From a graphic description of the bombardment of Ft. Macon, which was battered down in ten hours, we cut the following short extract. It is from the New York Tribune.
The scene at this time was very grand, and would have afforded the materials for a Vernet battle piece. The squadron steaming slowly in their elliptical course, and firing by turns, the fort pouring fire and smoke at two sides, our land batteries all engaged at once, the smoke puffs of the badly sent bombs showing clear and white against the blue sky, the flag of treason and rebellion flying over the green slopes of the work, and the bright sun above all shining on the picture. The thunder of cannon now shook the ground beneath our feet, and the window panes rattled in the houses as if they would be shivered the next instant. Women who had friends in the fort would stand on the Beaufort piazza, throng the windows and wave their handkerchiefs in joy so long as the fort was firing upon us without reply but when our attack was raging from land and sea, shell after shell bursting within the walls or on the ramparts, and one gun after another becoming silenced, they shrunk from view, and no doubt gave way to their grief in the privacy of their apartments. As I walked that morning along the river front to the boat in which I was to cross to Morehead, and saw the tearful eyes and mournful faces of women, I could not help thinking of that April day a year ago when the terrible fire of thirteen rebel batteries was directed upon a few loyal men in Fort Sumter and I thanked God in my heart that day of retribution had come so speedily.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862 p. 1
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