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COMMODORE TATNALL'S EXPLANATIONS.

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moderate lightening of her draft, should have been taken up to Hog island, in James river, where she would have prevented the larger Union vessels and transports from ascending.*

surrender of the city. Craney island, and all the other batteries on the river were by this time abandoned. It was now seven in the evening, and the fate of the Virginia must be promptly decided. The pilots gave the assurance that The James river being now open by if the draft of the vessel were reduced to the abandonment of the land batteries at eighteen feet they could carry it to with- its entrance, the destruction of the Virin forty miles of Richmond. All hands ginia and the disappearance of the rewere then set to work to lighten the mainder of the rebel vessels which essteamer, and in four or five hours she caped towards Richmond, a portion of was so lifted as to be unfit for action; the Union fleet presently set out to rewhen the pilots declared their inability connoitre the river in its whole course to carry her with eighteen feet above to the capital. A squadron composed Jamestown flats, giving as a reason for of the three powerful iron clads, the this discrepancy in their statements, the Monitor, Galena and Naugatuck, with fact that the westerly wind which had the steam gunboats Aroostook and Port been prevailing for the last two days Royal, cautiously pushed its way up the quite altered the circumstances. After river on the look out for obstructions; easterly winds, eighteen feet could be but meeting with no other obstacles than carried, but not now. This was, in fact, the occasional shoal navigation, till it the condemnation of the vessel. She arrived on the 14th of May within about had been rendered unfit for action with ten miles of Richmond. ten miles of Richmond. It was then asthe expectation of getting up the river certained that two miles ahead the enemy before the powerful Union fleet in the was prepared to resist the further proharbor could be made aware of his de-gress of the vessels. Heavy obstrucsigns, and now she could not pass a point tions of spiles and sunken vessels were on the river up to which the Federals had command on both shores. There was but one course left, to set fire to the ship and escape by land, which was accordingly done. "It will be asked," says Commodore Tatnall, "what motives the pilots could have had to deceive us. The only imaginable one (he replies) is that they wished to avoid going into battle. Had the ship not have been lifted so as to render her unfit for action, a desperate contest must have ensued with a force against us too great to justify much hope of success, and, as battle is not their occupation, they adopted this deceitful course to avoid it. I cannot imagine another motive, for I had seen no reason to distrust their good faith to the Confederacy." The court of inquiry, dissatisfied with the destruction of the Virginia, was of opinion that it was unnecessary at the time and place it was effected, and that the vessel, with a

placed across the stream, a number of rebel steamboats, including the Jamestown and Yorktown, were at hand, while a powerful battery was erected on the heights of the adjoining Ward's Bluff, on the left bank of the river. A council formed of the officers of the five vessels was at once held on the flag-ship, the Galena, and an attack was resolved upon. Accordingly, the next morning, the 15th, the vessels were brought up for action. The result is briefly told by the flag officer of the expedition, Captain John Rodgers. "The Galena," says he, "ran within about six hundred yards of the battery, as near the spiles as it was deemed proper to go, let go her anchor, and with a spring sprung across the stream, not more than twice as wide as the ship is long, and then at forty-five minutes past seven o'clock A. M. opened

1862.

Proceedings, Court of Inquiry, Richmond, June 11,

fire upon the battery. The wooden vessels, as directed, anchored about thirteen hundred yards below. The Monitor anchored near, and at nine o'clock she passed just above the Galena, but found her guns could not be elevated enough to reach the battery. She then dropped a little below us, and made her shots effective. At five minutes after eleven o'clock the Galena had expended nearly all her ammunition, and I made signal to discontinue the action. We had but six Parrott charges, and not a single filled nine-inch shell. We had thirteen killed and eleven wounded. The rifled 100-pounder of the Naugatuck burst; half of the part abaft the trunnions going overboard. She is therefore disabled. Lieutenant Newman, the executive officer, was conspicuous for his gallant and effective services. Mr. Washburne, acting master, behaved admirably. These are selected from among the number. The Aroostook, Naugatuck and Port Royal took the stations previously assigned them, and did everything that was possible. The Monitor could not have done better. The barrier is such that the vessels of the enemy even, if they have any, cannot possibly pass out, and ours cannot pass in."

caused any damage beyond bending the plates. I am happy to report no casualties." The letter from Lieutenant Constable, already cited, gives an interesting account of the part borne by his vessel, the Naugatuck, sometimes called the Stevens, from the name of its inventor, the builder of the large steam battery at New York, by whom the Naugatuck was presented to the government. "We opened fire," says he, "upon the battery with our heavy guns, and threw shell and canister from our broadside once into the woods. Our station was abreast of their rifle-pits, and was only about forty feet from the shore, so that their sharpshooters had a fair chance at us. During the fight, and while our heavy gun was performing splendidly, it burst; but fortunately disabled but one man. It burst from the vent to the trunnions in two halves, throwing one half overboard on the port side, while the other half was landed on deck on the starboard side. The muzzle, forward of the trunnions, remained entire, and was thrown forward about two feet. The gun-carriage was destroyed, the pilot-house shattered, part of the upper deck crushed in, and some of the main deck beams started. How I escaped, God only The Galena, an ingeniously constructed knows. I was within two feet of the vessel for light draft, good sailing quali- gun when it burst, having just sighted ties, and power of resistance, it is stated, and trained it upon the battery. My was hit forty-six times; twenty-eight speaking trumpet is completely crushed, shot entered her armor and completely and a fragment of the gun weighing pentrated it; five passed through her about one thousand five hundred weight, smoke-stack, and three passed through fell so closely to me that it tore my coat. deck-plating. One or two shot passed I was hit on the head by some part of entirely through her. Lieutenant Jeffers, in command of the Monitor, says the fire of the enemy was remarkably well directed, but vainly, towards this vessel. She was struck three timesone solid 8-inch shot square on the turret, and two solid shot on the side armor forward of the pilot-house. Neither

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the gun or carriage (I think it was one of the large rubbers), which stunned me for a moment, although I was able to keep the deck and superintend the fighting of our broadside guns (which were well handled under charge of Wilson), until the squadron fell back for want of ammunition, about an hour and a half after our gun bursted. After heaving up our anchor I fainted away; but after being cupped behind the ears by the sur

CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE.

geon of the Aroostook, who came on board to look out for our wounded, I was able to resume the charge of the deck.

"Our little broadside guns did splendid execution, driving the enemy out of their rifle-pits, and clearing the shore of every enemy within canister range. By keeping the crew under the protection of our iron-clad' cabin, and only exposing them for a moment while loading, our loss by their fire was only two wounded." This spirited, but unsuccess

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ful attack upon Fort Darling, as the rebel work on the heights was called, was the chief incident of the naval operations at this period on James river. The Union gunboats continued to hold possession of the extended line of navigation below, but the advantage gained was for the present of less importance, while the York river, on the other side of the peninsula, was made the exclusive channel of communication with the advancing army of the Potomac.

CHAPTER LXVI.

GENERAL MITCHEL'S CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE. EVACUATION OF CORINTH,

APRIL-JUNE. 1863.

CORINTH, to which the Confederate found before him, on his arrival at the army precipitately retired after the Union camp on the Tennessee, a few days battles at Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, after the battle at Pittsburg Landing. was an inconsiderable village in northern Mississippi, near the southern boundary of Tennessee, and distant about twenty miles from the scene of the late conflict, and the base of the Union operations on the Tennessee river. It derived its importance at the present moment, from its strategic value. being at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio, and Memphis and Charleston railroads. With these lines in their possession, the control of Western Tennessee was secured to the enemy, and Nashville might at any time be threatened by a superior force. To interrupt this communication, and cut off supplies and reinforcements from the rebel camps at Memphis and Corinth was an indispensable preliminary to the capture of these two places; aud without their capture nothing further could be accomplished on the Mississippi, or in progress by land towards the Gulf. To cut off the enemy's railway communications, and conquer their army at Corinth, was the work which General Halleck

In these operations he was greatly assisted by the military achievements, in the central portion of the State, of General Mitchel, who, on the departure of General Buel from Nashville, proceeded with his division, of about ten thousand men, by the direct southerly line of the Nashville and Stevenson railroad toward the main stations of the Memphis and Charleston railroad in Northern Alabama. The vulnerable points of the road in this direction were at Stevenson or Bridgeport on the east, and Decatur on the west, at each of which places the line crossed the Tennesee river in its winding course. With the destruction of the two bridges, the communication of the enemy with the eastward would be effectually interrupted. To accomplish this, General Mitchel set out from Nashville. Everywhere on his march he found the enemy had destroyed the railway and turnpike bridges. As it was necessary that he should keep open a ready means of communication for his

three the whole column was in motion, advancing in profound silence through the darkness, like an army of specters. Nothing could be heard except the occasional rumble of the artillery over a bridge or some stony part of the road. The cavalry scouts away in the advance ran down, seized, and sent back every person who was astir. The entire divi

miles from Huntsville, without disturbing the slumbers of a single inhabitant. On reaching a point four miles from the city we learned that no considerable force of the enemy was in town. The whistle of locomotives began to be heard in several directions. The cavalry were ordered forward to the front of the column, supported by two pieces of artillery; and now the work became exciting beyond

supplies, his force was employed, as he proceeded, in reconstructing the bridges. On the 9th of April, having rebuilt 1,200 feet of heavy bridging in ten days, his command thus reached Shelbyville by railway, fifty-seven miles from Nashville, and about the same distance from Huntsville. Having thus secured a base of supplies, General Mitchel lost no time in pushing his force forward. By an extra-sion passed through a small village seven ordinary march of two days, the advance were, on the evening of the 10th of April, within ten miles of Huntsville. A correspondent has given a vivid description of the preparations of that night, and of the energy displayed by General Mitchel in carrying out his plans. "The night of the 10th," says he, "was one of the deepest solicitude. Our commanding general visited every bivouac in person, and told the soldiers that the morning's the power of words to describe. The work was to be of the greatest importance. Orders were issued that they should be roused quietly without sound of drum or trumpet, and that the line of march was to be formed in perfect silence. During the night time many negroes, arrested by our pickets and videttes, were brought in. At twelve o'clock we learned from a negro that 5,000 of the enemy's troops had reached Huntsville during the preceding afternoon, and his master asserted that they knew of our approach, and were ready to receive us. The plans were all formed during the night. Three detachments of cavalry were organized with specific instructions. The first, as the force approached Huntsville in the morning, was ordered to break to the right, cut the telegraph wires, and tear up the railway track; the second was to perform a similar duty on the left, while to the third was assigned the duty of seizing the telegraph with all the dispatches, should we be so fortunate as to enter the city. At two o'clock in the morning the troops were all aroused, and as they marched past the commanding general he addressed to each regiment a few words of caution. By

detachment of cavalry ordered to the right broke away at full speed. That ordered to the left, in like manner, was soon seen flying through the fields. Locomotives, like some mighty living game of the forest, startled by the hunter, were now heard sounding their whistles in every direction. The cavalry dashed forward, followed at a rapid pace by the artillery. In a few moments the first gun was fired, whose heavy boom was followed by the rattle of infantry, and immediately three out of four of the locomotives on the track were brought to and captured. The whole column now dashed into the city. Everything was promptly seized, and we found, to our inexpressible gratification, some fifteen or twenty engines, with rolling stock in proportion."*

This important achievement, so brilliantly conducted, was thus telegraphed to the War Department, by General Mitchel, on the 11th: "After a forced march of incredible difficulty, leaving Fayetteville yesterday at twelve o'clock M., my advanced guard, consisting of Turchin's

*Correspondence New York Tribu xe, Huntsville, Ala.,

April 18, 1862,

GENERAL MITCHEL'S PROGRESS.

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railways running from Nashville. From Decatur the Union troops advanced by the road, and occupied Tuscumbia. "In three days," said General Mitchel to his troops, in an address, on the 16th of April, "you have extended your front of operations more than 120 miles, and your morning gun at Tuscumbia may now be heard by your comrades on the battle-field recently made glorious by their victory before Corinth." In a dispatch to a friend in New York, he wrote,

ton region, have taken, and now hold and run more than 100 miles of railway, well stocked with machinery, and in fine condition. I have abandoned the idea of ever coming nearer to an enemy than long cannon range. This is the third State through which I have hunted him without success."

brigade, Kennett's Ohio cavalry, and Simonson's Ohio battery, entered Huntsville this morning, at six o'clock. The city was completely taken by surprise, no one having considered the march practicable in the time. We have captured about two hundred prisoners, fifteen locomotives, a large amount of passenger and box platform cars, the telegraph apparatus and office, and two Southern mails. We have at last succeeded in cutting the great artery of railway communication between the Southern"We have penetrated a magnificent cotStates." Among the spoils of this victory was a dispatch, dated Corinth, April 9, from General Beauregard, intercepted on its way to Adjutant General Cooper, at Richmond. It was written in cypher, but was readily decyphered by the scientific commander, General Mitchel. It announced the approach of the Union army, with an overwhelming force of not less than 85,000 men, to which only 35,000 effective troops could be opposed. Van Dorn was looked for with 1,500 more. Reinforcements were asked. "If defeated here," it concluded, we lose the Mississippi valley, and probably our cause; whereas we could even afford to lose for a while Charleston and Savannah, for the purpose of defeating Buell's army, which would not only insure us the valley of the Mississippi, but our independence."

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The advantage gained at Huntsville was promptly followed up on the line of the railway to the east and west. Stevenson and Decatur were both entered the next day; the former by General Mitchel; the latter by Colonel Turchin. General Mitchel, destroying a bridge over a creek, spared for the present the more important structure, a few miles beyond, at Bridgeport, while Colonel Turchin arrived in time to save the bridge at Decatur, which had been set fire to by the enemy. General Mitchel had thus, by his effective strategy, pierced the Confederate line in the middle, and gained possession of the junction of two

General Turchin held Tuscumbia with a detachment of Illinois and Ohio troops till the 24th of May, when he retired, with some skirmishing along the route, to Jonesboro', a station on the railway, near Decatur, before a superior body of the enemy, advancing from the direction of Corinth. It was the expectation of the enemy to capture a large quantity of supplies which had been sent by General Halleck to General Turchin, by way of Florence, a few miles distant on the Savannah, but they were carried off in safety. Being still threatened by the enemy in force, General Turchin was compelled to destroy a portion of his provisions, and retire across the Tennessee river at Decatur, burning the bridge at this point, a costly structure, 2,200 feet in length. Colonel Lytle's brigade had the post of honor in the retreat.

Decatur was evacuated on the 27th, the troops hastening toward Bridgeport at the eastern extremity of that portion of the railway held by the Union troops, where the enemy were now making a stand at the bridge. An expedition was sent thither by General Mitchel. Advancing to the creek beyond Stevenson,

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