We have nothing definite from Suffolk, or from Washington,
N. C.
But we have Northern accounts of their great disaster at
Charleston. It appears that during the brief engagement on the 7th inst., all
their monitors were so badly damaged that they were unable to prolong or to
renew the contest. They will have to be taken to New York for repairs; and will
not go into service again before autumn. Thus, after nearly a year's
preparation, and the expenditure of $100,000,000, all their hopes, so far as
Charleston is concerned, have been frustrated in a few brief hours, under the
fire of Beauregard's batteries. They complain that England furnished us with
the steel-pointed balls that penetrated their iron turrets. To this there can
be no objection; indeed it may be productive of good, by involving the
Abolitionists in a new quarrel: but it is due to candor to state that the balls
complained of were manufactured in this city.
It was a Federal account of the retaking the Queen of the
West, reported by Mr. Benjamin; and hence, it is not generally believed.
It is thought by many that Hooker will change his base from
the Rappahannock to the Pamunky, embarking his army in transports. If this be
so, we shall again have the pleasure of hearing the thunders of battle, this
summer, in Richmond.
Gen. Lee has been quite ill, but is now recovering.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 296
No comments:
Post a Comment