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engineers liad pushed their trenches up to its ditch. During all the opera-tions against Wagner, Admiral Dahlgren [succeeded Du Pont , July 6th, 1863]gave the army his most vigorous support by the fire of his monitors and theIronsides. On the 17th of August, in one of the many engagements with thistoi't, Commander George W. Rodgers, Admiral Dahlgren ’s chief-of-staff, waskilled, while temporarily commanding the Catskill , the same monitor he hadcommanded under Admiral Du Pont in the action of the 7th of April. Hehad taken his ship very close to the enemy, resolved that no one should becloser than he, when a heavy shot struck the pilot-house and, breaking throughfis armor, instantly killed him and Paymaster Woodbury, who was standingky his side. Commander Rodgers was an officer of great courage and rares kill in his profession, a man of very pure and devout character.
Cumming’s Point and Battery Wagner having been occupied by GeneralWlhnore, that skillful officer turned his increased fire upon Sumter; the fleetbattered it with heavy guns, and the fort became in appearance a heap of1 lll ns. Its artillery fire ceased, but its garrison held the ruins with tenaciousgi’asp; the attempt to occupy it by our forces was repulsed with heavy loss,ail( l it remained in the possession of the rebels until General Sherman’sttiarch to the sea and through the Caroliuas in February, 1865, placed him inbe rear of Charleston and compelled the evacuation of that city and itsdenses. This was nearly two years after Admiral Du Pont had declared itcould not be taken by a purely naval attack, and had declined Generalbnter’s proposal to make Morris Island his base of operations. Admiralb Pont believed that the troops should attack from James Island with atcast double the force General Hunter could put in the field. Events proved. wisdom of this belief, but it brought the admiral professional mortifica-0,1 and great wrong. History abounds in examples of the anger and bitter-bess with which, under popular governments, ministries have been ready toSa crifice commanders who have not strengthened their administration bys bccess in war. The great President was superior to such littleness; so muchcann 0 t be said for his Navy Department. Admiral Du Pont ’s failure to takearleston with the means allotted for its capture occurred before Generalant’s magnificent strategy and persistence had defeated the rebel armies ine field and taken Vicksburg , and before Meade and Hancock with thejf. rri ^ the Potomac had broken the back of the rebellion at Gettysburg .Was of immense importance that some great feat of arms by land or byn s k°uld cheer the supporters of the Union, strengthen our Government,discourage the friends of our dismemberment on the other side of thefoi , au - Iron-clads and fast cruisers were being built in England and France 1 the so-called Confederate States, the French Emperor was seekingl-f, i^tbnity to declare against us, and the ruling class in England was toost h^ 11 hands with him. The “plain people” of that country were
a tastly our friends, a fact we should never forget. The Navy Depart-kad formed extravagant ideas of the power and invulnerability of whatWer 1 ° X ea k e d “ these marvelous vessels,” ideas not fully shared, while they111 their tentative and undeveloped state, by their great designer, as