Daniel Ammen, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 7.2, The Atlantic Coast
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[145] on her side, gradually settling, the water pouring in through the turret port, which was open, and through the main hatch, over the ‘hopper;’ a dense steam arose out of the engine-room, the vessel assumed an upright position as she went down, and the top of the smoke-stack alone remained visible when the keel rested on the bottom. Four officers and twenty men were drowned, being below at the time, and unable to reach the deck through the inrush of the water, or, if on deck, unable to keep themselves afloat for the few minutes that intervened until boats were at hand for their rescue.

As the reader will have already observed, the Stono River was frequently a scene of contention between batteries and gunboats; again on Christmas day, at 6 A. M., we find an attack made on the Marblehead, Lieutenant-Commanding Meade. The vessel was at anchor near Legareville, and the batteries were on John's Island. The engagement lasted an hour and a half, with the loss of three killed and four wounded; the hull of the vessel was struck twenty times, and the rigging considerably damaged. Balch, in the Pawnee, lying further down, got under way, and from an enfilading position aided the Marblehead, and the mortar-schooner Williams, Acting-Master Freeman, having a fair wind, came up several miles and opened on the enemy, who abandoned two disabled guns, a dying man, intrenching tools, etc. The carriages were destroyed afterward, and two Viii-inch sea-coast howitzers were brought off by Meade.

Under instructions from the Department on January 28th, the admiral summarized the services of the ironclads under his command. He says:

The vessels thus shared fully with the army in the operation that led to the abandonment of the works on Morris Island, and besides what is already mentioned,