HOW THE '"PATAPSCO" WENT DOWN IN CHARLESTON HARBOR.
The following was related by the late Maj. T. A. Huguenin to his friend, Miss Claudine Rhett:
During the last seven months of the siege of Charleston, while I had command of Fort Sumter, I made it a rule to rise at four every morning, and required each man at the post to be ready for active duty at a moment's notice from that time until sunrise; for I was confident that if an assault was made upon us it would occur during the dark hours just before dawn, and J was determined not to allow my garrison to be surprised. The feeling of responsibility that weighed upon me was very great, and I endeavored to exercise a constant vigilance and to be prepared to meet any attempt which might be resorted to by the enemy.
It may be remembered that the winter of 1864-65 was particularly cold and rainy, and that the consequent sea-fogs made the difficulties of our situation extremely hard and guard-duty a ceaseless and most imperative necessity. Indeed, when I lay down to rest I fancied myself upon the ramparts and that I was still peering into the darkness and the gloom.
One misty night I was aroused by the officerton duty and informed that a low-lying craft was approaching Fort Sumter from seaward. Hearing this, I immediately ascended the watch-tower, and, after looking steadily through my field-glass, observed what might have been taken for a phantom ship slowly and silently creeping up toward us. This stealthy visitor, I surmised, was nothing less than a monitor, and I presumed that, coming in so unusually close, she must have some evil intention. I thought that either she would open fire at short range to attract our attention while an attack of some kind would be made upon the rear of the fort, or that she was bringing in men to make a sudden dash by barges upon the sea-face, where the débris made by the bombardment shelved down toward the water's edge, inviting assault.
We were prepared to meet either attempt, and got ready to meet whatever might ensue as silently as her- — self, for I wished to induce her to come as near as possible to the fort, hoping to surprise her by a very warm welcome. Capt. Hal Lesesne's Company, of the First — South Carolina Regular Artillery, was doing guardduty at Fort Sumter just then, and I knew that our only gun-battery, which was mounted on a bomb-proof be-
ould do effective work in the hands of those erienced artillerymen.
speaking-tube ran from the ramparts to this em'e where the guns lay, quietly waiting to be used. efore called through this tube to Capt. Lesesne, id: "Look toward the sea at an approaching ob; train your guns upon it, and at the word of comand fire, aiming the largest one in the battery your5 I) ery well, sir,' replied Lesesne. "I will open fire er as soon as you are ready." i Returning to the watch-tower, I waited several minutes, to let the monitor get within range; then, hastening to the tube, gave the order: "Fire!" _ Holding my breath, I stood motionless, expecting to hear the quick, responsive roar of the guns; but, to my intense surprise, the silence remained unbroken. Supposing that Capt. Lesesne had not heard my voice,
JT repeated the command in louder tones, burning with _ impatience at this delay, fearing that the ironclad might withdraw before we could get a chance to send her to the bottom of the sea, as we had done her companion, the "Keokuk," with the cannon of Fort Sumter. In the silence which still ensued my heart beat so loud that it sounded in my ears like a drum summoning Lesesne to do his part, for I was sure that he could sink her where she then stood. Yet the same unaccountable inaction continued. Calling for the third time, I exclaimed: " Lesesne, in God's name, why don't you fire?"
i "T have lost sight of the monitor, sir," answered the artillery captain." Imost beside myself with excitement and disap_ pointment, I hurried below, raised my field-glass, and _ gazed seaward; but nothing could I see of this unfriendly visitor, the ghostly war-ship having vanished as completely as if she had been an optical illusion.
To say that we were amazed is to express our feelings very mildly, and we continued to scan the ocean, searching for the missing craft in every direction until dawn began to break over the cold gray sea.
Meanwhile, the tide had gone down during this period of anxious expectancy, and as daylight approached one of us observed what looked in the mist like a post projecting out of the water where nothing had appeared the previous afternoon. Then did we realize the reason of the sudden disappearance of the missing ironclad. She had struck a torpedo and had gone down into the water as silently as a spirit, her smoke-stack alone revealing the fate that she had met in Charleston Harbor on January 15, 1865, carrying with her to a -seaman's burial sixty-two men of her crew.
The consequent result of this catastrophe to the "Patapsco" was of great service to us in the defense of Charleston, as it made an approach to our works to be regarded as an extremely hazardous enterprise, and not one to be lightly undertaken. Torpedoes had just been invented, and their use was not well known at that time, and this was a most successful example of their ue as a means of defense. Now the whole world learned their importance in war. In Tonquin, ome years after the Confederate war had ended, a ench gunboat met a similar fate at the hands of the inese, going down, with every soul on board, withL noment's warning—so great a danger are they to
i * ¥
t