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THE NAVY AT FORT FISHER

there was more space; hut, looking back, he dis-covered that his whole command, with few excep-tions, had stopped and joined their comrades.

LIEUTENANT SAMUEL W. PRESTON.

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.

Making his way to the front, close to the palisade,he found several officers, among whom were Lieu-tenant-Commanders Parker and Cushman. Thesituation was a very grave one. The rush of thesailors was over; they were packed like sheep ina pen, while the enemy were crowding the ram-parts not forty yards away, and shooting intothem as fast as they could fire. There vras noth-ing to reply with hut pistols. Something musthe done, and speedily. There were some spacesin the palisade where it was torn away by the fireof the fleet, and an attempt was made to chargethrough, but we found a deep, impassable ditch, \and those who. got through were shot down. Fleshand blood could not long endure being killed inthis slaughter-pen, and the rear of the sailorsbroke, followed by the whole body, in spite of allefforts to rally them. It was certainly mortifying,after charging for a mile, J p under a most gallingfire, to the very foot of the fort, to have the wholeforce retreat down the beach. It has been the cus-tom, unjustly in my opinion, to lay the blame onthe marines for not keeping down the fire till thesailors could get in. But there were but 400 ofthem.against 1200 of the garrison : the former inthe open plain, and with no cover; the latter underthe shelter of their ramparts. ,! The mistake wasin expecting a body of sailors, collected hastilyfrom different ships, unknown to each other, armed

\ Colonel Lamb says on this point: “ There was noditch, merely a dry depression in front of the bonnewhere sand had been dug out to repair work. Editors.

☆ General Terry writes that the column of sailors waswithin 600 or 800 yards of the work before they began tocharge; but Commander James Parker says that the col-umn was underfire in marching to that point.— Editors.

} Colonel Lamb, writing to the editors on the subjectof the numbers defending the north-east salient, says:

with swords and pistols, to stand against veteransoldiers armed with rifles and bayonets. Anotherfatal mistake was the stopping at the sea angle.Two hundred yards farther would have brought usto a low parapet without palisade or ditch, where,with proper arms, we could have intrenched andfought. Some sixty remained at the front, at thefoot of the parapet, under cover of the pali-sade, until nightfall enabled them to withdraw.Among the number I remember Lieutenant-Com-manders Breese, Parker, Cushman, Sicard ; Lieu-tenants Farquhar, Lamson, S. W. Nichols, andBartlett.

A loss of some three hundred in killed andwounded attests the gallant nature of the assault.Among these were several prominent officers, in-cluding Lieutenants Preston and Porter, killed;Lieutenant-Commanders C. H. Cushman, W. N.Allen, Lieutenant Gr. M. Bache, wounded.

After their repulse the sailors did good servicewith the marines by manning the intrenchmentsthrown up across the peninsula, which enabledGeneral Terry to send Abbott’s brigade andBlackman’s (27tli U. S.) colored regiment to theassistance of the troops fighting in the fort.Here they remained till morning, when theyreturned to their respective ships. When theassault of the naval column failed, the Ironsidesand the monitors were directed to fire into the guntraverses in advance of the positions occupied bythe army, and by doing so greatly demoralized theenemy. About 8 P. M. that night the fort fell intoour hands after the hardest fighting by our gallanttroops, and with its capture fell the last strong-

LIEUTENANT BENJAMIN II. PORTER.FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.

“ Five hundred effective men will cover all engaged in re-pulsing the naval column, and the destructive tiro was fromthe three hundred, who, from the top of the ramparts andtraverses, fired upon the assailants. The gallant navy neednot exaggerate the number opposing them, assisted by theartillery. No apology or defense is necessary to excuse therepulse. The unorganized and improperly armed force failedto enter the fort, but their gallant attempt enabled tlio armyto enter and obtain a foothold, which they otherwise couldnot have done.”