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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Naval ships. (search)
d slowly, as it tends to do in the absence of emergency. In the attack on Vera Cruz, in 1848, Farragut was present, and was greatly impressed, as with a novelty, by the effect of what he called the shell shot, a hybrid term which aptly expresses the transition state of men's minds at the time. The Crimean War followed, and in 1854 the wooden steamships-of-the-line of the allies, vessels identical in fighting characteristics with those of Trafalgar, attempted to silence masonry works at Sebastopol. Though the disaster was not so great, the lesson of Sinope was reaffirmed. Louis Napoleon, a thoughtful man though scarcely a man of action, had foreseen the difficulty, and had already directed the construction of five floating batteries which were to carry armor. Before the war ended these vessels attacked the forts at Kinburn, which they compelled to surrender, losing, themselves, no men except by shells that entered the gun ports. Their armor was not pierced. Horizontal shell f
George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army (ed. George Gordon Meade), chapter 6 (search)
nced in the Seven Days. The rebs keep taking up strong positions and entrenching themselves. This compels us to move around their flank, after trying to find some weak point to attack. This operation has now occurred four times, namely, crossing the Rapidan, at Old Wilderness, at Spottsylvania Court House, and recently at North Anna. We shall have to do it once more before we get them into their defenses at Richmond, and then will begin the tedious process of a quasi-siege, like that at Sebastopol; which will last as long, unless we can get hold of their railroads and cut off their supplies, when they must come out and fight. Whilst I am writing the cannon and musketry are rattling all along our lines, over five miles in extent, but we have become so accustomed to these sounds that we hardly notice them. The weather is beginning to be hot, but I keep in the saddle during the day, and sleep soundly at night. The papers are giving Grant all the credit of what they call succes
Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865, Chapter 34: (search)
ston, encompassed now and surrounded by a new line of inner defences, was as ready as ever to cope with the combined military and naval attack prepared against it. Fort Sumter had gradually become a new work; Fort Johnson had greatly gained in strength and importance; so had almost every battery on James and Sullivan's islands; and General Beauregard, as was justly said in Pollard's Lost Cause, Page 437. had given another illustration of the new system of defence practised at Comorn and Sebastopol, where, instead of there being any one key to a plan of fortification, there was the necessity of a siege for every battery, in which the besiegers were always exposed to the fire of the others. From Cummings's Point and the other works of Morris Island the bombardment was maintained during the whole of the month of November and up to the 19th or 20th of December. It did not entirely cease even after that time, but decreased in intensity from day to day, until only a few occasional sho
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
nds are known as Venetian, dwarf, spring, common roller, wire-gauze, perforated zinc, etc. 2. (Fortification.) A bomb-proof shelter for men or provisions. Blindage; blinded cover. 3. (Harness.) Flaps on a drivingbridle to restrain the horse from looking sideways or to the rear. A modern form of blinder only prevents the backward view. Blinder; blinker. Blind′age. 1. (Fortification.) a. A screen of wood faced with earth as a protection against fire. b. A mantelet. At Sebastopol the Russians used blindages for covering their embrasures, composed of a grating of iron rods covered with canvas. 2. (Harness.) A hood for covering the eyes of a runaway horse, as a means of stopping him. Koehler's patent has one strap which pulls a hood over the eyes and another which closes the nostrils. Another device is a chokestrap connected through the gag-loop to the driving-rein. Blind a′re-a. （Architecture.) A space around the basement-wall of a house to keep it dry<
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 11. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 117 (search)
nveloped as they now are, for if we had been fortunate enough to secure the slender chance of success, our mangled army would have been confronted by another chain of earthworks equally strong. The guerdon of Malakoff and its sister forts, was Sebastopol; we should only have gained a scarred and narrow belt of forest and field in a Southern wilderness. But we had pushed Johnston from several heavy parallels by the mighty momentum of our army. Long lines of his fortifications, guarded by the sem two or three days before the evacuation, showing that Sherman was expected to strike there. It is enough to say that the entire chain of defences to Atlanta is impregnable to any assault less deliberately prearranged than that which carried Sebastopol. The carnage of a determined assault must have been awful, and the result by no means certain. I noticed on entering the city, some females walking leisurely homeward with armfuls of boxes, containing, doubtless, what might be ungallantly t
C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874., Section Fifth: Senatorial career. (search)
a Senator has not hesitated to appear as his own compurgator. Lxx. And now, as I proceed to show the way in which this Territory was overrun and finally subjugated to Slavery, I desire to remove, in advance, all question with regard to the authority on which I rely. The evidence is secondary, but it is the best which, in the nature of the case, can be had; and it is not less clear, direct, and peremptory than any by which we are assured of the campaigns in the Crimea or the fall of Sebastopol. In its manifold mass, I confidently assert that it is such a body of evidence as the human mind is not able to resist. It is found in the concurring reports of the public press, in the letters of correspondents, in the testimony of travellers, and in the unaffected story to which I have listened from leading citizens, who, during this winter, have come flocking here from that distant Territory. It breaks forth in the irrepressible outcry, reaching us from Kansas, whose truthful tones l
C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874., Lxx. (search)
Lxx. And now, as I proceed to show the way in which this Territory was overrun and finally subjugated to Slavery, I desire to remove, in advance, all question with regard to the authority on which I rely. The evidence is secondary, but it is the best which, in the nature of the case, can be had; and it is not less clear, direct, and peremptory than any by which we are assured of the campaigns in the Crimea or the fall of Sebastopol. In its manifold mass, I confidently assert that it is such a body of evidence as the human mind is not able to resist. It is found in the concurring reports of the public press, in the letters of correspondents, in the testimony of travellers, and in the unaffected story to which I have listened from leading citizens, who, during this winter, have come flocking here from that distant Territory. It breaks forth in the irrepressible outcry, reaching us from Kansas, whose truthful tones leave no ground of mistake. It addresses us in formal complaint
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Chapter 2: the Worcester period (search)
with exuberant emotions as a Yankee caucus. Everything indicated an athletic race. One thing especially delighted me; when I went in to ask the price of snowshoes, they asked me if I wished gentlemen's or ladies' size; and I found that ladies there wear them a good deal. From Hamilton, Canada, the record continues: What's the use of going to England and using up excitement, all at once, when one can come to Canada and get enough here? I am as distinctly a foreigner here as in Sebastopol, and circumstances have enabled me to enjoy the experience more fully than I expected. . . . Behold me, then, domesticated at the City Hotel. Not a Yankee in it but myself-all straight, solid Englishmen, with deep, clear voices emerging from their fur-covered chests. Everybody's made handsome by a fur cap without a vizor, the most picturesque thing possible. The rooms of the hotel are dark, solidly furnished, and hung with colored prints of horses, races, and mail-coaches. The long
William Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, chapter 12 (search)
rotected the city and the Petersburg and Richmond railroad against attack from the direction of the front held by Butler's force at Bermuda Hundred. The defence of Richmond was provided for by its own chain of fortifications. The attitude assumed by Grant before Petersburg was somewhat peculiar. As the Union lines were drawn, the defending force was not under siege, investment, or blockade; for its lines of communication were all open. Petersburg, in fact, was in the same situation as Sebastopol, when beleaguered by the Allies in the so-called siege—a term not applicable to the kind of operation practised in both these cases. This is of a character novel and modern, and may be better described as a partial investment, or an attitude of watching. There were, however, several manoeuvres and operations open to the Union commander. 1. The first of these was a move resulting from that peculiar strategic relation of the contending armies by which, while Richmond was the ultimate obj
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 21. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), chapter 1.19 (search)
eatest artillery fight in the world's history, and he had once so stated in a speech he had made before a Grand Army Post up North. Up to 1861, the storming of Sebastopol had been the greatest, but he had heard from the lips of an Englishman, who was at Sebastopol, and who was also at Fort Fisher during the battles, that the storSebastopol, and who was also at Fort Fisher during the battles, that the storming of Sebastopol was absolutely mere child's play in comparison with the storming of Fort Fisher. He had talked with Admiral Porter, of the Federal side, and with other Federal general officers who had participated in the battles of Fort Fisher, and particularly with General N. M. Curtis, the gallant Federal general who led thSebastopol was absolutely mere child's play in comparison with the storming of Fort Fisher. He had talked with Admiral Porter, of the Federal side, and with other Federal general officers who had participated in the battles of Fort Fisher, and particularly with General N. M. Curtis, the gallant Federal general who led the land attack, and who was shot seven times and lost an eye in the last battle, and they agreed that it is conceded to be the most terrific artillery battle in the world's history. In presenting Colonel Lamb, Colonel Waddell said we have one with us who commanded Fort Fisher in the great battles, and in defence of which he fell
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