Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.
Cairo, April 6, 1862
ON BOARD THE U. S. GUNBOAT CARONDELET, NEW MADIRD, APRIL 5 – At last the blockade is passed – the gauntlet is run. The navigation of the Mississippi is proved possible in spite of rebel guns and rebel fortifications. The U. S. Gunboat Carondelet, Captain H. Walke, arrived this morning at one o’clock having past the fortifications at Island No. 10 and the batteries upon the main land opposite, and now lies safely moored under the guns of the upper fort at New Madrid.
The Carondelet left the fleet last evening at ten o’clock, during a terrific thunder storm, and having taken a barge in tow laden with hay and coal, to serve as a protection from the enemy’s balls, extinguished her lights, put on steam and rapidly sailed down the river. The first intimation the rebels had of the attempt to run the blockade was the fire which issued from the burning chimney of the gun boat, and immediately thereafter it was greeted with a shower of balls from infantry stationed at the upper battery, the same which was so effectually spiked a few days since by Colonel Roberts.
A signal rocket was sent up, and in an instant the entire line of batteries were a blaze of flame. Four batteries on the Kentucky shore and one on the point of the Island fired in quick succession, but the Carondelet passed them all in safety, and unmindful of the leaden and iron hail which fell around, passed through the fiery ordeal unhurt. Not a man was injured, and excepting a few musket balls which struck the iron plated sides of the gunboat, she was untouched. The floating battery is located three miles below the Island, and bestowed a parting shower of blazing compliments as the Carondelet glided quietly by.
The Hollins ram Manassas did not open.
Officers and men acquitted themselves with admirable courage and fidelity. Owning to the intense darkness, the officers could not make an extensive and satisfactory reconnaissance of the batteries, but the enemy probably did his best. The fire was tremendous.
– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, April, 11, 1862
Cairo, April 6, 1862
ON BOARD THE U. S. GUNBOAT CARONDELET, NEW MADIRD, APRIL 5 – At last the blockade is passed – the gauntlet is run. The navigation of the Mississippi is proved possible in spite of rebel guns and rebel fortifications. The U. S. Gunboat Carondelet, Captain H. Walke, arrived this morning at one o’clock having past the fortifications at Island No. 10 and the batteries upon the main land opposite, and now lies safely moored under the guns of the upper fort at New Madrid.
The Carondelet left the fleet last evening at ten o’clock, during a terrific thunder storm, and having taken a barge in tow laden with hay and coal, to serve as a protection from the enemy’s balls, extinguished her lights, put on steam and rapidly sailed down the river. The first intimation the rebels had of the attempt to run the blockade was the fire which issued from the burning chimney of the gun boat, and immediately thereafter it was greeted with a shower of balls from infantry stationed at the upper battery, the same which was so effectually spiked a few days since by Colonel Roberts.
A signal rocket was sent up, and in an instant the entire line of batteries were a blaze of flame. Four batteries on the Kentucky shore and one on the point of the Island fired in quick succession, but the Carondelet passed them all in safety, and unmindful of the leaden and iron hail which fell around, passed through the fiery ordeal unhurt. Not a man was injured, and excepting a few musket balls which struck the iron plated sides of the gunboat, she was untouched. The floating battery is located three miles below the Island, and bestowed a parting shower of blazing compliments as the Carondelet glided quietly by.
The Hollins ram Manassas did not open.
Officers and men acquitted themselves with admirable courage and fidelity. Owning to the intense darkness, the officers could not make an extensive and satisfactory reconnaissance of the batteries, but the enemy probably did his best. The fire was tremendous.
– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, April, 11, 1862
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