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to retire. At 4 o’clock i>. m. the Keokuk advanced to within nine hundredyards of Sumter, but with no better success than her consorts. She soonwithdrew", badly worsted. The whole attacking squadron now slowly with-drew from an engagement which had lasted not more than two hours andtwenty-five minutes, but which had been, for the enemy, a most disastrousdefeat. ☆ [See also papers to follow".]
In the communication sent by me to the War Department , dated May 24tli,with regard to the attack of April 7th, I made the following statement:
“The action lasted two hours and twenty-five minutes, but the chief damage is reported bythe enemy to have been done in thirty minutes. The Keokuk did not come nearer than ninehundred yards of Port Sumter; she was destroyed. The New Ironsides could not stand thefire at the range of a mile; four of her consorts (monitors) were disabled at the distance of notless than thirteen hundred yards. They had only reached the gorge of the harbor—never withinit—and were baffled and driven back before reaching our lines of torpedoes and obstructions,which had been constructed as an ultimate defensive resort as far as they could be provided.The heaviest batteries had not been employed. Therefore it may be accepted, as shown, thatthese vaunted monitor batteries, though formidable engines of war, after all are not invulner-able nor invincible, and may be destroyed or defeated by heavy ordnance properly placed andskillfully handled. In reality they have not materially altered the military relations of forts andships. On this occasion the monitors operated under the most favorable circumstances. The daywas calm, and the water, consequently, was as stable as that of a river; their guns were fired withdeliberation, doubtless by trained artillerists. According to the enemy’s statements, the fleetfired 151 shots. . . . Not more than thirty-four shots) took effect on the walls of Port Sumter.. . . Fort Moultrie and our other batteries were not touched in a way to be considered, whilein return they threw 1399 shots. At the same time Sumter discharged 810 shots; making thetotal number of shots fired 2209, of which the enemy reports that 520 struck the different vessels;a most satisfactory accuracy when the smallness of the target is considered.”
Tlie repulse had not been looked upon as a thing possible by the North,and w r hen the news reached that section it engendered a heavy gloom of disap-pointment and discouragement—a feeling not unlike that which had prevailedthere after the Confederate victory at Manassas on July 21st, 1861. It wasclear to me, however, that the enemy, whose land forces had not cooperatedin this naval attack, would not rest upon his defeat, but won Id soon makeanother effort, with renewed vigor, and on a larger scale. I was therefore
•ft The following are extracts from reports ofofficers in command or on duty that day.
Colonel Bhett said:
“The enemy’s Are was mostly ricochet and not veryaccurate; most of their shot passed over the fort, andseveral to the right and loft. The greater portion oftheir shots were from 1300 to 1400 yards distant, whichappeared to he the extent of their effective range. Someshots were from a greater distance, and did not reachthe fort at all.”
General Ripley said:
“ The action was purely of artillery,— forts and bat-teries against the iron-clad vessels of the enemy,— othermeans of defense, obstructions and torpedoes, not hav-ing come into play.
“ Fort Sumter was the principal object of the attack,and to that garrison . . . special credit is due forsustaining the shock, and, with tlielr powerful arma-ment, contributing principally to the repulse.”
report to Major Harris, Chief Engineer of the de-partment, used this language :
“Slio [the Keokuk] sank off the south end of MorrisIsland at half-past eight o’clock the following morning(April 8). Her smoke-stack and turrets are now visibleat low water. From her wreck floated aslnu'c a book,a spy-glass, and pieces of furniture bespattered withblood, and small fragments of iron sticking ill them. . . .Tile total number [of shots] fluid by the enemy [was]about 110 [in fact., 151 to 154.— G. T. B.], which were prin-cipally directed at. Sumter. Her walls show the effectof fifty-five missiles —shot, shells, and fragments. . . .The casualties are slight. At Sumter five men werewounded by fragments of masonry and wood. ... AtMoultrie ono man was killed by the falling of tlio flag-staff when shot away. At Battery Wagner an ammuni-tion chest . . . exploded from the blast of the gun.killing three men, mortally wounding one, slightlywounding Lieutenant Stcedman, in charge of the gun,and three men.” G. T. B.
) Major Echols’s report puts tho mmibor at ./i/t)/-/nie,wliichit is concedodis tho correct one.—G. T.B.