TRUE STORY OF THE AMERICAN WAR.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 9989, 19 March 1898, Page 4

TRUE STORY OF THE AMERICAN WAR.

-I 1— One of the most heroic tales of the Anierb can war is that of Lieutenant Dixon and his comrades, Who embarked in a crazy little boat On ah expedition' against a big Yankee man-of-war in the siege of Charleston. The incident was daring in its conception, heroic in its execution, and tragic in its termination, r Charleston was choked off from the sea by the strong hand of the Federal blockade. Ten majestic battleships lay in the outer harbour, and by day and night they rained a storm of ah.it and shell on the fortificationand defenders of the ancient city. For each gunshot from. Sumter Or Wagner, ten or more thundered baok a deadly, answer from the fleet of Federal gunboats. Of this latter a most aggressive member was the Housatonic, a splendid new ship anchored in the north channel. She was particularly offensive from the advantage of her position. The firing of her rifled cannon on the fortwas cruelly perfect and persistent. She throw Parrot shells'into, the'city, and her solid shot tore away great sections of the defensive ramparbs. By reason Oi the wholesale havoc she created, and the de* struetion she dealt, the motive for the blow which was dealt her was conceived. Beauregard had accepted from a Mobile firm for the torpedo service a strange craft, 40 feet in length, and shaped like a cigar. She Was propelled by hand, ahd was intended for submarine Work. But in each of the half dozen attempts to submerge her in the Charleston harbour she had smothered her crew in the green water of the bay, so she was tied up to the wharf near the battery, i With only her curving back above the Water) line, where she vacillated like a stranded sea monster, tossed by the moving tides. There the "'cigar- boat"—she was unnamed —was observed by George Dixon, an officer of the 21st Alabama Infantry, then engaged in the defence of Charlestown. Dixon had been casting about for some plan by which the harbour might be relieved of one or more of the blockaders. A careful inspection of the abandoned boat convinced him that she could be used in a plan whioh he favoured. He was fully cognisant of the grim record she had made for herself, and realised the extreme danger which lay in the execution of his plan, but he determined to try it in the face of all risks. , ; Likewise with the six men to whom Dixon unfolded his project. They knew a fearful death for themselves was almost certain in the event of the success of the enterprise j yet they readily agreed to accompany him as crew of the boat. It was a deliberate sacrifice of themselves for the attainment of a desired object. The men were Captains Carlson and Ridgeway, Becker, Wicks, Collins and Simpkins. At seven o'clock on. the night of 11th February, in '64, the party assembled on the deck of/ the once abandoned but now important boat. It was a picturesque situation. The darkness of the night was (dispelled by a conflagration back in the city and by a calcium raft which burned redly over against Fort Bumter. Overhead a perfect network of screaming and bursting shells made a pyrotechnic display, gigantic and fearful, while the crash of the distantguns was continuous. The men were perfectly cool and deliberate in their movements. Dixon gave his orders in a ma__er, and inspected each step of ihe proceedings with the keen perception Of ah expert. A sailor approached the group on the rocks with a round, black object slung over his shoulders, tt was a sea torpedo. This was taken rather tenderly by two of the men, who fixed it to the end of a spar which another of the party had drawn out of the water with a rope. The free end of the spar was then fixed to the nose of the boat. The spar, being thus adjusted, was a kind of ram, which pointed straight ahead of the boat and lay just under the water, with the deadly torpedo on the outer end. Dixon then ordered all aboard, and they descended a Udder into the boat through a

manhole in the tdp. x The coV-t was ftwtateftd from the insid. and the queer craft -ftoved slowly out into the harbour, only partly sub. merged. The shell dropped into tire water and exploded so hear that the waves fmm the disturbance nearly swamped the boat, but she righted herself and kept a straight course for the outer bar. The Housatonic that night lay silent and dark, As if resting from her murderous labours of the day. A red light burned at her masthead, and an pacfed her decks slowly and alone* He Was watching the red ahd blue signal rockets that rose majestic, high into the night, from the flagship of the squadfroh. Presently he looked nut over the bay, atad his attention settled on a long, low, blstek thing Which came drifting toward him over the rippling waves. It was like a loose plank in the water. He watched it intently for a few Seconds, then suddenly realising the peril of his vessel he ran at his utmost apsed for the pilot house, shouting at the top of his voice S-- " A torpedo oti the -tarboard 1 A tofpfcito ort thfe starboard 1" He raftg all hands on deck* and a* they tumbled out he gave frantic order- to start the engihes and l»ok away. They cut away the cables, the engines began to throb, aid the Whole ship trembled with the first motions of getting Under way. She was too late. The few seconds Crosby had spent in observation of " the plank " cost him dearly. Dixon and his -traftge craft had closed in on him and struck the Housatonio in the side, a little forward of the mainmolt. There was an explosion that was heard far out in the harbour, and its force threw the ship over on her side. When she settled again the sea poured into her through an immense hole that had been knocked in her Bide* In four minutes there were only a few spars protruding from the water where the stately ship werfb down, and a crowd o officers and men Were clinging in tho rigging freezing in the February night. They were rescued by other ships of the fleet. With the success of Dixon's expedition came, too, the finale he had expected. When the Housatonic sank the pugnacious little boat Went down with her, locked fast in her broken timbers. Years after, when they raised tho sodden hulk of the Housatonic from tho harbour, they found the bones of Dixon and his tornrades in the "cigar boat," and they threw them back into the sen*—Weekly Telegraph.