The Daily Dispatch: January 22, 1864., [Electronic resource]

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The recent Engagement in Stono river.

--A Yankee letter from on board the Marblehead, a gunboat recently attacked by the Confederates in Stono river, seems to think that if the rebels had held on a little longer, and not run when they did, they might have captured the boat and the Yankee troops at Legareville. Three of the crew were killed and two wounded. The letter says:

‘ We were struck twenty times, every shot passing through the ship or masts, and the deck was covered with splinters and blood. A rifle-shot struck the ship at the steerage, and, passing through made a perfect lumber room of it. The hole through the ship was as large as a hat, and much broken, and the shot passing through broke up two of the berths on the starboard side and store own the curtains, and, going on, struck the solid floor, making a long hole in it a foot wide. The shot then passed over to the engineer's side, breaking to atoms the glass, and passed through the lockers of the other two engineers, and then smashed Mr. S.'s berth all to pieces, ripping open his mattress and cutting the ends off from all the slats.

’ We found the shot on the floor. It was more than a foot long, conical, and weighed thirty pounds. It was a wicked shot, and was evidently aimed at the engine, and if it had struck, as intended, a few feet further forward it would probably have killed all in the engine-room and disabled the engine, when the boat would probably have been lost. Nothing but the mercy of the Almighty turned that tremendous missile from its course and saved the ship and our lives.