CHAPTER XXVI.

THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.

(From February, 1862, to June, 1863.)

REDAL OBSTRUCTIONS-LOSS OF THE MONITOR-RAID OF THE REBEL IRON-CLADS. —-ABSURD STATEMENTS.-DESTRUCTION OF THE NASHVILLE.-CONFLICT WITH FORT MCALLISTER-RE NEWAL OF THE ATTACK.-ANECDOTES.-PREPARATIONS FOR THE ATTACK UPON CHARLESTON.—— THE TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT.-REPULSE OF THE IRON-CLADS.

FROM the Valley of the Mississippi we must now return to the Atlantic coast. On the 11th of February, 1862, Edisto Island, in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., was occupied by the Forty-seventh New York Regiment of Volunteers, under General Sherman. From this time dates the commencement of operations against Charleston. Edisto Island is about twelve miles long and nine broad. It is about forty miles south of Charleston. The island is low and flat and somewhat marshy, and is intersected by creeks through which the ocean-tides ebb and flow. A sluggish bayou separates it from the main land. Upon the arrival of the patriot troops, in their gunboats, the planters fled in haste, applying the torch to their cotton as extensively as they could, and yet leaving not a little of the precious commodity to be gathered by the Unionists.

On the last of March, Major-General David Hunter was intrusted with the command of the Department of the South, which then embraced portions of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. General Sherman had al ready commenced proceedings for the capture of Fort Pulaski. He was, however, removed before he had time to carry out his plans; and, in April, the fort surrendered to the ponderous guns of General Gillmore.

The rebels had so obstructed and fortified the main entrance to Charleston harbor, that it was deemed necessary to seek a new place of entry. The Stono River, which flows to the ocean west of James Island, is connected with the Ashley, opposite Charleston, by a narrow stream called Wappoo Creek. Commodore Dupont, who was at the head of the naval force, had the channel of Stono River sounded and buoyed, and on the 20th of May, three gunboats, the Madilla, Pembina, and Ottawa, crossed the bar and commenced the ascent of the stream. They found upon the banks, as they cautiously steamed along, a number of deserted earthworks. Having ascended the river about ten miles, they came to Wappoo Creek. They were now within three miles of Charleston, and the steeples of the city could be plainly discerned from the mast-heads of the steamers. At the entrance of the creek they found some batteries, which their guns speedily silenced. As they had, however, no force to land and take pos

session of them, the boats returned, having performed simply an important reconnoissance.

Early in July, Generals Hunter and Benham arrived with considerable reenforcements of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and landed on James Island. For some time there were frequent but unimportant skirmishings with the foe. Thus nearly a year passed away, while we merely held the few positions we had taken on the Sea Islands which line the coast of South Carolina.

On the 29th of September, 1862, the renowned iron-clad Monitor, J. P. Bankhead, commander, left Hampton Roads for Charleston, in tow of the Rhode Island. It was a fine day, and the sea was smooth. Early the next morning the wind began to rise, and the swelling sea washed over the low deck and dashed against the pilot-house. Soon the steamer began to leak, but, by the aid of the pumps, was kept free from any embarrassing flood of water. As they approached Hatteras, the storm increased in violence. The immense surges, dashing up against the flat surface of the projecting armor, caused the ship, iron-bound as she was, to shiver from stem to stern. The violence of the concussion was so great as gradually to break the upper hull from the lower. The water began to rush in in such a flood that the pumps, though throwing out two thousand gallons a minute, could make no headway against it. The Rhode Island was stopped to see if the strain in towing aggravated the difficulty, but there was no perceptible difference.

At half past ten at night, signals of distress were made, and the Monitor was run under the lee of the Rhode Island, and two boats were sent for the rescue of her crew. The waves were then dashing entirely over her turret, and the tumultuous night was black with heavy clouds and driving rain. In the confusion of the scene, the sharp, solid iron edge of the Monitor came in contact with the port quarter of the wooden steamer, crushing her launch, and narrowly escaping inflicting the same injury upon the steamer herself. Thus admonished, the vessels were put at a safe distance from each other. The boats with great peril moved to and fro over the plunging waves, and, under the skilful guidance of Captain Trenchard, the crew of the Monitor were rescued. While the boats were engaged in this service in the midst of this terrific midnight storm, Commander Bank-♦ head learned that the rising water had quenched the fires of the Monitor, and that her wheel ceased to move. In order to keep her head to the wind, the anchor was dropped. The deck was now entirely submerged, and several of the crew had been washed overboard. It was with extreme peril that the men could escape from the tower, run the gauntlet of the waves dashing across the deck, and reach the boats, which were surging up and down, and swept here and there almost uncontrolled upon the stormy sea.

Some of the men preferred to remain in the turret, hoping that the ship might outride the gale, rather than run the risk of trying to escape to the boats. The boats were again filled with those who were willing to attempt it, and reached the Rhode Island in safety. Again another boat was manned by heroes, to go to the rescue of those who still remained. Nothing could be seen, through the black night and the storm, but the red

lantern, gleaming like a meteor, from the turret of the Monitor. The lifeboat had not long been gone, lost in the darkness, ere the light disappeared, and the brave little iron-clad, which had won the nation's heart as inanimate object never did before, was engulfed. The Rhode Island steamed as near the spot where the light was last seen as possible, but the iron-clad had gone down like lead. The boat which had gone to the rescue was nowhere to be found. Whether overwhelmed by the waves or drawn down into the vortex of the sinking ship, can never be known. All night the Rhode Island remained, burning signal-lights; but the morning revealed naught save the wide and gloomy waste of an angry sea.

Subsequently, several others of the turreted iron-clads were sent to Charleston, and, although some of them encountered very severe storms, they all arrived in safety. They were all, however, found exceedingly uncomfortable at sea, to both officers and men. In the course of five months quite a little fleet of these formidable iron-clads was gathered at Port Royal, and preparations were made for a formidable attack upon Charleston.

While these preparations were in progress, on the 31st of January, 1863, an affair occurred off Charleston harbor which created much excitement at the time, from the atrociously false statements made by the rebel General Beauregard. About four o'clock in the morning, during a thick haze, 70 rebel iron steam-rams, the Chicora and Palmetto State, came out of Charleston harbor to make an attack upon our blockading fleet, hoping also to recover a valuable blockade-runner, the Princess Royal, which had been captured the day before by our gunboats. The blockading squadron consisted mainly of vessels from the merchant marine, which had been hastily altered into men-of-war. The Mercedita, one of these, was quietly at anchor, enveloped in the fog, at half-past four o'clock in the morning, when suddenly Lieutenant Abbott saw through the haze the smoke of a steamer rapidly approaching. He hailed the ship, and with the next breath gave the command to fire. The crew were instantly at their guns. But the stranger, which proved to be the rebel ram Palmetto State, sat so low in the water and was already so near, that the guns from the Mercedita could not be brought to bear upon her. The ram, unimpeded, drove her iron prow into the side of the Mercedita, tearing a large hole below the water-line, and at the same moment fired a heavy rifle-shell, which passed through the condenser and steam-drum, and exploded as it passed through the other side of the ship, blowing a hole four or five feet square in its exit, and killing one gunner. The escape of the steam instantly filled large portions of the ship, killing three and severely scalding two of the crew. The wounded vessel, deprived of all motive-power, seemed to be rapidly sinking, and not a gun could be brought to bear upon the foe.

"Surrender, or I'll sink you!" shouted the ram. "Do you surrender?" "I can make no resistance," the commander of the Mercedita replied; "I am sinking."

The rebels then ordered a boat to be sent to them. Lieutenant-Commander Abbott went on board the rebel craft and surrendered the ship; pledging his word of honor that neither he nor any of the officers or crew

of the Mercedita would again take up arms against the Confederate States unless exchanged.

The ram then pushed forward, and soon encountered another of the blockading squadron, the Keystone State, which, alarmed by suspicious appearances, had slipped her cable, in preparation for any emergency. The ram rapidly approached, and receiving a ball from the patriot ship, returned a shell, for which she received in reply a full broadside. In less time almost than we have taken to describe the scene, another rebel ram, the Chicora, made its appearance, and opened fire. In the confusion the Keystone took fire, and bore away for ten minutes until the fire could be subdued. She then returned, to renew the conflict with the two rebel ironclads.

Her commander, William E. Leroy, gallantly made for one of the rebel steamers, with the intention of running her down. Facing a storm of shot and shell, ten of which struck the ship, some below the water-line, and killing twenty men and wounding as many more, the steamer pressed on until a shell pierced the steam-chimney, depriving the ship of all ability to At this critical moment, when there were two feet of water in the hold and the ship was on fire, three Union ships, the Augusta, the Quaker City, and the Memphis, came to the rescue. Boldly they presented their wooden walls to their mailed adversaries. Opening a vigorous fire upon the two rebels, they compelled them to cease their assaults upon the wounded Keystone State.

move.

The fleet was now thoroughly aroused, and other vessels came bearing down upon the rebel rams. Impregnable as they were, shot and shell were rained upon them so fearfully, that they turned upon their heels, and ran back under the protection of their forts, where the wooden vessels of the fleet could not follow them. This trivial affair would be hardly worth notice, were it not for the ridiculously false announcement made by the rebel authorities. The rebel Generals Beauregard and Ingraham issued the following official proclamation :-

"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 sunk, dispersed, or drove off and out of sight, for the time, the entire hostile fleet. Therefore we, the undersigned, commanders respectively of the Confederate States naval and land forces in this quarter, do hereby formally declare the blockade by the United States of the said city of Charleston, S. C., to be raised by a superior force of the Confederate States, from and after this 31st day of January, 1863."

The rebel Secretary of State, J. P. Benjamin, whose reputation for truth and honesty had ever been at a very low ebb, added the climax to these absurd assumptions, by transmitting a circular to all the foreign consuls in the Confederacy, stating that the blockade had been broken by the complete dispersion of the blockading squadron, in consequence of a successful attack by the iron-clad steamers. He closed his circular with the following words :

"As you are doubtless aware that, by the law of nations, a blockade, when thus broken by superior force, ceases to exist, and cannot be subse

quently enforced unless established de novo, with adequate force and after due notice to neutral powers, it has been deemed proper to give you the information herein contained, for the guidance of such vessels of your nation as may choose to carry on commerce with the now open port of Charleston."

In addition to this false and foolish announcement, a statement was published, said to be signed by the British Consul in Charleston, who had openly and ardently espoused the cause of secession and slavery, and also by the commander of the British war-steamer Petrel, to the effect that they had been five miles beyond the usual anchorage of the blockading fleet, and that no vessels were to be seen, even with the most powerful glasses, and that therefore they declared the blockade to be raised. This statement was probably a forgery, as it never was reiterated. As neither the British Consul nor the commander denied the statement, it was quite cvident that they were willing that it should produce its effect. The commanding officers of the Housatonic, the Flag, the Quaker City, the Augus ta, the Memphis, and the Stettin, jointly signed a card denying that any vessel was sunk, or that the squadron was driven or departed any distance from its station. They closed their statement with the following words:"We believe the statement that any vessel came anywhere near the usual anchorage of any of the blockaders, or up to the bar after the withdrawal of the rams, to be deliberately and knowingly false. If the statement from the papers, as now before us, has the sanction of the Petrel and the foreign consuls, we can only deplore that foreign officers can lend their official position to the spreading before the world, for unworthy objects, untruthis patent to every officer of the squadron."

The next incident of interest was the destruction of the Nashville, on the Ogeechee River. The Nashville was a very fast steamer, which had formerly run between New York and Charleston, and had been treacherously seized by the rebels in Charleston harbor, as one of the first of their treasonable acts. The vessel was now loaded with cotton to run the blockade, and she had also been armed to cruise as a privateer, as soon as she had landed her freight of cotton in a West Indian port. She was blockaded by several gunboats in the Ogeechee River, near Savannah, Georgia, and was lying under the ponderous guns of Fort McAllister, watching her chance to escape. The fort, of nine guns of the largest calibre, two of them being rifled, was situated at a bend on the right bank of the stream, which commanded a reach of two miles down the river. Formidable obstructions were thrown across the river from the fort, leaving merely a passage large enough for the Nashville to pass through. The Nashville was anchored about five miles above the fort, ready for sea, watching for a chance to put on all steam, in darkness or fog, and escape through the Union gunboats which blockaded the mouth of the river. Two iron-clad river-boats were also nearly completed at Savannah, to assist in getting the rebel privateer to sea.

Quite a fleet of gunboats, several of them iron-clad turrets, were assembled at the mouth of the river. Three objects were in view to destroy the Nashville, to batter down Fort McAllister, and to try the impregna.