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port to her assistance. With these inducements for action, Commander Worden began the attack on the fort with

South, and who was to report directly, once a week at least, to the war department,* announced, about this date, the complete organization of the first the Montauk, Seneca, and three other (negro) regiment of South Carolina volunteers, Colonel Higginson being in command. He also gave it as his decided opinion, that this body of troops was "not surpassed by any white regiment in the department."

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gun boats of the blockading squadron, on the 27th of January. For five hours through the forenoon, an "artillery duel" was kept up, chiefly between the fort and the monitor, the latter being struck thirteen times, with little or no Admiral Dupont, in command of the damage. A few indentations on South Atlantic squadron, for the pur- her iron surface were the only pose of testing the iron-clads recently injuries she sustained. She was the arrived at Port Royal, ordered the Mon- greater part of the action within about tauk, Commander Worden, to the Ogee- 1,600 yard of the fort, upon which no chee River, opening into the Ossabaw serious impression seems to have been Sound, on the Georgia coast, and made. Another attempt was made by through which there was an approach Commander Worden with the same to within ten miles of Savannah. The force on Sunday, the 1st of February, privateer Nashville, which had made a at as close quarters as the obstructions number of successful trips as a block of stakes and torpedoes, and natural ade runner between Charleston, Wil- difficulties of the river permitted, within mington and Nassau, had, in July, 1862, a thousand yards of the battery, but taken refuge in the Ogeechee, and was with no better success. In this second compelled by our fleet to remain there. action the Montauk received sixty-one For seven months she had thus been shots; her smoke-stack was riddled confined to the river, the defences of with balls, and her flag-staff carried which had been meanwhile created and away, yet she came out without serious strengthened by various obstructions, injury. The fort was somewhat damand by the erection of Fort McAllister aged in this engagement; a 30-pounder at an advantageous bend of the stream. was dismounted, and the parapet badly To destroy these works and capture the torn in several places. Major Gallie Nashville, was the object proposed for was killed, and seven privates injured the navy. It was known that the Nash- by concussion. The principal result ville, now fitted as a privateer, was thus far appeared to be to test the deready for sea, and it was rumored that fensive qualities of the monitor class of the Fingal, a British steamer, converted vessels. into a formidable iron-clad war vessel at Savannah, would come from that

*See McPherson's "History of the Rebellion," p. 251. The letter of Secretary Stanton is interesting, in view

of the policy and purpose of the government on several perplexing questions.

The Nashville, we may here mention, continued concealed and protected behind Fort McAllister through the month of February to the 27th, when, at evening, she was observed in motion above

CH. XXVII.]

PRIVATEER NASHVILLE DESTROYED.

291

After assuring myself of the complete destruction of the Nashville, I, preceded by the wooden vessels, dropped down beyond the range of the enemy's guns. In so doing, a torpedo exploded under this vessel, inflicting, however, but little injury. I beg leave, therefore, to congratulate you, sir, upon this final disposition of a vessel which has so long been in the minds of the public as a troublesome pest."

The state of inactivity, which had for sometime prevailed in the vicinity of Charleston, was broken, not long after Gen. Hunter's arrival, and a daring movement was undertaken by the rebel vessels upon the blockading squadron. It appears, that early on the morning

the battery by Commander Worden. fire upon the other gun boats was wild, "A reconnaissance immediately made," and did them no damage whatever. says he, in his report of the next day to Admiral Dupont, "proved that in moving up the river she had grounded in that part of the river known as the seven-miles' reach. Believing that I could, by approaching close to the battery, reach and destroy her with my battery, I moved up at daylight this morning, accompanied by the blockading fleet in these waters, consisting of the Seneca, Lieut.-Commander Gibson; the Wissahickon, Lieut.-Commander Davis, and the Dawn, Acting Lieut.-Commander Barnes. By moving up close to the obstructions in the river, I was enabled, although under a heavy fire from the battery, to approach the Nashville, still aground, within the distance of 1,200 yards. A few well-directed of the 29th of January, an iron-clad shells determined the range, and soon succeeded in striking her with 11-inch and 15-inch shells. The other gun boats maintained a fire from an enfiladed position upon the battery, and the Nashville at long range. I soon had the satisfaction of observing that the Nashville had caught fire, from the shells exploding in her, in several places; and in less than twenty minutes she was caught in flames forward, aft and amidships. At 9.20 A. M. a large pivot-gun, mounted abaft her foremast, exploded from the heat; at 9.40 her smoke-chimney went by the board; and at 9.55 her magazine exploded with ter Deeply chagrined at this loss, the rific violence, shattering her in smoking rebels determined to make a bold dash, ruins. Nothing remains of her. The and not only to recover possession of battery kept up a continuous fire upon the Princess Royal, but also to attack this vessel, but struck her but five the blockading squadron. Accordingtimes, doing no damage whatever. The ly, about four o'clock in the morning

steamer, the Princess Royal, only four days out from Bermuda, attempted to run the blockade. The gun boat Unadilla immediately took steps to arrest her progress, and fired a couple of shots at the stranger. The Princess Royal was run a shore and abandoned, and was at once taken possession of by the Unadilla. This proved to be a very valuable prize, having engines for ironclads, rifled guns, ammunition, and stores of all kinds on board. Two days later she was taken to Port Royal, and subsequently sent to Philadelphia for adjudication.

of the 31st of January, during the ob. scurity of a thick haze, two iron-clad steam rams came out of Charleston by the main ship channel, unno1863. ticed by the squadron, and commenced an assault upon the blockading fleet, which, just at this time, was mostly composed of the light class of purchased vessels. The first onset was made upon the steamer Mercedita, formerly a merchant vessel, by the ram commanded by D. N. Ingraham, for merly of the United States service. Almost immediately the Mercedita was rendered helpless by a large shell passing diagonally through the vessel, exploding in the boiler, and blowing a hole some four or five feet square in its exit on the port side. The Mercedita, of necessity, gave up the contest, and her officers and crew having surrendered, were paroled by the rebels.

The other rebel ram attacked the Keystone State about the same time, and was joined by Ingraham's vessel directly after disabling the Mercedita. The Keystone State was actively engaged in bringing her guns to bear upon the enemy, when a shell exploded in her fore hold and set her on fire. Having got the fire under after a time, the captain of the Keystone State bore down, under full head of steam, upon the nearest ram, intending to sink her; but a shot having passed through both steam chests, she became virtually powerless, and accomplished nothing. The other vessels on the station at the time, not being able to cope with the rebel force, kept prudently aloof. Ingraham and his two rams, about half-past seven o'clock, retired into the Swash channel

behind the shoals. The Mercedita and Keystone State were taken to Port Royal for repairs.

Notwithstanding this bold attempt, no practical advantage was gained by the rebels beyond disabling the two ves sels above named; still, they thought something might be made of it by tak ing the ground that the fleet had been dispersed and the blockade raised. Accordingly, there was published in the Richmond papers of February 2d, a dispatch stating that, in the engage ment near Charleston, two United States vessels had been sunk, four set on fire, and the remainder driven away. Beauregard, the military, and Ingraham, the naval, commanders at Charleston, also issued a proclamation, which is worth reading, as a specimen of lofty pretensions resting on a very small basis: "At about five o'clock this morning, the Confederate States naval force on this station attacked the United States blockading fleet off the harbor of the city of Charleston, and sank, dispersed, and then drove out of sight, for a time, the entire hostile fleet; therefore, we, the undersigned, commanders respectively of the naval and land forces in this quarter, do hereby formally declare the blockade by the United States of the said city of Charleston, South Carolina, to be raised by a supe rior force of the Confederate States, from and after this 31st day of January, A. D. 1863." Further efforts for the same end were put forth; the foreign consuls in Charleston took a pleasant sail the same day in one of the rebel steamers, to see for themselves that no blockade existed; Benjamin, the rebel

CH. XXVII.]

PROJECTED NAVAL ATTACK.

293

secretary of state, gave notice of the a considerable force to aid in this imgratifying condition of affairs to his agents abroad, and it was hoped that foreign nations would act accordingly, on the faith of his word; all this, however, was quite useless. They paid no attention to Beauregard or his fellow rebels; and when Dupont sent an emphatic refutation of the above proclamation, and set forth the real state of the case, there was no further talk made of the glorious results attained on the morning of January 31st.

portant undertaking. He, however, for some unexplained reason, returned to North Carolina, leaving his troops to take part in the work now close at hand. On the 5th of March, Hunter issued a general order, announcing the long. expected forward movement, and promising the due rewards of bravery and good conduct, and his force, consisting of about 7,000 men, was brought to Stono Inlet.* As their share in attacking the rebels depended on the success of the naval operations, they were compelled to be lookers-on, and, we are sorry to say, had no opportunity of responding to the appeals in Hunter's address to them.

Beauregard, in command at Charleston, and not an inattentive observer of what was going on, had been actively engaged for a long time in employing all his engineering skill to render Char

In order to test the capabilities of the iron-clads, recently arrived, Capt. Drayton was ordered, on the 3d of March, to take the Passaic, the Patapsco, and the Nahant, and make a concentrated attack upon Fort McAllister (see p. 290). Three mortar boats were also added to the attacking force. The latter, sheltered by a bend of the stream, opened fire, followed by the monitors. The firing was kept up dur-leston impregnable; and as early as the ing the day, and by the mortar boats during the night. The result was so far decisive as fully to prove the strength and good qualities of the monitors. The sand fort, protected from a concentrated attack by the channel and obstructions, though often struck, resisted, without serious damage, the mass of metal thrown upon it. The fleet of monitors, after a third trial, returned to Port Royal to prepare for the attack on Charleston.

18th of February, apprehending what was to come, he issued a proclamation, urging all non-combatants to retire, and appealing to "all the able-bodied men, from the seaboard to the mountains, to rush to arms. Be not too exacting (he said) in the choice of weapons; pikes and scythes will do for exterminating your enemies, spades and shovels for

In order that the troops in the department might be placed in active service, Hunter, at the same time,

ordered that the able-bodied male negroes between the ages of eighteen and fifty, within the military lines of

the department, be drafted to serve for garrison pur. poses. As a matter of general interest, in this connec

tion, we may mention here, that the negro troops sent

In view of the projected naval attack, and in order to increase the strength of the military arm in the department to Florida, in March, did excellent service, and sustainof the South, Gen. Foster, in commanded the opinion of those who held that with proper of the North Carolina department, was drilling and with fair opportunity, they would show sent with a large siege equipage, and soldiers.

themselves capable of becoming good and reliable

protecting your firesides. To arms, hawken, Capt. Jno. Rodgers; 2. Pas

fellow-citizens! Come to share with us our danger, our brilliant success, our glorious death."

During the month of March the preliminary preparations for the attack having been completed, the vessels of the fleet and transports were forwarded to the place of rendezvous on North Edisto River. As it was important for crossing the bar with the iron-clads, to secure the advantage of the high spring tides at the beginning of April, Dupont watched carefully the opportune moment. On the 5th of April, after several days of high wind, the sea being very smooth and the tides favorable, the fleet left its anchorage, and early in the forenoon arrived at the blockading station off Charleston har bor. Here, Commander Boutelle, of the Coast Survey, assisted in sounding and marking out the channel,-a new one, formed by the sinking of the "stone fleet," which was found of a greater depth of water than the old. These and other matters occupied the day. Early on Early on the following morning, the 6th, the iron-clad fleet crossed the bar and was ranged opposite Morris Island, at the southern entrance of the harbor, within a mile of the shore; but that day was lost for active operations by a thick haze which prevented any observations of the shore. At noon, on the 7th of April, signal was given by the Admiral from his flag ship, the New Ironsides, for the vessels to weigh anchor. According to the plan of attack, they were to take position in the following order, at intervals of one cable's length, viz.: 1. Wee

saic, Capt. Drayton ; 3. Montauk, Commander Worden; 4. Patapsco, Commander Ammen; 5. New Ironsides, Commodore Turner; 6. Catskill, Commander G. W. Rodgers; 7. Nantucket, Commander Fairfax; 8. Nahant, Commander Downes; 9. Keokuk, Lieut.Commander A. C. Rhind. The flag ship, New Ironsides, was a formidable iron-covered battery, mounted eighteen guns; sixteen 11-inch and two 200pounder Parrots; the rest were of the monitor class, and had each two guns, mostly an 11-inch and 15-inch gun in a single turret, with the exception of the Keokuk, which had two turrets with an 11-inch gun in each. The Canandaigua, and four other gunboats of the squadron, constituted a reserve outside the bar, and were to support the iron-clads, when Fort Sumter being reduced, they should be ready to attack the batteries on Morris Island.

1863.

The preparations made by Beaure gard and his fellow laborers for the defence of Charleston were of the most extensive and formidable character. Beginning with the northern or eastern entrance by way of Maffit's Channel, there were, on Sullivan's Island, beside Fort Moultrie, two large and powerful sand batteries guarding the channel; there was Fort Sumter, built on an artificial island in the middle of the chan nel near the entrance of the inner harbor, a mile and a half west of Fort Moultrie, and strengthened to the very highest degree; there was Battery Bee, Mount Pleasant battery on the main land, and Castle Pinckney built on an

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