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DAMffiR IN JHE PATH
THE BURIED CONFEDERATE TOR
j PEDOES ON THE PENINSULA.
Fltz John Porter Tolls of Thrilling: Ex
periences at Vorktoou—Who -Hade
Planted the Torpedoes—Noble Conduct
of Generals Johnston and Longstreet.
[Copyright, 1897. by American Press Asso
ciation. Book rights reserved.]
T THIS late date
T~Z\ the question is
If raised as to whe
should have the
Jf\\ honor of invent
// 1 ing and placing
1 those infernal
/ machines used by
r the Confederates
in southeastern-
Virgiuia to de
stroy their ene
mies. In his
book, “The Rise
and Fall of the
Confederacy, ’ ’
Jefferson Davis
gives all credit
to one General
Gabriel J. Rains.
Recently Captain Hunter Davidson has
published for the first time his claim—
made before Davis’ death—to a share in
tho work greater than that performed
by Rains. Rains had the full confidence
of his government and was given his
way in spite of protests in high places
against his methods as being a relic tl
barbarism.
The infernal devices were first en
countered on land by our soldiers at
Yorktown, in May, 1862, and I asked
General Fitz John Porter, who com
manded the trenches there, to give his
experience with the “Rains torpedo,”
of which we heard so much at that
time, and, in fact, until the last ditch
was crossed at Petersburg, three years
later.
“My official action as director of the
siege of Yorktown in the Virginia pen
insula in April and May, 1862, may
have and doubtless did give Rains his
prominence in the Confederate service
and draw the attention of the Rich
mond authorities, including Jefferson
Davis, to his peculiar talents,” said
General Porter. “Rains exploited his
startling inventions before Yorktown at
the time of tho evacuation, May 4,
1862, and followed it up next day at
Williamsburg. He it was who caused to
be planted there those torpedoes and
snb terra shells referred to in my official
report to General McClellan of the ad
vance of my soldiers into the abandoned
works and town. In describing the first
steps of the advance I said:
“About 3:30 on the morning of the 4th, upon
explosions and fires in the enemy’s works be
ing reported to me, I directed the generals 01
the trenches, General Jameson and Colonel
McQuade of tho Fourteenth New York, tc
push forward a force into the works. Before
the order was carried into effect General
Jameson informed me that deserters reported
the place abandoned. The commands design
nated to enter the town pushed forward rapid
ly. The one on the left was fired upon from
the Red Fort. Those on the right experienced
some losses from shell planted in the ground,
which exploded when trod upon. Many oi
these shells were concealed in tho streets and
houses of the town and arranged to explode
by treading on tho caps or pulling a wire at
tached to the doors.
“Some injuries were inflicted and
several lives were lost before our men
learned to detect the hidden danger
and avoid it. One of my military teleg
raphers, a young Ohioan named La
throp, entered the town with the skir
mishers and hurried to the telegraph of
fice to test the circuit. The wires had
been cut and left dangling from a pole.
Lathrop sprang to the foot of the pole
intending to climb and make a splice,
but landed upon a buried torpedo and
was so badly injured by the explosion
which followed that he died in a few
hours. The incidents connected with
our advance were duly communicated
to General McClellan, and in a dispatch
to Secretary Stanton, sent the evening
after our occupation of tho stronghold,
the general referred to the sub terra
shells, denouncing the practice severely.
His dispatch quickly reached the head
quarters of the Confederate army
through the medium of the New York
press and an animated correspondence
resulted, Rains playing a principal part.
“Rains was first called to account by
his corps commander, General Long
street, who directed him to cease the
practice of putting out torpedoes and
shells on the retreat. Rains defended
his conduct in the Yorktown affair and
appealed to the war department over
the head of Longstreet. The command
er of the army, General Joseph E. John
ston, then took the matter up, using
McClellan’s dispatch and the facts re
ported by us at the time of our advance.
The case was taken to the Confederate
secretary of war, and Rains came out
ahead. All the correspondence was
found among the Confederate documents
turned over to the war department at
Washington, and is now on file.”
General McClellan’s dispatch was
printed in the New York papers of May
6, 1862, two days after the evacuation
of Yorktown, and the correspondence
between the Confederate generals, insti
gated by the dispatch, took place while
their forces were still retreating toward
Richmond. First in chronological order
is the admonition of General Longstreet
to General Rains, who still command
ed the rear guard, to check pursuit by
McClellan’s army. Under date of May
11 Longstreet wrote:
It is the desire of the major general com
manding that you put out no shells or torpe
does behind you, as he does not recognize it as
a proper or effective, method of war.
Rains promptly sent the order back
with a lengthy indorsement of his own,
from which the following are extracts,
and another penned by his immediate
superior officer, General D. H. Hill:
INDORSEMENT BY GENERAL RAINS.
A shell which can be prepared and unpre
pared and a sentinel to keep our
e>v. are all that is wanted for our
These shells give us decided advantage over
our foe invading our soil, especially in frus
trating night surprises, requiring but little
powder for great results in checking advancing
columns at all times.
For, their being proper for war, they are as
much no oh ambuscades, masked batteries and
mines. For their effectiveness I refer to tho
enemy.
Believing as I do the vast advantages to our
country to be gained from this.iu volition I am
unwilling to forego it, and hi-g leave to appeal
direct to the war department.
Respectfully forwarded.
In my opinion all means of destroying our
brutal enemies are lawful and proper.
D. H. HILL.
General Joseph E. Johnston, com
mander of tho army in the field, on the
day following General Longstreet’s ac
tion instituted an inquiry through the
headquarters of General D. H. Hill.
His letter, dated May 12, was as fol
lows:
General Johnston desires that you lnquiro
Into the inclosed report, taken from the New
York Herald, May 6, 1802, to ascertain If there
is any truth in the statement, to find out if
there were any torpedoes placed, and if so,
when, where and by whom.
The works where tho enemy say the torpe
does were placed were those at Yorktown.
[lnclosure.]
TORPEDOES.
[Extract from General McClellan’s report.]
The rebels have been guilty of the most
murderous and barbarous conduct in placing
torpedoes within tho abandoned works near
wells and springs and near flagstaffs, maga
zines and telegraph offices, in carpetbags,
barrels of flour, etc.
We have not lost many men in this manner
some four or five killed and perhaps a dozon
wounded. I shall mako tho prisoners remove
them at their own peril.
These papers were sent to Major Gen
eral Hill, were referred by bim to Brig
adier General Rains and were answered
under date of May 14.
In explanation of the torpedoes Rains
wrote:
That invention is strictly mine, as well as
the essential parts of Colt’s weapons, for tiie
use of which I have never been called to ac
count.
If it be required to know what use I have
made of the invention, I answer I commanded
at Yorktown for the last soven months, and
when General McClellan approached with his
army of. 100,000 men and opened his cannon
upon us I had but 2,600 In garrison, and our
whole army of the peninsula, under Major
General Magruder, amounted to but 9,300 ef
fective men. Then, at a salient angle, an ac
cessible point of our works, as part of the de
fenses thereof, I had the land mined with the
weapons alluded to, to destroy assailants and
prevent escalaide. Subsequently, with a similar
view, they were placed at spots I never saw.
And, again, when at Williamsburg, we were
ordered to turn upon our assailants and com
bat with them * * * some four shells, found
abandoned by our artillery, were hastily pre
pared by my efforts and put in a road near a
tree felled across, mainly to have a moral ef
fect in checking the advance of the enemy—for
they were too small to do more—to save our
sick, wounded and enfeebled who straggled in
our rear. * * *
All the papers in the case were sent
to G. W. Randolph, the Confederate
secretary of war, who indorsed thereon
the rules adopted at Richmond.
Whether shells planted in roads or parapets
are contrary to the usages of war depends
upon the purpose with which they are used.
It is not admissible in civilized warfare to
take life with no other object than the destruc
tion of life; hence it is inadmissible to shoot
sentinels and pickets, because nothing is at
tained but the destruction of life. It would be
admissible, however, to shoot a general, be
cause you not only take life, but deprive an
army of its head.
It is admissible to plant shells in a parapet
to repel an ussault or in a road to check pur-
GENERAL FITZ JOHN PORTER,
suit, because the object is to save the work in
one case and tho army in the other.
It is not admissible to plant shells merely to
destroy life and without other design than
that of depriving your enemy of a few men
without materially injuring him.
It is admissible to plant torpedoes in a river
or harbor, because they drive off blockading
or attacking fleets.
As Generals Rains and Longstreet differ in
this matter, tho inferior in rank should give
way, or, if he prefers it, he may he assigned
to the river defenses, where such things are
clearly admissible.
“The truth is that the torpedoes at
Yorktown were planted by the Confed
erates a night or two before they left
the works,” continued General Porter,
after reviewing tho statement of Rains,
in the official records, “and they were
put there with the evident intention of
checking a rush by my soldiers. This is
shown by the fact that some of my sol
diers had advanced a day or two before
the evacuation nearer to Yorktown than
the ground where the torpedoes were
encountered on the 4th, and they found
none. They were placed on roads and
near roads and other most accessible
places for onr men to advance where
they would do harm in case of a rush
upon tho retreating Confederates. There
was a stick attached to each torpedo
which protruded above the ground to
show the Confederates where they were,
so they could avoid them in their move
ments about the lines.”
Within a month after the official in
quiry into Rains’ conduct at Yorktown
he was assigned to the charge of the
submarine defenses of the James and
Appomattox rivers and remained in sim
ilar service to tho end of the war.
George L. Kilmer.
Kipling's Assignment.
The Springfield Republican says:
“The report that Rudyard Kipling, oui
Brattleboro neighbor, who has been in
England of late, has been sent to Crete
as Svar correspondent of the London
iTimes at a salary of $5,000 a month, is
(confirmed by letters received by bis
friends in Vermont. Both parties to this
contract are to be congratulated—The
Times on obtaining a ‘feature’ of such
great interest as Kipling’s letters will
be, and the novelist and Boswell of the
British private soldier on securing a
'profitable outing that ought to be much
to his liking. There will be not only
plenty of present fun and excitement in
this assignment, but a wealth of ‘ma
terial’ for future literary use.”
THE TIMES: BRUNSWICK, GA., SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 2, 1896.
HEROES OF SUMTER.
SOLDIERS WHO FIRED THE SHOTS
HEARD ROUND THE WORLL.
Noted Officers Who Were In the Fort
With Major Anderson Heroism In th€
Ranks —General Beauregard's Aids Un
der Fire Truth About the First Shot.
[Copyright, 1597, by American Press Asso
ciation. Book rights reserved.]
/OHIK AJOR ANDER
SON and five
111 Vf Ilf captains and lieu-
St 11 111 tenants with him
l!|l I j |!|| at Sumter be-
Aa Ok tp|!j came major gen-
li| 9 era 1 s in the
1 AV w Union army.
I ISBui! Doubleday fired
J | the first gun ill
J BBBpIfY 1 t re Ply to Beaure
“l \ \ gard’s batteries.
-■ ainSjKßsjji; 1 He served with
= —, ■ distinction in the
I, -Mtap Army of the Po-
PSIU - tomac. Captain
~~ ||Ps _ J- G. Foster
served under
'ZJn Burnside in
North Carolina,
'-J' and later in the
west. Lieutenant Jeff C. Davis com
manded a section of Doubleday’s com
pany at Sumter and was afterward a
distinguished corps commander in the
west. Dr. S. W. Crawford also acted as
a subordinate to Doubleday. He con
tinued to handle the sword and was a
gallant division general at the close of
the war. Lieutenant Truman Seymour
arose to the command of a division.
Lieutenant Norman J. Hall was the
leader of a brigade which aided in the
repulse of Pickett’s charge at Gettys
burg. Soon after that he retired from
the army on account of ill health. He
was then a colonel of volunteers. One
of the lieutenants, R. K. Meade, joined
the Confederacy after the fall of Sum
ter and died in that service. Another
of -the lieutenants, Snyder of the en
gineers, died soon after the commence
ment of hostilities.
Sumter’s flag fell at 1 o’clock on the
12th, but not because it had been hauled
down. The staff had been struck and
the halyards'cut in two. When the flag
came down, Lieutenant Hall secured it
and fixed it on a temporary staff. With
the aid of Lieutenant Snyder and Pri
vate Hart, it was hoisted under fire
upon the parapet at the middle, facing
the enemy’s guns. The Soldier Hart
distinguished himself many times that
day. Through his activity the flames
were kept from spreading in dangerous
quarters aud to him was giveu the cred
it of saving the powder magazines.
Major Anderson gave orders that
only the casement guns of Sumter
should be used in reply to the enemy.
These were the guns fired through em
brasures in the wall answering to the
ports of a battleship. The barbette guns
on the parapet were the only shell guns
in the fort. So the answering fire was
of solid shot against shell. Seeing the
disadvantage, one of the gunners,
named Carmody, stole away to the
ramparts and coolly fired every barbette
gun in position on the Moultrie side.
Carmody was unable to run the guns
back single handed for loading aud
could not a'loue fight the whole Confed
eracy with suitable weapons.
In another part of tho fort there was
a ten inch columbiad in barbette, which
also came under Anderson’s prohibition.
It was loaded and trained, and two
sergeants, watching their chances, stole
into the gorge aud fired it. The shot
barely missed smashing tho famous
Confederate iron battery.
The , sergeants determined fo try
again, and after some tugging got tho
gun back and reloaded it. They could
not spring it into position again, but
trained it where it stood. One sergeant
went below to see that the coast was
clear, and the other lay, lanyard in
hand, ready to pull. The Confederates
had noticed the new combatant and
turned their best shots upon the gorge.
Shells crashed around the prostrate
gunner, and at last he pulled the lan
yard, unable to wait longer. Tua big
gun recoiled over the stop blocks and
somersaulted across the stairway. In
spite of the accident tho secret was well
kept, and Major Anderson never knew
how the columbiad came to be dis
mounted. The plucky sergeant’s shot
was a splendid one and struck just be
neath the middle embrasure of the iron
battery, where Charleston’s Palmetto
guards stood to the guns. It showered
the battery with sand, aud had it been
aimed a trifle higher would have enter
ed the embrasure.
After the fire had gained headway in
the fort and was nearing the magazine
the excitement was intense. But the
men turned cheerfully from fighting the
enemy outside to the new enemy inside.
Soldiers brought blankets soaked with
water and spread them over the loaded
shells and hand grenades. As the flames
spread and drew near the main mag
azine the men rolled out barrels of pow
der in the midst of falling cinders to
have it ready for service at the guns.
There were several missions .sent ont
by Boauregard to Major Anderson be
fore and after the lowering of the flag.
In all of them one man was conspicu
ous. That was Captain James Chesnut,
afterward a Confederate general. Cap
tain Chesnut was one of three aids who
went to the fort under a white flag on
April 11 to demand surrender. The de
mand was refused.
About 1 o’clock on the morning of
the 12th Captain Chesnut again ap
peared at .Sumter, and remained there
until past 8 o’clock, awaiting Major
Anderson’s reply. He had orders in his
pocket to the commander of the bat
teries on James island to open fire in
case Anderson remained firm in his pur
pose to hold the fort. On leaving ho
placed in Anderson’s hand a written
notice that the hostile guns would open
in one hour. These trips were made in
an open rowboat, which was pulled to
Fort Johnson, and reached there at 4
o’clock.
From Fort Johnson Captain Chesnut
started by boat to report to Beauregard
in Charleston. He was rowed out into
the harbor between Forts Johnson and
Sumter, and there lay to until the sig
nal shot was seen to burst over the tar
get.
After delir'ering bis report to Beaure
gard the captain was again sent in his
open boat down tho harbor, now alive
with shells from Sumter and all its ad
versaries, including Fort Moultrie. Tho
boat reached Morris island in safety,
passing under the guns which were fir
ing vigorously. Captain Chesnut’s in
structions were to learn the condition
of the southern batteries exposed to
Sumter’s shots, and also that of Sum
ter. His boat ran out in the harbor to
ward Sumter, and be saw that the
buildings in the fort were on fire.
About that time the firing from Sumter
ceased. But tho flag was still waving.
Captain Chesnut determined to make
one more demand for the evacuation
and was preparing to go out in the boat
when the United States flag suddenly
disappeared from the historic walls.
Word was brought from Anderson that
he would evacuate, and the captain has
tened to the city with the news.
The next mission of Captain Ches
nut was one of mercy. The quarters in
Fort Sumter had been set on fire by hot
shot from Moultrie, aud the condition
of its magazine was not known to those
outside. It was supposed that there
must be some wounded needing care. A
fire engine and its company were loaded
on board a steamer, and with a surgeon
and his staff of assistants the relief
party hurried to tho burning fort. On
nearing tho wharf tho steamer was
warned away by an officer in the fort,
who stated that it was in danger of
blowing up at any moment from the
mines placed beneath the wall at that
point as a means of defense.
Captain Chesnut entered the fort
through an embrasure and offered the
services of his firemen and surgeons to
Major Anderson. Only one man had
been wounded, and the fire had burned
itself out. The lower magazine was
under the burning ruins, but was deem
ed safe. The upper one had been emp
tied by casting the powder barrels into
the sea.
In most histories the first Confeder
ate shot at Fort Sumter is wrongly at
tributed to Edmund Ruffin of Virginia,
a venerable man, who is called one of
the fathers of secession. This tradition
spoils a good story, aud I give the facts
from official history as a setting for an
incident worth preserving.
General Beauregard, commander of
tho provisional army of South Carolina,
says in his official report, “The signal
shell was fired from Fort Johnson at
4:80 a. m. ” Fort Johnson was on
James island. It was a three gun bat
tery, with a four gun mortar battery
near by. The post was known as Fort
Johnson. The official journal of Cap
tain J. G. Foster, the Federal engineer
in Sumter, says, “At 4:30 a. m. a sig
nal shell was thrown from the mortar
battery on James island.”
One of Beauregard’s aids, who deliv
ered the ultimatum to Major Anderson
and carried his reply back to shore, Cap
tain Stephen D. Lee, tells the story as
follows in The Century war papers:
“The boat containing the two aids
and also Roger A. Pryor of Virginia
went immediately from Sumter to Fort
Johnson, on James island, and the or
der to fire the signal gun was given to
Captain George S. James, commanding
the battery at that point. Captain
James at once arranged to carry out the
order. He was a great admirer of Roger
A. Pryor, and said to him, ‘You are
the only man to whom I would give the
honor of firing the first gun of the war, ’
and offered to allow him to fire it.
“Pryor was very much agitated.
With a husky voice he said, ‘I could not
GEN. DOUBLEDAY, U. S. A.
ROBERT ANDERSON. S. W. CRAWFORD.
fire the first gun of the war. ’ Captain
James would allow no one else but him
self to fire the first gun. It was fired at
4:60 a. m., and burst immediately over
the fort. ”
General Beauregard mentions Edward
Ruffin in his report, and locates him
at the Iron battery on Morris island.
Colonel De Saussure, commander of tho
Morris island batteries, says in his re
port that his guns opened at 4:48 after
the signal agreed upon had been given.
Colonel Do Saussurc’s subordinate,
Major Stevens, says that the batteries
on Morris island opened after the signal
shell had been fired from Fort Johnson.
Ruffin served in tho Palmetto guard,
which manned two batteries on Morris
island, the Point (Cummings) and the
Iron batteries. Captain Cuthbert of tho
Palmettos is very explicit in his report.
He says: “The mortar battery of Cum
mings point opened fire on Fort Sumter
in its turn after the signal shell from
Fort Johnson, having been preceded by
the mortar batteries on Sullivan’s is
land and the Marion artillery (Morris
island). At tlio dawn of day tlio Iron
battery commenced its work. The first
Shell, fired by tlio venerable Edmund
Ruffin, burst directly upon the parapet
of the fort. ’ ’
The “dawn of day,” which was tho
time Ruffin fired his columbiad, is
placed by’ several witnesses more than
an hour after the signal gun. Mean
while the bombardment liatf been going
on steadily from the several batteries
bearing upon tho doomed fort.
George L. Kilmer.
BY SUMTER’S WALLS.
1
BATTLES OF THE WARSHIPS IN
'CHAfIL£STO^-[me6R-^._
Hu id by the Confederate Ironclad Hams.
Gallantry of Captain Worden, Hero of
the Monitor—Destroying Cruisers—At
tack of, the Ships on Fort Sumter.
[Copyright, 1897, by American Press Asso
ciation. Book rights reserved.]
O M B A R D
- MENT, blockad
ed <. itig and blockade
running were the
✓/jyjjy. chief features of
■f—re ff \the war in
4“wLd / J har-
NJ. s' Vbor. The mimic
jEBJ Aq- blockading cam-
Admiral
|.| w\ Bunco’s fleet in
S was one free
g|sgg£f-a&y pecially the dan
ger thatconfrout
ed the real block
ading 32 to 86
years ago. The first formidable attempt
to raise the blockade was made at the
very close of the second year of the war.
Tho attempt originated with General
Beauregard, the commander of the de
partment, who arrived at about that
time from the seat of war in tho val
ley of the Mississippi. It was in the na
ture of a raid by ironclad rams, some
thing like that made by tho famous
Merrimao in Hampton Roads in March
the previous year. Tho raiding vessels
at Charleston were the Palmetto State
and Chicora, which crossed the bar be
fore daylight and steamed silently down
toward the enemies. The United States
steamship Mercedita lay directly in the
path of the Palmetto State, which stood
for her, intending to strike with her
prow. The Mercedita was taken by sur
prise. Her outlook hailed the stranger
with: “What steamer is that? Drop
your anchor! You will be into usl”
Tho saucy answer came back, “This
is the Palmetto steamer of the Confed
erate States. ” Commander Stillwagon
of the Mercedita quickly ordered the
guns to be opened. At the same instant
the ram crashed into his vessel, and one
of her guns put a seven inch shell
through the Mercedita’s condenser and
steam drum, tearing a hole in her port
side five feet square. She instantly filled
with steam, and voices called out from
below: “Shot through the boilers! Fire
put out! Water over fireroom floor! Ves
sel sinking fast!”
“Surrenderor I sink you!” shonted
the commander of the Palmetto State.
Stillwagon responded: “I can mako no
resistance. I surrender. ”
All this happened before the rest of
the vessels of the Federal fleet were
aware of the attack. Meanwhile the
Chicora had passed on to sea, moving
in a circle in the midst of the fleet and
firing at everything in sight. The Unit
ed States steamer Keystone Stylo, Com
mander Leßoy, stood off her urse, and
having taken the alarm froiflthe firing
of the Mercedita and Palpitto State
peppered the ram with sEcus, which
rolled idly down her iron sides. Leßoy
then drove his vessel hard at the Chi
cora, aiming to strike her stern. But
the latter turned, and with her forward
pivot gun sent an incendiary shell into
tho Keystone, disabling her port wheel
and setting her on fire fore and aft. Le-
Roy ordered on steam, and took his ves
sel out of the fight just long enough to
extinguish the flames, then again steered
for the ram. Before he could strike,
however, the guns of tho Chicora
pierced his hull several times with
shells, and finally sent one through
both her steam drums. The other Fed
eral vessels within reach gave the rams
plenty of sea room until the latter re
turned leisurely to their moorings in
the harbor.
General Beauregard was besido him
self with exultation over this fight of
the ironclads. He published to tho
world that the blockade, or the boast
ed blockade, of Charleston harbor
was raised. However, tho incident
only Lad the effect of setting up the
Federal authorities to strengthen the
blockading fleet. A number of the
new ironclad monitors were immediate
ly sent to Charleston harbor. The orig
inal Monitor, victor over the Merrimac,
sank on tfcs way down from Fortress
Monroe. Her old commander, Captain
Worden, had been transferred to the
deck of the Montauk, one of the vessels
of the now blockading fleet. Another of
the newcomers was tho Passaic, com
manded by a son of South Carolina,
CAPTAIN DBAYTON.
Captain Percival Drayton. Drayton had
commanded his ship in the bombard
ment of Port Royal, where his Confed
erate brother, Thomas Drayton, led the
enemy’s forces.
Ironclads were an experiment for the
kind of work to be done in subduing tlio
stronghold of Charleston, with her forts
and strongly fortified batteries. But an
attack must be made. The temper of the
northern people demanded it, and in
order to try the new iron armor the
monitors were sent before Fort McAllis
ter, just across tho lino of South Caro
lina at Savannah. On tho 27th of Feb
ruary, 1808, Captain Worden went
down with the Montank and steamed up
within 100 yards of the guns of the fort.
The Moutauk lay for four hours under
fire and was repeatedly hit, but escaped
ecrio-nr-injuiyr Captain
Drayton went down there w?ta~thi'ag*
monitors. He opened on the fort with
the Passaic, and after an eight hours'
fight declared that, lie could repair all
damages to his vessels in one night’s
work. After that experiment the iron
clads were put in trim for a great at
tack upon the most formidable of the
Confederate strongholds, Fort Sumtel
aud Battery Wagner.
There was an incident connected with
Captain Worden’s bombardment of Mc-
Allister that should be recorded to the
credit of that hero. The blocakde run
ner Nashville, which had been cut off
in an attempt to pass out of the harbor,
and hemmed in by the Federal fleet,
then transformed into an armored priva
teer, lay in tho river above Fort Mc-
Allister. Sho was surrounded with tor
pedoes. Captain Worden learned from
scouts that she was awaiting her chance
to slip out past the blockade, and he
promptly steamed up to verify the re
port. Sighting the Nashville a short
distance above Fort McAllister, he
went ahead in bold defiance of the tor
pedoes and of the guns of the fort,
which were bearing upon the channel.
Going within 1,200 yards of the Nash
ville, he opened upon her with sheila
aud continued firing until she burst
into flames and blow up. Turning hack,
he ran with tho Moutauk the gantlet ol
fire, both shot and shell, from the fort
aud batteries opposite. Near the mouth
of the li.ver she struck upon a subma
rine torpedo, which tore a chunk out oi
her hull, aud she grounded finally
within reach of companion vessels,
which had stood at a distance to wit
ness Worden’s gallant exploit.
Throughout the winter months ol
1863 General Beauregard pushed for
ward the work to prepare for the de
fense of Charleston to the bitter end
against attack by the new fleet of Fed
eral monitors. Forts Sumter and Moul
trie aud Battery Wagner were doubled
in Rtrougth by adding guns, and above
Morris and Sullivan islands, on the side
toward tho channel, the shores were
studded with heavy batteries. The guns
of the batteries bore upon the main ship
channel in a manner to create a circle
of fire above the entrance to the harbor.
In the center of the passage stood Sum
ter. Should an attacking fleet succeed
in passing Sumter and all of the bat
teries along the channel in front of that
tho case would still grow worso instead
of better because the shores of the inner
bay were lined with forts.
Early in April the fleet of monitors
Ml..
CAPTAIN EIIIND.
tack was made upon the fort on the 7th.
At the head of the line steamed the
Weehawken under Captain John IP ;ig
ers. Drayton in the Passaic and V/or
den in tlio Montatik followed. The or
ders for battlo were to pass inside the
line of fire and linger on one face of
Fort Sumter until the combined power
of the fleet should silence its guns. An
eyewitness describing it said: “Tho
battle was a sight never to be forgotten.
It seemed as though the fires of hell
were turned upon the Federal fleet. The
shot could be seen plainly in tho air, as
flying balls during a game.” All of tho
monitors were - baffled aud turned back
by fire of tho guns from tho forts, and
even then tho heaviest guns had not
been used.
Fort Sumter, tho main target, was
hit only 15 times by monitor shells.
Sumter’s guns fired 810 shots. The
other forts and batteries were scarcely
touched, but they fired over 1,300 mis
siles at tho monitors.
The monitor Keokuk, commanded by
Captain Rhiud, reached nearest to Sum
ter. She closed in within 900 yards.
Although originally the last of attack
ing monitors, she had forged her way
to tho front, and she came in for tho
heaviest punishment. She was struck 90
times. Below the water line 19 shots
pierced her armor, and both her turrets
wore perforated. She was just able to
float and sank after reaching tho lower
channel. Captain lihind described her
as “the worso mauled ship that ever
came out of a fight.” The life of each
monitor under firo that day was about
45 minutes.
Another incident of the war in
Charleston harbor in 1863 was the cap
ture of the notorious cruiser called the
Atlanta. The Atlanta had made a repu
tation as a blockade runner, but under
another name. Originally sho flaunted
tho English flag and was then called
the Fingal. Having arrived at Savan
lah, sho was transformed into an ar
mored ram something like the old Merri
mac. Sho carried six heavy brook rifles,
and also a spar torpedo. On the 17th of
Juno tho monitors Weehawkeu amL
Montank went out to destroy
’V' i j.. 1! ran up rln-" and
jtt
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