NEW YORK, May 20.
The following was written on board the Galena, yesterday
morning. We ran up to Watches Bluff
where we found the river full of sunken steamers. The Jamestown, Yorktown, and a number of
others. The bank was lined with rifle
pits, and on top of the bluff the rebels had a very heavy battery, mounting ten
guns, some of them ten inch, and three or four very heavy rifles. We ran within half a mile of the batteries,
anchored and swung broadside to them.
They opened fire, the first shot striking our port bow, and going
through the armor. About five minutes
after, we got another shot very near where the first one struck. As it came through, it killed one man
instantly, and wounded four more. We
fought them four hours, until we got out of ammunition, when we had to
retire. We got 28 shots in our side, and
17 on the deck.
We had 12 men killed, 2 dangerously wounded, who have since
died, and 15 slightly wounded. We made a
gallant fight, but had we taken the battery we could not have held it, and the
obstructions in the river prevented our going up any higher. – One thing we
have demonstrated: the Galena cannot stand heavy shot at short range. He fired 238 rounds, all that we had. Had we had plenty of shells, we could have
silenced the rebels in two hours.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport,
Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21,
1862, p. 2
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