Admiral David D. Porter, The Naval History of the Civil War.

The weather had been unpleasant for some time, but now gave promise of a change for the better; and when on the 29th the signal went up from the flag-ship Wabash--“underway to get” --the sounds all through the fleet showed that sailors and soldiers were equally glad to move towards the scenes of glory that opened before them.

By the time the expedition reached Fort Hatteras it came on to blow a gale, which increased to a hurricane, scattering the fleet in every direction. On the fourth day out there was but one vessel to be seen from the deck of the flag-ship.

What were the feelings of Flag-officer Dupont on that occasion can be imagined. Many of the naval vessels were far from staunch. The transports, of course, were still weaker, and it was doubtful if half of them would ever be seen again.

The sufferings of the men on board the transports, the decks of which were swept by the heavy seas, were extreme and but little appreciated by those on shore who afterwards read the vivid accounts of these hardships.

Such sufferings are part of the unwritten history of the war, which because they are not surrounded by the glamor of battle have but little interest for the public.

Who is there that in reading an account of these scenes of suffering and disaster which often overtake naval and military expeditions, ever realize the sufferings of officers and men battling for their lives against the stormy ocean?

Certainly the soldiers in these transports would have dared a dozen battles on shore, rather than experience one such night of storm as raged around their vessels.

A better seaman than Dupont never trod a ship's deck, but he could do nothing for that scattered fleet; he could only trust to his subordinates, whom he knew would do all that was possible to avert disaster.

All things have an end, and the gale which had so jeopardized the expedition at length abated with less damage to the fleet than might have been expected. On the morning of the 4th of November, 1861, twenty-five vessels in company with the flag-ship Wabash, came to anchor off the bar of Port Royal, while the remainder of the squadron were continually heaving in sight.

Although the gale was over, the safety of the expedition was by no means assured. The bar or shoalest water at the entrance of Port Royal extended ten miles out to sea. All buoys and other guides to the navigator had been removed.

As soon as the flag-ship came to anchor Captain C. H. Davis, Chief of Staff, and Assistant Boutelle of the Coast Survey, proceeded in search of the channel, which by three P. M. was sounded out and buoyed, and before dark the smaller naval vessels and the transports were anchored in Port Royal Roads. Some small Confederate steamers, under Commodore Tatnall, formerly of the U. S. Navy, were chased and took refuge under the Confederate batteries.

Next morning the Wabash, Susquehanna, Vanderbilt, and Atlantic were piloted into deep water inside the bar. and a reconnoissance in force was made of the harbor by Commander John Rodgers and Brigadier-General Wright, with four gun-boats. These drew the fire of the batteries on Hilton Head and Bay Point, which were shown to be strongly built and fortified.

When the fleet was safely anchored within this spacious roadstead, the Flag-Officer had cause to congratulate himself on his selection of Port Royal in preference to any other point on the Southern coast for the establishment of a naval depot; and having perfected all his arrangements made preparations for battle.

The Confederates, attaching great importance to Port Royal as a strong military position, had built two large forts, Fort Walker on Hilton Head, and Fort Beauregard on Bay Point, opposite; and it seems strange that the Navy Department did not send a couple of gun-boats early in the war and prevent the enemy from erecting these works.

Of the two earthworks defending the entrance, Fort Walker was considered the stronger, and the Flag-Officer therefore determined to direct the weight of his fire upon this work, and after reducing it to make the final attack on Fort Beauregard.

The order of battle comprised a main squadron ranged in line ahead, and a flanking squadron to engage the gun-boats under Tatnall, which might prove troublesome and therefore required attention.

The following is a list of vessels which comprised the fighting squadron of Flag Officer Dupont, which operated in line ahead, steaming in an ellipse from the commencement to the close of the action.

Steam frigate Wabash (flagship), Commander C. R. P. Rodgers; steam frigate Susquehanna, Captain I. L. Lardner; steam sloop Mohican, Commander S. W. Godon; steam sloop Seminole, Commander J. P. Gillis; steam sloop Pawnee, Lieut.-Commanding R. H. Wyman; steam gunboat Unadilla, Lieut-Commanding N. Collins; steam gunboat Ottawa, Lieut.-Commanding T. H Stevens; steam gunboat Paulina, Lieut.-Commanding J. P. Bankhead: sailing sloop Vandalia, Commander F. S. Haggerty, towed by steamer Isaac Smith.