouse inlet, where the men were halted. At daylight, the next morning, the batteries on Folley island unmasking, opened upon the unsuspecting foc. Notwithstanding their complete surprise, the enemy received the artillery assault firmly, though in the excitement of the sudden attack they fired wildly. Simultaneously the iron-clads Catskill, Montauk, Nahant and Weehawken, threw a severe cross fire on the enemy, while sharpshooters picked off the men working at the rebel guns. The howitzer boats under General Strong, opened upon the rifle-pits near Lighthouse inlet so effectively, that the rebels turned their fire mainly to the boats containing the troops, sinking one before a landing was effected. Colonel Rodman, with the Seventh Connecticut, was the first to reach the shore, followed by Gen. Strong and the entire brigade. The order to charge was given; the men sprang forward to the first line of rifle-pits, clearing it with a bound, and advancing to the second. The guns of the rebel batteries now were turned fiercely upon the assaulting party, without in the least checking its course. By nine A. M. all the batteries on the south end of the island had been taken, while skirmishers pushed up within range of Fort Wagner. Here operations for the day were arrested. The men having been under arms all night, were, after six hours of hard fighting, quite exhausted with heat and fatigue.

Early on the morning of July 11th, an assault was made upon Fort Wagner, by the Seventh Connecticut, supported by the Ninth Maine and Seventh Pennsylvania. The rebel pickets, being thrown well forward, gave instant notice of the National move. A terrible fire was instantly opened upon the advancing lines. Without flinching, the Connecticut men rushed on over obstructions and ditches, until the parapet was reached. There they awaited the support of their comrades to storm the fort, but the other regiments had been received by so galling a fire from the enemy, that they had recoiled, then broke

ASSAULT OF FORT WAGNER.

111

Assault of Fort Wag

ner.

Gen. Terry made a successful diversion on James island, where he was attacked at daybreak on the morning of July 16th, by two regiments of Georgians, who expected to surprise him, but were repulsed by the aid of the gunboats.

for a moment. So desperate was the resistance, and so fearful the fire to which the assailants were exposed, that, shattered and crushed, and having lost General Strong, Colonel Shaw, and nearly all of its officers, the brave brigade recoiled. In a few minutes the second brigade, Colonel Putnam, consisting of the Seventh New Hampshire; Sixtysecond Ohio, Colonel Steele; Sixty-seventh Ohio, Colonel Voorhees, and One hundredth New York, Colonel Dandy, repeated the ex

and ran. General Strong | to advance was given, and the troops, Colonel was compelled to order a Shaw, and the Fifty-fourth Mass. in front, retreat, which was made started at the double quick, under a heavy under a scathing fire of grape and canister. fire from Wagner, Sumter and Cumming's The Union loss in this bold but unsuccess- Point. The distance to be traversed was ful attack, was two hundred and fifty. ha f a mile, over which the columns hurried, amid a heavy fire of grape and canister. Unfaltering and unshaken they came within short musket range of the enemy's works. From a fringe of fire that lined the parapet, a thousand messengers of death leaped forth; howitzers raked the ditch; but, on the deterOn the 18th a second attack was made on mined soldiers swept, now fighting with the Fort Wagner. About noon the semicircle of utmost desperation. Over the ditch to the batteries ranged across the island, opened parapet they pressed; amid a shower of handupon the fort, while the iron-clads, moving grenades they scaled the ragged walls, and up within short range, poured in their heavi- | planted their colors on the crest. Put only est missiles. From noon until night the bombardment was maintained furiously, a hundred heavy guns incessantly hurling shot and shell against the soft walls of the fort. The enemy kept only two guns in action, and quietly withstood the tempest of fire. This terrible bombardment which, it was conceived, must riddle the defenses of Wagner and shatter and rout its garrison, accomplished nothing beyond destroying the symmetry of outline of the fortification. For all practical purposes the works were not materially afperiment that had just terminated so disasfected, and its garrison was ready and able to repel any assault. The cannonade ceased at sunset, and the fleet withdrew to its anchorage. Just at this time a fierce thunderstorm burst over the island, in the midst of which preparations were made to take the fort by assault. To carry out this perilous enterprise, three brigades were formed; the first under General Strong, consisting of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, (colored,) Colonel Shaw; the Sixth Connecticut, Colonel Chatfield; the Forty-eighth New York, Colonel Barton; the Third New Hampshire, Colonel Jackson; the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, Colonel Strawbridge, and the Ninth Maine, Colonel Emory. Shaw's was the first colored regiment organised in a Free State, and had but just reached General Strong's headquarters, after a toilsome march of two days, when it was put to the front. The remaining brigades were led by Colonel II. S. Putnam and General Stevenson. At dark, the order

trously. Though forcing their way into the fort, and holding a portion of it for a short period, they were unable to retain possion, and, after an hour's terrific combat, were compelled to retreat, still exposed to a murderous fire. In the darkness and confusion the broken regiments made their way back to their lines. Colonel Putnam was killed in this onslaught, and a large portion of his men was either killed or wounded.

The entire loss in this fearful and fruitless assault was fifteen hundred, while that of the enemy did not exceed one hundred.

There was now no alternative, but to abandon all efforts against Wagner, or commence regular siege operations. Having resolved to persist in the work, the task of reducing the rebel fortifications by regular approaches was at once commenced, and the month of July closed, witnessing the lull in the struggle which was to be followed by another fruitless attempt upon the stubborn defenses.

CHAPTER VII.

AFFAIRSALONG THE COAST, FROM APRIL FIRST то AUGUST FIRST, 1863.

FOSTER'S Occupancy of progress. Foster's Operations. North Carolina being reduced to a defensive attitude, by reason of the exigences of other departments for troops, the spring of 1863 witnessed no movements on his part, calculated to further Federal conquests in his command. Taking advantage of his weakness, the enemy organized a plan of operations, looking to his expulsion from Washington, Newbern, &c., which were held by small garrisons. General D. H. Hill, directing these operations, appeared in much force before Newbern, March 14th, attacking with a heavy battery of eighteen guns, Fort Anderson, an unfinished earthwork which defended the town. This was held by the Ninety-second New York, Colonel Anderson, who firmly refused to surrender at the summons of the enemy. The gunboats were soon in position, and told upon the enemy with good effect, while Ransom's battery also opened upon them, and, after three hours' sharp fighting, the Confederates fell back, unable to effect their purpose. During the fight Anderson had been re-enforced by the Eighty-fifth New York, which rendered acceptable service in repelling the enemy.

Washington was next the scene of operations. On the 28th Hill appeared before it, drove in the pickets and menaced the town on all sides. Apprized of this, Foster proceeded to Washington, and found the danger greater than was reported. Orders at once were dispatched to Newbern for a brigade of infantry and some light field pieces. General Spinola's command being selected for the service, immediately marched for the menaced post. Reaching Hill's Point, eight miles below Washington, a battery of the enemy was encountered, arresting Spinola's further

Siege of Washington.

Foster's only means of defense were a garrison of twelve hundred men, two gunboats and one armed transport under command of Commander Renshaw. Three days ensued without an assault by the enemy. They were days of grace to the besieged, which were improved by strengthening the works, and making all possible preparations for resistance. Captain Lyon, with a company, was ordered to take possession of Rodman's Point, two miles down the river, to prevent the enemy from erecting a battery upon it during the night. He found a considerable force opposing him, which he at once engaged, but, after several attempts to secure a position he withdrew, and the position was fortified by the rebels. Hill now had fully invested the place. His force was estimated at about twenty thousand men of all arms, with fifty guns. His batteries, by completely commanding the river, prevented assistance from reaching the post by water. Foster made unsuccessful attempts to capture Rodman's Point, from which the town might easily be shelled. The gunboats, owing to the low stage of water in the stream, could not be brought into position; and one of them, getting aground, was exposed to a severe 1 re for several hours. Hill, thus formidably positioned, demanded a surrender, which was refused, and the siege was commenced in due form, the outposts being driven in and guns mounted on several ridges commanding the town. Foster's condition, it was apparent, was exceedingly critical; expected re-enforcements could not pass the enemy's batteries; the supply of ammunition was not commensurate with the wants; the prospect of holding the post, in event of an

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