Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/45

Rh was prevented by the actual intervention of the leading battleships of the enemy. Fort Walker, however, received just before the engagement, a reinforcement of the Fifteenth volunteers, Colonel DeSaussure, 650 strong; Captain Read s battery of two i2-pounder howitzers, 50 men and 450 Georgia infantry, under Capt. T. J. Berry.

The morning of the 7th of November was a still, clear, beautiful morning, &quot;not a ripple,&quot; wrote General Drayton, &quot;upon the broad expanse of water to disturb the accuracy of fire from the broad decks of that magnificent armada, about advancing in battle array.&quot; The attack came about 9 o’clock, nineteen of the battleships moving up and following each other in close order, firing upon Fort Beauregard as they passed, then turning to the left and south, passing in range of Walker, and pouring broadside after broadside into that fort. Captain Elliott reports: &quot;This circuit was performed three times, after which they remained out of reach of any except our heaviest guns. From this position the heavy metal and long range guns of nineteen batteries poured forth a ceaseless bombardment of both Beauregard and Walker, but paying most attention to the latter.

Both forts replied with determination, the gunners standing faithfully to their guns, but the vastly superior weight of metal and the number of the Federal batteries, and the distance of their positions from the forts (never less than 2,500 yards from Beauregard and 2,000 from Walker), made the contest hopeless for the Confederates almost from the first shot. Shortly after the engagement began, several of the largest vessels took flanking positions out of reach of the 32-pounder guns in Walker, and raked the parapet of that fort. &quot;So soon as these positions had been established,&quot; reported Major Huger, &quot;the fort was fought simply as a point of honor, for from that moment we were defeated.&quot; This flank fire, with the incessant direct discharge of the fleet’s heavy batteries,