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by the hurried manner in which she withdrew out of effective range.
The
Passaic had already left the contest, visibly crippled; and the other monitors, which had ‘slowly passed in front of the fort in an ellipse,’ one of them at a distance of a thousand yards, found themselves exposed to the crushing missiles aimed with deliberate accuracy by our well-trained and intrepid artillerists.
Two of these vessels were now compelled to retire, as the
Passaic and the
Ironsides had previously done.
At five minutes past four o'clock P. M. the double-turreted monitor
Keokuk gallantly advanced, alone, within nine hundred yards of the batteries of
Sumter, and one thousand of those of
Moultrie.
The fate of her consorts had not deterred her from this attempt, but she soon repented her defiant act; for the guns of our first circle of fire were now directed against her, and she soon abandoned the fight, worsted, and unable to endure the ordeal to which she had been subjected.
Colonel Rhett thus refers to this incident in his official report:
‘She received our undivided attention, and the effect of our fire was soon apparent.
The wrought-iron bolts from a 7-inch Brooke gun were plainly seen to penetrate her turret and hull, and she retired in forty minutes, riddled and apparently almost disabled.’
After being under the fire of our forts and batteries for two hours and twenty-five minutes, at distances varying from nine hundred to seventeen hundred yards, the whole ironclad fleet finally withdrew, and anchored beyond the range of our guns.
The battle was fought.
The day was ours.
In his report, already referred to,
Colonel Rhett says:
‘The enemy's fire was mostly ricochet, and not very accurate; most of their shot passed over the fort, and several to the right and left.
The greater portion of their shots were from thirteen to fourteen hundred yards distant, which appeared to be the extent of their effective range; some shots were from a greater distance, and did not reach the fort at all. * * * With regard to the conduct of the garrison, it is impossible for me to draw any distinction.
Officers and men were alike animated with the same spirit, and I cannot speak in too high terms of their coolness and gallantry throughout the action.
All acted as though they were engaged in practice, and the minutest particulars of drill and military etiquette were preserved.’
General Trapier, in his report, says:
‘It is due to the garrison of Fort Moultrie and their soldierly and accomplished commander, Colonel Butler, that I should not close this report without ’
