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R. W. MASON AND CO.
SJLVAKNALL FRIDAY, JAN. 2T, 1565.
The D<XSr*?.BPTION o\ Sccflies to the
N«e»r. —The following is the system
fey the authorities to distribute
supplies equitably and fairly among
those needing aid. A committee of can
vassers were appointed to take the names
of all the citizens who desire assistance,
and their residences. The same com
mittee will visit each house once a week
nnd leave an order on the City Store for
tin?proper supplies for the ensuing seven
days, and the people will, on delivery of
tttZsw- orders, receive the amount and
kind of supplies that the order calls for.
ft is thieved by this method all will re
ceive attention, and none go hungry,—
T4w system will also prevent evil dis
fxrssd people from overdrawing their
jtfhare, aad will prevent imposition and
fraud.
Q<flrj*: Passages—The steamer Geo.
Cs.pt. Deming, made the run yes
terday morning. from Hilton Head dock
to the wharf at this city in three hours
-quarters—the fastest time, we
believe, yet made between the tw<£,
psiata.
The tteamer Cosmopolitan, C'apt.
Crook it, a day or two since ran from
Beaufort dock to Savannah dock in five
hours, which is regarded as very fast
IMCITR OF A GALLANT OFFICER.
Wa *:te pal ned to learn of the death of
Cornet Bell, of the tth New Hampshire
Regiment, £roia wounds received at Fort
1-ffriyn* Col. Bell came of noble blood,
*dd: low • actions have always been
’Vi'vAthf of his ancestry. He was a brave
and skillful officer, aud had for a long
kins* htsea aix acting Brigadier General.—-
Wis rcildcuce was at Farmington. N. H.,
where bereaves a wife. Many friends,
who have admired him for his bravery,
gMirbifi-iesL liis nice sense of honor, his
geniality in social intercourse, his iiter
ary and udctitific acquirements, and his
nr my high qualities, will learn of his
■4>*atu with sincere regret.
GRAST OS SHERMAN.
The fallowing letter trom Gen. Grant
was read at "a Sherman Testimonial
.meeting at Cdliimbus (Ohio) last week’:
Aawv of the United States,
City Point, Va., Dec. 22, 1864.
EL JR ttimter, .D. Tallmadge, John T.
*Jsr»«ee—Dear Sirs: I have just this mo
aieui received.your printed letter in re-
JUUwts to your promised movement in ac
ftuwlodgement of one of Ohio’s greatest
m. I wrote ou yesterday to my lather
■Whoresides.in-Covington, Ky., on the
same subject, and asked him to inaugur
ate a subscription to present Mrs; Sher
m\a with a furnished house in the City
<D-f Ctacianati. Goo. Sherman is emi
entitled to this mark of coiisidera
, iioa, and I directed my father to head
the subscription with s<>oo for me, and
hirf that amount frMn Gen. -Ingalls,
Chief au* ter master of this army, who
«, equally alive with myself to the emi
ttenffc services of Gen. Sherman-
Whatever direction this enterprise in
favor of General Sherman may take, you
mj.y&isi me down tor the amount named.
i my a word too highly in praise
-Vu Genetai Shemau's services from the
the Rebellion to the present
4\y. and wilf therefore, abstain from
fLi;fo*y of him. Suffice it to say, the
world’s history give no record of his su
periors, .ami but few equals.
I sna. truly glad for tne movement you
litre set on foot, and of the opportunity
«»f aiJdiag my mite in. testimonial of so
great and good * man. Yours truly.
U. S. Grant, Lieut, Gen.
LATER FROM THE NORTH.
DATEB TO JAN. 31.
Wv n VA.’V
THE CAPTURE OP POUT
FXSHER..
Admiral Porter’s Reports.
IMPORTANT DISPATCH FROM
SECRETARY STANTON.
His RefHirt of the Capture of
Fort Fisher.
Statement in regard to Sher
man's Movements*
TKIDE WITH SAVANNAH.
FORT CIS WELL BLOW* UP.
Our frtmboats in the River.
THE SEARCH FOR TORPEDOES.
A Diagram of the Torpedo
System Found.
U. S. Flagship Malvern, off Fort
Fisher, January 15, 1865. —Sir:—l have
the honor to inform you that we have
possession of Fort Fisher, and the fall of
the surrounding works will soon follow.
As I luformed you in my last, we had
commenced operations with the iron
vessels, which bombarded while we land
e I the troops.
On the 14th I ordered all the vessels
carrying 11-inch guus to bombard with
the Ironsides, the Brooklyn taking the
lead.
By sunset the fort was reduced to a
pulp and every guu was silenced by
being injured or covered up with earth
so that they would not work.
On the 14th General Terry and myself
arranged for the assault, and I ordered
fourteen hundred sailors and marines to •
participate.’ A*t daylight the iron ves
sels, the Brooklyn, and the 11-inch gun
boats commenced battering the works,
while the troops made a lodgment with
in one hundred aud fifty yards of the
fort,
Ac 10 o’clock all the vessels steamed
in and took their station, opening a
heavy fire, which wa.t kept up until 3
o’clock p. m , when the signal was made
to assault, the soldiers taking the laud
side and the sailors the sea face, the
ship? changing, but not stopping their
fire, to the other works. The Rebels
met us with a courage w T orthy of a bet -
ter cause, and fought desperately.
About thirty of the sailois and officers
succeeded in getting to the top of the
parapet amidst a murderous fire of grape
eannister and musketry. They had
planted the flag there, but were swept
away in a moment.
Others tried to get up the steep pan
cjjvpe.. The marines could have cleared
the parapet by keeping up a steady fire,
but they failed to do so, and the sailors
were repulsed.
Many a gallant fellow fell while try
ing to emulate his brothers in arms,
who were fighting to obtain an entrance
on the northeast angle, as it appears on
our chart.
The enemy mistook the seamen’s at
tack for the main body of troops, and
opposed a most vigorous resistance
there ; but I witnessed it all, and think
the mariners could have made the as
sault successfully.
In the meantime our gallant soldiers
had gained a foothold on the north-east
corner of the tort, fighting like lions,
and contesting every inch of ground.
The Ironsides "and monitors kept throw
ing shells into the traverses not oc
cupied by our men, but occupied by the
Rebels. In this way our troops fought
from traverse to traverse, from three
o’clock in the afternoon until ten o’clock
at night, when the joyful tidings were
signalled to the fleet.
Wc stopped our fire aad gave them
three ol the heartiest cheers I ever
heard. It has been the most terrific
struggle I ever saw, and very much hard
labor. The troops have covered them
selves with glory, and General Terry is
mv bean idea >of a soldier and a general.
Our co-operation has been most har
monious, and I think the General will
do the navy the credit to .say that this
time at least, we “substantially injured
the fort as a defensive work.”
General Terry had only a few more
troops than we had on the last occasion,
when the enemy had only 150 men in
the works. This time the works were
fully maimed, and contained about 800
men at tie lime of the assault.
It is a matter of great regret to me to
see my gallant men and officers so cut
up; but I was unwilling to let the troops
undertake the capture of the works with
out the navy sharing with them the
peril all were anxious to undergo, and
we should have had the honor of meet
ing our brothers in arms in the works,
had the sailors been properly supported.
We have lost about two hundred in
killed and wounded, and among them
some gallant officers.
I regret to announce the death of
Lieutenant S. W. Preston aad Lieuten
ant B. 11. Porter. They were both cap
tured together in the attack on Fort
Sumter, and died together in endeavor
ing to pull down the flag that has so long
flaunted in our face.
Lieutenant li. H. Sampson was severe
ly wounded. He was lately associated
with Lieutenant Preston in his perilous
adventure of the powder-boat. Lieu
tenant George W. Bache and a number
of others were wounded, the former not
dangerously.
The assault onty took place a few
hours ago, and lam unable to inform
yon of our casualties. They are quite
severe from the assault, but we had no
casualties from the enemy’s cannon.
Knowing the impatience of the De
partment to receive news from Fort
Fisher, 1 have written these few hurried
lines.
No one can conceive what the army
and navy have gone through to achieve
this victory, which should have been
ours onChristmas day without the loss of
a dozen men.
This ha3 been a day of terrible strug
gle;' and not surpassed by any evenfr
the war. We are nearly worn out, and
you must excuse this brief and unsatis
factory account. I will write fully by
the Santiago de Cuba, which goes North
to-morrow to carry the wounded.
Besides the men in Fort Fisher there
were 500 in the upper torts, aud a relief
of about 1500 men brought down by
steamers this morning. So far, I believe,
we have only captured the garnson of
Fort Fisher.
I don’t suppose there ever was a work
subjected to such a terrific bombardment
or where the appearance of a fort was
more altered. There is not a spot of
earth the fort that has not been
tern up by our shells.
I don’t know yet the number of killed
and wounded by our fire, but one 15-
inch shell alone pierced a bomb-proof,
killing 16 aud wounding severely 25.
I presume we are in possession of all
the forts, as Fort Fisher commands them
all. It 7 is so late now that I can learn
nothing morp until morning.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant.
David D. Porter,
Rear Admiral.
Hon. Gideon Welles, Sec’yofthe Navy,
Washington, D. 0.
Fortress Monroe,
_ Tuesday, Tan. 17—10 p. m.
To the President :
The rebel flag of Fort Fisher was de -
livered to me on board the steamer
Spaulding off that place yesterday morn
ing, January 16, by Major General Ter
ry.-
*An acknowledgment and thanks tor
their gallant achievement was given in
your name to Admiral Porter and Gen.
Terry, from whom the following parti
culars were obtained:
The troops arrived off Fort Fisher
Thursday night. Friday they were all
landed under cover of a heavy fire from
the squadron, and reconnoissance was
made by Gen. Terry on Saturday
A strong defensive line against any of
the enemy’s forces coming from Wil
mington was established on Saturday,
and held by 4,000 men, chiefly colored
troops, and an assault was determined
on. The assault was made on Sunday
afternoon, at 3 1-2 o'clock.
The sea-front of the fort had been
greatly damaged and broken by a con
tinuous and terrible fire of tl»e fleet for
three days, and the fort was assaulted at
the hour mentionec by a column of sea
men and marines eighteen hundred
strong, under the command of Captain
Breeze.
They reached the parapet, but after &
short conflict this column was checked*
driven back in disorder, and was after
wards placed on tl*e defensive line, ta
king the place of a brigade that was
brought up to reinforce the assaulting
columns of troops.
Although the assault on the sea front
failed, it performed a very useful part in
diverting the attention of the enemy and
weakening their resistance to the attack
by the troops on the other side.
The assault on the other and most dif
ficult side of the fort was made oy a col
umn of three thousand troops of the old
Tenth Corps, led by Col. Curtis, under
the immediate supervision of Geo- Terry
The enemy’s force in the fort was over
two thousand two hundred. The con
flict lasted lor seven hours.
The works were so constructed that
every traverse afforded the enemy anew
defensive position from whence they had
to be driven. They were B<-ven in num
ber, and the fight was carried on Iron*
traverse to traverse for seven hours by
a skilfully directed fire thrown into the
tranches,' One after another they were
occupied by the enemy.
Admiral Porter contributed to the suc
cess of the assaulting column by signal
between himself and Gen. Terry at brief
intervals. His fire was so well.managed
as to damage the enemy without injury
to our own troops.
At about ten o'clock at night the ene
my were entirely driveo from the fort;
forced down towards Federal Point, fol
lowed by a brigade of our troops, and.
about twelve o'clock at night General
Whiting surrendered himself and his
command to Gen. Terry, unconditional
ly, as prisoners ot war, numbering over
eighteen hundred, the remainder of hi*
force being killed and wounded.
-Our loss was not accurately ascertain
ed on Monday afternoon, but was esti
mated at between seven hundred and
eight hundred in killed and wounded,
besides the naval loss, which was slight,
not exceeding one hundred killed and*
wounded. Nor a ship nor a transport
was lost.
Col. Curtis was severely but not mor
tally wounded. Col. Bell died of his
wounds Monday morning. Col. J. W*.
Moore and Lieut. Col. Lyman were kill
ed. Col. Penuypacker was badly
wounded; also Lieut. Col. A.
complete list of the kill and and wounded
will be forwarded as soon as it can be
prepared.
General Leroy reported to Surgeon Ge
neral Barnes that he had ample provision
of surgeons, nurses and hospital supplies
for the wounded- They will be sent
North to their respective States as fast as
they can be placed on traasporta, ol
which there was amply supply.
On Monday momiug,’ between six and
seven o clock, the magazine of Ftirt
Fisher exploded, killing and wounding
two or three hundred persons.
After the capture of the fort all the
troops were withdrawn, except one brig
ade left in charge of the works.
How the explosion occurred was not
known,but General Terry believed it wfts
occasioned by accident or neglect.
General iloke’s divisou, reported as
five thousand strong, was at Wilming
ton. A portion of it was thrown into
the fort not long before the aeft lit, and
while that was going on a demonstra
tion w&3 made by General Hoke against
our defensive line, but it was fisaod to*
strong for anything more than a skir
mishing attack.
About 11 o'clock ou Monday morning
a heavy cloud of smoke was observed
over Fort Smith, ou the south ride ©f
New Inlet. The naval officer command
ing that station reported that the eneipy
had fired their barracks aud evacuated
that fort.
Yon will be pleased to know that per
fect harmony and concert of action ex
isted between the land and naval lorees
and their respective commanders. Ad
miral Porter and Gen. Terry vied in