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broken through entirely, and a nut from one of the bolts driven against the lining, so as to break it through.
The deck-plates were also cut through in many places, so as to make the entrance of water troublesome.
The test was most severe, as all admitted who saw the vessel.
Yet after firing one hundred and twenty-eight rounds she came out of action in good working order, as was proven by her going into action the next day.1
The enemy directed his fire almost exclusively against the Catskill.
The Nahant was hit six times, the Montauk twice, and the Weehawken was untouched.
The following morning the admiral received a note from General Gillmore stating that at early daylight he had made an assault on Wagner and had been repulsed.
He had learned that the enemy expected reinforcements at 10 A. M., and asked for action to prevent it. In accordance with the request, four monitors were again moved near Wagner, and scoured the ground in that vicinity.
On July 17th the admiral states that since his last report he had been occupied with measures to continue the advance and have the Ironsides with five monitors inside the bar. An attack was made on our forces in the Stono the previous day, which had been repulsed.
The Pawnee had been struck forty-two times.
1 The above is a transcript from the official report of the Admiral. It seems entirely admissible, in view of the facts presented, to suppose that he was not very favorably impressed with the endurance of the monitors. Captain Rodgers reports ‘that the deck has been entirely broken through in four places, two of these sufficiently large to admit large quantities of water, requiring shot-plugs The hull was struck on the port quarter, completely shattering all the plates.’ Two engineers and several firemen were prostrated by the intense heat in the fire-and engine-room. The distance from the fort, it will be remembered, was given as 1,200 yards. Admiral Dahlgren's Memoirs, seen since writing the above, says, ‘her armor was very much hurt. The sides of the pilot-house bulged through, and I just escaped the end of a bolt that was dislodged’
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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