the Monitors' guns. But that was all we effected that and the dissipation of a popular error, that Charleston could be captured by nine or ten iron-clads. The signal to cease firing was given about five o'clock. It was obeyed, and the vessels fell back to the flag-ship, the parting shot being fired by the Nantucket as she passed Fort Wagner."

In the conflict, the Union fleet had suffered to such an extent, that it was deemed by the Admiral and his officers imprudent to renew the attack. The Keokuk was the only vessel destroyed. She was struck by ninety shots. Of these, nineteen were on the water line, fifteen in the after turret, twelve in the forward turret, and twenty-five on the sides.

There was not a single life lost during the engagement, but Captain Rhind and twelve men of the Keokuk, and six of the Nahant, one of whom subsequently died, were more or less severely wounded.

The chief reliance having been placed upon the iron-clad fleet, the service of the troops was held subsidiary. A small force was landed on Folly Island, to be in readiness to occupy any batteries that might be taken by the navy. As the day closed, the Admiral signalized as follows to General Hunter:

"Delayed in getting under weigh by accident. Orders not reaching the leading ship, we attempted to pass into the inner channel, but were obliged to anchor to prevent going ashore. Engaged the forts, but found it too late to continue. Casualties few. One ironclad disabled, two partially so. Ironsides very slightly, struck very often."

A minute narrative of the conflict, from the enemy's point of view, is here given, as published in the Charleston Mercury, April 11:

"The Passaic," wrote the correspondent already quoted, "is disabled by having her turret so injured that it cannot revolve, and she has to be sent to Port Royal for repairs. She was struck fifty-eight times. The Patapsco was injured by having her 200-pound Parrott gun disabled. She was struck from forty to fifty times. The Nahant was struck eighty times, and had her pilot- "At two o'clock P.M., just as the house completely shattered. The Iron-officers had seated themselves for dinner, sides was hit from sixty to seventy the first advance of the iron-clad fleet times, receiving no material damage beyond the knocking off one of her port shutters, thus exposing her gun-deck. The Weekawken was struck fifty-nine times, and had her funnel deeply indented, so that she worked with difficulty. The Montauk was hit twenty times. The Nantucket and Catskill were each hit about fifty times, having their decks considerably torn."

was announced to the commandant of the post. Their anchorage had been within the bar of Ship Channel, off the southern end of Morris Island, some four or five miles from Sumter. Upon inspection, it was judged that good time would be allowed for the conclusion of the meal, and, after communicating the movement by telegraph to headquarters in Charleston, dinner was comfortably

steaming slowly northeastward-seven Monitors, their hulls sunk down to the water level, showing only a black line on the surface, and a projecting turret and smoke-stack each-the Ironsides, looming up from the sea a formidablelooking monster, and the Keokuk, her hull more distinctly visible than the Monitors, and with two turrets, the most dreaded of all the nine.

dispatched. At half-past two o'clock, with calm excitement, properly incident after examination of the approaching to such a moment. On they came, armament from the terreplein, the order for the long roll' was issued. The whole garrison knew that the hour of trial was at hand, and the greatest enthusiasm and alacrity prevailed. The men rushed to their guns with shouting and yells of exultation. The regimental band was ordered to the rampart. The garrison flag (the Confederate States) was already flying defiantly from the staff at the northern apex of the pentagonal fortress. The blue and white banner of the Palmetto State was given to the wind on the southwest corner of the work, and the elegant black and white color of the First Regiment South Carolina artillery (regulars) was run up at the southeast angle, in the face of the coming foe. A salute of thirteen unshotted guns was fired, and the band broke forth with the stirring strains of "Dixie."

casemate

"In front, a Monitor, supposed to be the Passaic, commanded by Drayton, pushed forward a long raft,* forked and fitting her bow, intended to catch, by suspended grappling-irons, any entanglements, or to explode any torpedoes

This was called in some of the enemy's reports a

"Devil," and is thus described by a writer in the N. Y.

Herald:

"The devil spoken of in the rebel report is a large raft

of timber, securely bolted together, in width about the

same as one of the Monitor batteries, and extending some thirty feet forward of the battery's bow, which fits into it, and is then secured to the ring-bolts on deck.

"At the extreme forward part of this raft, and under water, strong iron stanchions point downward to a few inches below the bottom of the battery. These stanchions are secured by iron braces which run back at an angle to network of braces and stanchions are placed two rods, on which rest several torpedoes, together containing nearly

the after under side of the raft. At the bottom of this

a thousand pounds of gunpowder. In connection with this are hammers, which, when acted upon, strike per

and of course causing a rupture of anything they may come in contact with.

"It was determined to permit the fleet to come well within range before opening fire. Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph A. Yates, who that morning reported for duty, was assigned to the special command of the barbette batteries. Major Ormsby Blanding was assigned cussion caps, exploding the several torpedoes instantly, the special command of the batteries. They were both at their posts, with officers, men, and guns ready, ready, and awaiting the order to begin the engagement. Colonel Alfred Rhett, the commandant of the post, stood on the parapet watching the progress of the doughty iron-clad dogs of war. Every heart beat high. Every face was flushed

"The experiments of these devils at the North were

very satisfactory, and reflected great credit upon their inCaptain Lowber, of the steamer Ericsson, to take in tow four of them, and three were lost in a heavy gale of wind. Subsequently one of them was picked up at sea and towed into Fortress Monroe, and thence to Port Royal.

ventor, Captain Ericsson; but the Government forced

66

Although the rebels have one, it will do them no good, as they cannot use it without doing themselves

harm. Perhaps it is only the wreck of one that our people have used and cast aside."

borer was also wounded. All, we learn, are doing well, and there is no danger of losing a life or a limb. The wounded were dressed by Surgeon Moore, of the post, and sent out of the way to a hospital in the city, where they now remain.

and twenty-five minutes, an unprotected Sumter from any cause. Sergeant brick fort, by the use of its cannon, Faulkner, and privates Chaplin, Minnix, assisted by Fort Moultrie and the guns and Penn, Company B, were injured by of one or two sand batteries, em- a shower of bricks thrown from a travploying few guns, repulsed a fleet of erse on the rampart by a large shot of nine of the boasted iron-clad gun-boats. the enemy. A drummer-boy, Ahrens, The Keokuk was sunk. The Passaic was struck on the head by the explosion had disappeared from view-probably of a shell over the parade. A negro lasent or towed to Port Royal for repairs. And the flag-boat has been undergoing the mending process in plain sight. The prestige of their invulnerability is gone. The question is reduced to the relative powers of destruction of the fort and the assailing fleet. It is a question of pluck and survivorship in a square stand-up fight for victory. Iron-clad fleets can be destroyed as well as forts. Fort Sumter, although somewhat pitted, to-day is, we believe, as strong as it was when this fight began. We deem that, if the attack is renewed as before (and there is good reason to believe it will be), the six Monitors left and the Ironsides will come out the defeated party, with worse results than those obtained in the first attempt.

Nous verrons.

"The regimental ensign was pierced near the centre by a ball. The Confederate flag was also perforated."

The same writer in the Charleston Mercury thus describes the part in the engagement borne by the other batteries:

"Fort Moultrie opened the engagement. At three o'clock, the head of the grim procession of Monitors having come within reason-range, the word was given, and the first shot of the batteries went whizzing at the iron fleet. In a very few minutes the batteries of Sumter, with the earth-works of Morris and Sullivan's islands, were mingling their deep voices in the chorus of the fray. During the entire fight, the batteries of Fort Moultrie maintained a well-directed fire against the Monitors that happened to be nearest, and the frequency with which the Yankees turned from the main effort against Fort Sumter to give a spiteful shot to Fort "Not a person was killed in Fort Moultrie, showed how effectively and

“The enemy fired about eighty shots -mostly fifteen-inch and steel-pointed shells at Fort Sumter. This estimate was made from Sullivan's Island. Forty only struck the work. One-ten inch gun was temporarily disabled by a shot. One columbiad, of old pattern, burst. One seven-inch rifled gun dismounted by recoil, and one gun was disabled for a few moments by fracture of the elevating screw through recoil.