Notes of the War.
Northern Comments on the battle of Hampton Roads--Federal invasion of the coasts of Georgia and Flerida.From late papers in our possession we make up the subjoined summary:
The battle of Bampton Roads.
[from the Philadelphia Inquirer, 11th.]
‘"The long expected rebel steamer Merrimac has at length made her appearance."’ This is the initial sentence of the Associated Press dispatch announcing the disastrous rain of the Merrimac on Saturday last.
The formidable rebel was ‘"long expected,"’ and yet not the slightest competent preparation seems to have been made to resist her approach.
On the contrary, two wooden vessels, and sailing vessels at that, were left wholly at her mercy--one of them, it is reported, without a crew.
When everything should have been in readiness for a sudden and fierce onslaught by a mail-clad steamer, and all such dead wood as sailing vessels should have been cleared out of the way, we find, instead, a state of unreadiness and blind confidence of safety, and the unfortunate Corgress and Cumberland so situated as to invite their sad fate.
As far as we have intelligence, the sacrifice of brave men on these two vessels in almost or quite as great and equally deplorable as at Ball's Bluff, which the scene at Hampton Roads calls mentably to mind.
Who is to blame?--That is the angry question that on Sunday night and Monday rose instinctively to every lip. While no one was sufficiently informed to answer the question, the old distrust of the management of the Navy Department was actively revived.
It was argued that, with such ample notice as the entire public of the North has had of the completion of so formidable an engine of naval warfare as the Merrimac, there should have been full preparation by the Department to meet her, and to keep, all helpless sailing vessels beyond her reach.
And it was again argued that there was no reason to expect much foresight from a Department shown to be blundering and improvident by the Van Wych report.
The strong desire for a change in that Department, so freely expressed some months ago, has thus become as active as ever.
To nothing but the opportune arrival of the Monitor are we indebted for escape from the loss of the entre fleet.
Who is to blame?
This event is, however, not without its valuable lessons.
It is demonstrated that the day of war vessels propelled by sails is at an end. Wherever they are in service on the coast, they exist only by a sort of sufferance.
The moment one of these rade railroad ironctad steamers, which the rebels have had the enterprise to build, can escape the sleepy blockade, all such fine old time-lumber will be sacrificed the Congress and the Cumberland.
These latter are as helpless in such case as an infant in the grasp of a giant.
The little John Smith, which plies between Chesnut street wharf and the Island, would be of more service, or at least have better chance of escape.
There is one other point.
The Monitor, which refrieved the fortunes of the day in Hampton Roads, and upheld the honor of the old flag by beating off the powerful Merrimac, was built in one hundred days from the date of the contract.
Congress has been nearly that long in session, so that if that body had gone promptly to work in the construction of a mail-clad fleet in the first weeks of the session, as it should have done, we would by this time be almost ready to station one at every point of danger.
But the bill appropriating the money for this purpose lingered for weeks in the Senate, because Senators were reluctant to entrust the expenditure of the millions involved to the hands which had already so lamentably blundered the purchases for the navy.
Why should such a state of affairs be permitted to continue?
This is not a time for want of harmony or lack of confidence, or the absence of hearty co-operation between the several branches of the Government.
There should be a clearing out, at once, of the dead wood of the navy and of the Navy Department.
News Telegraphed from Washington.
A skirmish took place on Sunday noon about four miles beyond Fairfax C. H. Fourteen of the Lincoln cavalry charged on one hundred and fifty of the Second Maryland infantry, capturing eleven privates and one Lieutenant, named J. H. Stewart. Several of our men were wounded slightly. The rebel officer says he mistook our scouts for their own. To-day information has been brought in from a variety of sources that the forrifications from Cockpit Point to Winchester, by the way of Centreville, have been deserted. No definite facts have been ascertained in regard to the terrs incognita of Manassas Junction, and opinions concerning it are divided in circles of the highest authority. Some assert that the enemy has drawn his wings into closer connection with the centre, while others assert that a panic has pervaded the whole army, that has so long sat in impudent deflance in front of the Capital. In the deserted fortifications the huge guns are overthrown as far as was possible in the hasty flight of the rebels, while military stores and ammunition are strewn about.--There is no doubt, however, to night, that, as far as Gentrsville is concerned, there is no evidence of the rebels occupying that position, after a careful scrutiny of the earthworks which so lately harbored them. Fears are freely expressed that the enemy will annihilate Burnside as they march southward, while others predict a feint to fall with all their force on Banks. These fears are considered entirely groundless, and the best reason that can be given for the grand retrograde is the refusal of their soldiers to enlist at the end of their term of service, which has been so fraught with misery and hardships. While the rebels are falling back, Yankee enterprise shows itself, and to-day seven miles of telegraph wires were erected and set to work in the direction of Richmond.Greenough's Liquid fire.
Some thirteen years ago, A. Lincoln, then a member of the House of Representatives, and H. Hamlin; then a Senator, brought before those bodies a discovery of ‘"liquid fire"’ as a means of attack and defence; Mr. B. F. Greenoughy of Boston, is now experimenting, before officers detailed for the purpose, with a ‘"liquid fire"’ which he throws through a small force-pump, through twenty-five feet of rubber hose, in a fluid state. At the nozals of the hose it passes through wire-gauze, on leaving which it is ignited and thrown in a stream of flame, setting fire to what it strikes. Perhaps, before very long, he may try it in setting fire to the Navy-Yard at Norfolk.Dupont's expedition on the Southern coast.
The Yankee newspapers raise a shout of exsitation over the capture of Brunswick, Ga., and Fernandina, Fla., where, it will be remembered; the enemy met with no resistance. The following is Commodore Dupont's official report of the proceeding: Flag-Ship Monican, Harbor of Fernandina, March 4, 1862.
Sir:
I had the honor to inform you in my last dispatch that the expedition for Fernandina was equipped, and waiting only for suitable weather to sail from Port Royal.
I have now the pleasure to inform you that I am in full possession of Cumberland Sound, and the Island of Fernandina and Amelia Island, and of the river and town of St. Mary's
I sailed from Port Royal on the last day of February, in the Wabash, and on the 2d inst. entered Cumberland Sound, by St. Andrew's Inlet, in the Mohican; Commander S. W. Goden, on board of which ship I have hoisted my flag.
The fleet comprised the following vessels, sailing in the order in which they are named.
The Ottown, Mohican, Accompanied by the Ellen,) Seminols, Pawnes, Pocahontas, Flag, Florida, James Adger, Blenville, Alabama, Keystone State, Seneca, Huron, Pembina, Isaac Smith, Penguin, Potemska, the armed cutter Henristts, the armed transport McClsllan, (the latter having on board the hattalion of marines under the command of Maj. Reynolds,) and the transports Empire City, Marion, Star of the South, Belvidere, Boston, George's Cresk, containing a brigade, under the command of Brig. Gen. Wright.
We came to anchor in Cumberland Sound at half-past 10 on the morning of the 2d, to make an examination of the channel and wait for the tide.
Here I learned, from a contraband who had been picked up at sea by Com. Lanier, and from the neighboring residents on Cumberland Island, that the rebels had abandoned, in haste, the whole of the defences of Pernasdina, and were seen at that moment retreating from Amelia Island, carrying with them such of their munitions as their precipitate flight would allow.
The object of carrying the whole flest through Cumberland Sound was to turn the heavy works on the south end of Cumberland and the north and of Amelia Islands; but on receiving this intelligence I detached the gun boats and armed steamers of light draft from the mainland, and placing them under, the command of Commander P. Drayton, of the steam-sloop Pawnee, I ordered him to push through the Sound with the utmost speed, to save the public and private property from threatened destruction, to prevent the poisoning of the walls, and to put a stop to all these
outrages, by the perpetration of which the leaders of this nefarious' war hope to deceive and exasperate the Southern people.
In the meantime, I went out of the Sound and came by sea to the main entrance of the harbor.
In consequence of the bad weather I was unable to cross the bar till this morning.
Commander Drayton, accompanied by Commander O. R. P. Rodgers, with the armed launches and cutters, and the small armed companies from the Wabash, had arrived several hours before me. Immediately on his entering the harbor, Commander Drayton sent Lieutenant White, of the Ottowa, to hoist the flag on Fort Clinch, the first of the national forts on which the ensign of the Union has resumed its proper place since the first proclamation of the President of the United States was issued.
A few scattering musket shots were fired from the town by the flying enemy, when it was discovered that a railroad train was about to start.
Commander Drayton, on board the Ottowa, Lieutenant-Commanding Stevens; chased the train for two miles, and fired several shells at it, aiming at the locomotive, some of which took effect.
It was reported that the Hon. David Yulee, late a Senator of the United States from the State of Florida, escaped from the train and took to the bush.
Commander C. P. Rodgers, pushing ahead with the launches, captured the rebel steamer Darlington, containing artillery stores, army wagons, mules, forage, &c., and fortunately secured the draw-bridge, which was held during the night by the second launch of the Wabash.
There were passengers, including women and children, aboard the Darlington, and yet the brutal Captain suffered her to be fired upon, and refused to hoist the white flag, notwithstanding the entreaties of the women.
No one was injured.
I send the Captain of the steamer home a prisoner.
His name is Jacob Brock.
He is a native of Vermont, but has been a resident of Florida for twenty-three years.
The same night, Commander O. P. Rodgers ascended the at Mary's with the Ottowa, and took possession of the town, driving out a picket of the enemy's cavalry.
Early in the morning the town of Fernandina was also occupied by a party of seamen and marines, from Commander Drayton's command.
In both places most of the inhabitants had fied, by order, it is said, of the rebel authorities.
A company of seamen and marines, under Lieut. Miller, was sent from the Mohican to hold Fort Clinch.
It is reported to me by Lieutenant Commanding Downes, of the Huron, that the whole structure of the railroad on the Fernandina side, including the swinging drawbridge, is quite uninjured.
The rebels have done some damage by fire to the tressel-work on the other side of the river, but I am not yet informed of its extent.
Several locomotives, baggage-tenders, freight cars, and some other property besides that found in the steamer Darlington, have been recovered.
The whole number of guns discovered up to this time is thirteen, embracing heavy 32 pounders, 8-inch guns, and one 80 and one 120-pounder rifled guns.
The towns of St. Mary's and Fernandina are uninjured.
I visited the town, Fort Clinch, and the earthworks on the sea face of the Island. it is impossible to look at these preparations for a vigorous defence, without being surprised that they should have been voluntarily deserted. The batteries on the north and northeast shores are as complete as art can make them.
Six are well concealed, and protected by ridges of sand hills in front of them, and contain perfect shelter for the men, and are so small and thoroughly covered by the natural growth and the varied contours of the land, that to strike them from the water would be the mere result of chance.
A battery of six guns, though larger and affording therefore a better mark, is equally well sheltered and masked.
These batteries, and the heavy guns mounted on Fort Clinch, command all the turnings of the main ship channel, and rake an approaching enemy.--Beside them there was another battery.
of four guns, on the south end of Cumberland Island, the fire of which would cross the channel inside of the bar. The difficulties arising from the indirectness of the channel and from the shoalness of the bar would have added to the defences by keeping the approaching vessels a long time exposen to fire under great disadvantage.
And when the ships of an enemy had passed all these defences, they would have had to encounter a well-constructed and naturally masked battery at the town, which commands the access to the inner anchorags.
We are told that General f ee pronounced the place perfectly defensible.
We are not surprised at this, if true.
We captured Port Royal, out Fernandina and Fort Clinch have been given to us. * * * * *
I take great pleasure in reminding the Department that the principal and ultimate object of the naval expedition which I have the honor to command, was, in its first conception, to take and keep under control the whole line of the seacoast of Georgia, ‘"knowing,"’ to use the language of the original paper, ‘"that the naval power that controls the seacoast of Georgia controls the State of Georgia."’
The report that the fortifications at St. Simons, armed with heavy columbiads, had been abandoned, which first reached me at Port Royal, is confirmed.
This being the case, the entire seacoast of Georgia is now either actually in my possession, or under my control, and thus the views of the Government have been accomplished. Sir:
Very resp'y, your most obd't serv't,
S. F. Dupont, Comd'g South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. To Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of Navy, Washington.
S. F. Dupont, Comd'g South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. To Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of Navy, Washington.
