676 



NA\ Y, U. S., OPERATIONS OF. 



nature, and the opinions of their officers and 

 of other naval commanders, are stated under 

 the head of NAVY OF THE U. S. 



In explanation of his failure to renew the 

 attack, Admiral Dupont wrote as follows to 

 the Navy Department, on the 15th: 



Any attempt to pass through the obstructions I have 

 referred to, would have entangled the vessels and held 

 them under the most severe fire of heavy ordnance 

 that has ever been delivered : and while it is barely 

 possible that some vessels might have forced their way 

 through, it would only have been to be again impeded 

 by fresh and more formidable obstructions, and to en- 

 counter other powerful batteries, with which the whole 

 harbor of Charleston has been lined. I had hoped that 

 the endurance of the ironclads would have enabled 

 them to have borne any weight of fire to which they 

 might have been exposed ; but when I found that so 

 large a portion of them were wholly or one half dis- 

 abled, by less than an hour's engagement, before at- 

 tempting to overcome the obstructions, or testing the 

 power of the torpedoes, I was convinced that per- 

 sistence in the attack would only result in the loss of 

 the greater portion of the ironclad fleet, and in leaving 

 many of them inside the harbor, to fall into the hands 

 of the enemy. The slowness of our fire, and our ina- 

 bility to occupy any battery that we might silence, or 

 to prevent its being restored under cover of the night, 

 were difficulties of the gravest character, and until the 

 outer forts should havel>een taken, the army could not 

 enter the harbor or afford me any assistance. 



On the 13th, the President despatcned the 

 following telegram to Admiral Dupont : 



Hold your position inside the bar near Charleston ; 

 or, if you shall have left it, return to it and bold it un- 

 til further orders. Do not allow the enemy to erect 

 new batteries or defences on Morris Island. If he has 

 begun it, drive him out. I do not herein order you to 

 renew the general attack. That is to depend on your 

 own discretion or a further order. A. LINCOLN. 



And by another order, dated on the succeed- 

 ing day, he directed him, should he not suc- 

 ceed in taking the batteries on Morris Island 

 or Sullivan's Island, to continue the demonstra- 

 tion for a time, and to make " the attempt a 

 real one, though not a desperate one, if it af- 

 fords any considerable chance of success." In 

 reply, Admiral Dupont said that he should use 

 every exertion to push forward the repairs of 

 the ironclads, and get them inside the bar. 

 " I think it my duty, however," he observed, 

 " to state to the department that this will be 

 attended with great risk to these vessels from 

 the gales which prevail at this season, and 

 from the continuous fire of the enemy's batter- 

 ies." He urged various objections to a further 

 employment of them against the works on 

 Morris Island, but expressed his willingness to 

 obey all orders with the utmost fidelity, even 

 should his judgment be opposed, and to renew, 

 if necessary, the attack on Charleston, although 

 he thought such a measure " would be attend- 

 ed with disastrous results, involving the loss of 

 the coast." 



In the early part of June, Admiral Dupont, 

 having reason to believe that the Atlanta and 

 other rebel ironclads at Savannah were medi- 

 tating an att-ick upon the blockading vessels in 

 Warsaw Sound, despatched the Weehawken, 

 Captain John Rodgers, and the Nahant, Com- 



mander J. Downes, thither to prevent any dis- 

 aster to the fleet. The Atlanta, originally a 

 ssvift and powerful British steamer called the 

 Fingal, had early in the war run the blockade 

 of Savannah, and been converted by the ene- 

 my into an ironclad at a great expense. She 

 was 191 feet in length, and 40 feet beam, some- 

 what over 1,000 tons in measurement, and had 

 a low deck, with a casemate or covered iron- 

 plated house in the centre, with sloping sides 

 and ends, in which was her battery, consisting 

 of two 6-inch and two 7-inch rifled guns. Of 

 these the former were broadside guns, and the 

 latter worked on a pivot, either as broadside 

 or bow and stern guns. She was further armed 

 with a powerful ram, and had attached to her 

 bow a submarine torpedo, charged with about 

 fifty pounds of powder. No efforts had been 

 spared to render her formidable, and it was 

 believed by the enemy that her speed, her 

 heavy armament, and her ram, would render 

 her more than a match for any two vessels 

 of the Monitor type. They therefore boldly 

 steamed down the sound at dawn of June 17th, 

 followed by several small steamers conveying 

 pleasure parties who were to be the witnesses 

 of her triumph. At a few minutes past four 

 she was perceived by the Federal ironclads, 

 which were lying at anchor near the mouth of 

 Wilmington river, and they at once prepared 

 for action. The Weehawken, being nearest 

 the enemy, got under way first and stood up 

 the sound, followed by the Nahant, which, 

 having no pilot, was ordered by Captain Rodg- 

 ers to keep in the wake of his vessel. A few 

 minutes before five, the Atlanta, which was 

 then lying across the channel awaiting the at- 

 tack of the Federal steamers, fired a single shot 

 at the Nahant, which failed to take effect. 

 The Weehawken steamed steadily toward the 

 Atlanta, and when ab/mt 300 yards distant 

 opened upon her with her 15-inch gun. Drift- 

 ing 100 yards nearer, she discharged both her 

 guns, upon which the Atlanta hauled down 

 her colors, and ran up a white flag in token of 

 surrender. The signal was not understood un- 

 til after another discharge from the Weehaw- 

 hen, when all firing ceased, and the prize was 

 taken possession of, after a contest of scarcely 

 fifteen minutes, in which the Weehawken alone 

 had participated. 



On examination it was found that the enemy 

 had been struck four times. The first shot 

 knocked a hole in her casemate, without, how- 

 ever, going through, and scattered over the 

 enclosed decks great quantities of wood and 

 iron splinters, by which upward of 40 men 

 were stunned and wounded, one of whom sub- 

 sequently died. This is believed to have been 

 the first shot from a 15-inch gun fired in a 

 naval combat, and according to the rebel offi- 

 cers its effect was to demoralize the whole 

 crew of the Atlanta. The second shot struck 

 the edge of the overhang ; the third knocked 

 off the top of the pilot house, wounding two 

 pilots and stunning the men at the wheel, and 



