No full reports yet from Du Pont. Am pained, grieved,
distressed by what I hear; and that I hear from him so little. We learn that
after all our outlay and great preparations, giving him about all our force and
a large portion of the best officers, he intends making no farther effort, but
will abandon the plan and all attempts to take it. A fight of thirty minutes
and the loss of one man, which he witnessed, satisfies the Admiral.
The Ironsides, the flagship, was suspiciously remote from
the fight, yet sufficiently near to convince the Admiral he had better leave
the harbor. Down to the day of the conflict I had faith in him and his ability,
though grieved at his delays. When here last fall, expressly to consult and
concert measures for the capture of Charleston, he was as earnest and
determined as any of us, did not waver a moment, and would not listen to a suggestion
of Dahlgren as an assistant.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 273
No comments:
Post a Comment