Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/81

Rh dwell upon that. The officers of the United States vessels strenuously denied that they were driven off, the captain of the Housatonic, in particular, asserting that he was never outside the "usual line of blockaders." Yet his log-book shows that he was "waiting for the haze to clear to run in and pick up our anchor." There was no "haze" observed by the Confederate naval officers; on the contrary, they thought it a very clear day. The Mercedita was towed to Port Royal after the Palmetto State left her. Her officers and men were afterward regularly exchanged. At 4 p. m. the Confederate vessels crossed the bar and returned to Charleston, having remained outside the harbor the entire day. The loss on the Federal ships on this occasion was 25 killed and 22 wounded. There was no loss on the Confederate side the vessels were not even hit.

Of the result of this enterprise on the part of Commodore Ingraham, Captain Parker, in his "Recollections," says: "Our only chance of any great success lay in a surprise under cover of the night. After ramming the Mercedita we should have remained a little outside and near her; then as the enemy's vessels came up in succession we should have captured them, as it is reasonable to suppose we would have done. When a vessel struck, she would have been directed to run in and anchor near the Mercedita. By pursuing this plan I think we would have retained the Mercedita and Keystone State, and probably have captured, in addition, the Quaker City, Augusta and Memphis. By that time daylight would have revealed to the other United States ships 'what manner of men' [ironclads] they were contending against, and the fight would have ended."

On the 7th of September, 1863, Flag-Officer Dupont, with a squadron of ironclads, made an attack upon Forts Sumter and Moultrie. The Palmetto State and Chicora --