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permit, hundreds of men were visible in very rapid motion, loading andrunning out the guns with the greatest energy. Such a view, accompaniedby the noise of battle, is weird and impressive to the highest degree.
The vessels in the main line slowly passed toward the sea, throwing themshells into the earth-work with the utmost precision, and this destructionwas supplemented by the fire of ten of the vessels from an enfilading position.As the main line headed seaward, the enemy may have had an idea that hisfire was so destructive that the vessels were retreating, and Tattnall, with histhree weak vessels, was then disposed to swoop down and pick up “ lameducks ”; but, being confronted by one small gun-boat, he thought it best toenter Scull Creek, where at least he would be available for carrying off theSouthern troops, if they were defeated. Though Tattnall was a brave andskillful seaman, the law of force was inexorable; and when an officer is a freeagent, looking only to the success of his cause, he should not lead his commandinto destruction without being able to secure a commensurate advantage.
Arriving at the shoal ground off Hilton Head , the flag-ship and her follow-ers turned again within the harbor, and in passing northward availed them-selves of the occasion to give Fort Beauregard the benefit of their broadsides.Meantime the enfilading vessels had been steadily throwing their shells intoFort Walker. In relation to this hour [about 10 a. m.], General Drayton states:
“ Besides this moving battery, the fort was enfiladed by two gun-boats anchored to the north,off the mouth of Fish Hall Creek, and another at a point on the edge of the shoals to the south.This enfilading fire, on so still a sea, annoyed and damaged us excessively, particularly as wehad no gun on either flank of the bastion to reply with.”
The vessel near the shoal, to the south, was probably the Pocahontas, com-manded by Pereival Drayton, brother of the general in command of the Con-federate forces; she only crossed the bar about noon, having been delayed byderanged machinery.
The main line passed nearer Fort Walker than on entering, and deliveredits fire “ with all the spiteful energy of long-suppressed rage and consciousstrength.” Arriving at the turning-point, signal was again made to its vesselsto take position, when the Wabash led once more, and to within six hundredyards of the fort. The nearness of the ships was the probable cause of theirsuffering so little damage, the enemy’s shots passing over the hulls. The flag-ship was naturally the most conspicuous target, but the shots received by herwere high up, the enemy presumably delivering his fire for a distance of athousand yards or more. At this time a shell was seen to pass between theflag-officer and the captain of the vessel, who were standing on the “ bridge ”extending across the vessel, just forward of the mainmast.
The flag-officer expressed officially his great admiration of' the firing of thebatteries of the Wabash and of the Susquehanna, which was next in line.In a private letter, written just after the engagement, he said of the former:
“ In our first attack I was not satisfied with the execution of this ship, though the effectturned out to be much greater than I thought, but in the second attack I can remember nothingin naval history that came up to this ship in the terrific repetitions of her broadsides, and, touse the illustration of the reporter of the ‘London News,’ ‘ the rising of the dust on shore inperpendicular columns looked as if we had suddenly raised from the dust a grove of poplars.’ ”