A yearning, craving desire for tidings from Charleston, but
the day has passed without a word. They send us from the front that there is
great repose and quiet in the Rebel camp, which is a favorable indication, for
when they have successes there is immense cheering. Again I have a dispatch
from the President at Headquarters this evening. He has a Richmond paper of
to-day and sends me the contents. The ironclads have crossed the bar. The paper
speaks with assurance, yet there are forebodings of what is to be apprehended.
Says Charleston will be a Saragossa.
A desperate stand will be made at Charleston, and their
defenses are formidable. Delay has given them time and warning, and they have
improved them. They know also that there is no city so culpable, or against
which there is such intense animosity. We shall not get the place, if we get it
at all on this first trial, without great sacrifice. There are fifty-two
steamers for the work and the most formidable ironclad force that ever went
into battle. These great and long-delayed preparations weigh heavily upon me.
As a general thing, such immense expeditions are failures. Providence delights
to humble man and prostrate his strength. For months my confidence has not
increased, and now that the conflict is upon us, my disquietude is greater
still. I have hope and trust in Du Pont, in the glorious band of officers that
are with him, and in the iron bulwarks we have furnished as well as in a
righteous cause.
The President, who has often a sort of intuitive sagacity,
has spoken discouragingly of operations at Charleston during the whole season.
Du Pont's dispatches and movements have not inspired him with faith; they
remind him, he says, of McClellan. Fox, who has more naval knowledge and
experience and who is better informed of Charleston and its approaches, which
he has visited, and the capabilities and efficiency of our officers and ships,
entertains not a doubt of success. His reliant confidence and undoubted
assurance, have encouraged and sustained me when doubtful. I do not believe the
monitors impregnable, as he does, under the concentrated fire and immense
weight of metal that can be thrown upon them, but it can hardly be otherwise
than that some, probably that most of them, will pass Sumter. What man can do,
our brave fellows will accomplish, but impossibilities cannot be overcome. We
must wait patiently but not without hope.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 264-5
No comments:
Post a Comment