From Wilmington.
[Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.] Wilmington, December 30, 1864.
The grand Federal armada, as you have already been informed by the telegraph, has disappeared from the mouth of the Cape Fear, leaving Fort Fisher unhurt and Wilmington still standing.
‘ "Some flew to the east, Some flew to the west,
And some flew to the cuckoo's nest."
’ The bombardment of Fort Fisher was the heaviest and fiercest to which any fort or town was ever subjected. The front faces of the fort are honeycombed from bottom to top, and the ground in front and rear is covered with shells and torn into great pits and gullies. In some places one can hardly walk without stumbling over the shells and solid shot rained upon the devoted garrison. And yet the fort remains intact, and is as strong and sound to-day as it was when Porter first opened upon it. Our loss, too, is wonderfully small, being three killed outright and fifty-five wounded.--Two Brooke guns, cast at Selma, burst; two others were dismounted by our own carelessness, and two by the fire of the enemy. Such is the nett result of the long day's bombardment by fifty-nine vessels of war and five hundred and eighty-three guns. The bombardment on the first day lasted five hours, and on the second, seven hours; during which it is estimated over twenty thousand shots were fired by the enemy. The fort responded slowly and deliberately, firing only six hundred and sixty-two shots the first day, and six hundred the second. Colonel Lamb, who is as modest as he is brave, informs me that the fort did not begin to put forth all its strength — that he hoped and expected the enemy would come up nearer and give him a better opportunity — and that the late battle has satisfied him that no fleet. however formidable, will ever be able to reduce the fort. If the co-operating land force had succeeded in effecting a lodgment on shore, even then he should have been able to hold out for several weeks, having already made provision against such a contingency. Prisoners report that there were three divisions of infantry present, of which three brigades of Ames's division were landed. And we know from the enemy's newspapers that the fleet, including transports and teriders, numbered not less than one hundred and fifty vessels, of all grades. Of these, five were iron-clads, carrying thirty guns; four wooden tenders, carrying twenty-two guns; and fifty wooden hulls, carrying five hundred and thirty-one guns. In all, fifty-nine war vessels and five hundred and eighty three guns. The garrison which successfully withstood this formidable force consisted of detachments of the Tenth, Thirty-sixth and Fortieth North Carolina regiments, Adams's light battery, and a detachment from the navy, under Captain Chapman; all under the immediate command of Colonel Lamb, and to whom General Bragg and General Whiting unite in awarding great credit. General Whiting is also entitled to high praise, not only for his bearing during the fierce conflict, but for the admirable engineering skill displayed in the construction of Fort Fisher. This great work has been entirely built since the beginning of the war, the greater part of it by General Whiting, who has thus erected a monument to his memory that will long stand to attest his skill and perseverance. Of General Bragg--of whom it has become unfashionable to speak except in terms of disparagement — I will only say that history will gauge the meed of praise due him by the extent and formidable character of the enemy's force, and the limited means by which he met and baffled him. The reader may form some idea of the nature of the enemy's fire when he is told that nothing could live in the open space in the rear and front of the fort, and that even camp dogs and pigs were killed several hundred yards behind the fort. Scouts report that Butler made a speech at Newbern last week, in which he promised to eat his Christmas dinner in Wilmington. They report, also, that parts of a negro regiment and of the Fifth United States regulars were lost at sea during the gale. Only two blockaders were visible off the bar to-day.
Congratulatory order of General Bragg to the troops at Wilmington.
Headquarters Department of North Carolina, Wilmington, December 29, 1864.
General Orders, No. 17.
The commanding general desires to congratulate the officers and men engaged in the recent operations near this place on their successful termination.--One of the most formidable expeditions yet organized by the enemy — an imposing force of veteran troops, supported by a fleet carrying over five hundred guns, has accomplished no other object than a fruitless landing on a barren coast, followed in forty-eight hours by a hasty re-embarkation.
This auspicious, result is due, under a merciful Providence, to the skill of Major-General Whiting, who planned the defences at the mouth of the Cape Fear, to the gallantry and endurance of Colonel Lamb and the brave garrison of Fort Fisher, under his immediate command, worthily seconded by Lieutenant Chapman, of the navy, and his devoted seamen serving Battery Buchanan, and the steady coolness with which Brigadier-General Kirkland, with a part of his brigade, checked the advance of vastly superior numbers of the enemy.
Thus another gigantic effort of a powerful enemy has come to naught, but not without affording us profitable lessons!
The successful defence of Fort Fisher against one of the most formidable naval armaments of modern times proves that the superiority of land batteries over ships of war, at one time threatened by the improvements in artillery and ship armor, has been re-established by the genius of the engineer; and the weaker party, on the defensive, may still defy the greater numbers and mechanical resources of an arrogant invader.
Let us hope that the check which the enemy has received at the mouth of the Cape Fear may prove the harbinger of a renewed series of Confederate victories! 