FEDERAL REPULSE ON THE JAMES RIVER.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1760, 30 August 1862, Page 5

FEDERAL REPULSE ON THE JAMES RIVER.

The ivon-built squadron of the Federals being jset free for active service by the immolation of the terrible Meroimac and ber sister ships it was summoned from its station iv Hampton Roads to co-operate with the army of M'Clellau in his progress towards Richmond. This formidable portion of the Northern fleet comprised all the experimental iron-chid vessels which had been built by the Government of Washington since the commencement of the war. Foremost in the list was the Monitor, with a reputation established by her combat with the Merrimac. The next wn3 theNangatuck — not a sister ship to the Monitor, but an iron-clad battery constructed on principles of its own. With these was the Galena, a vessel of the ordinary build. These were all specimen ships of the new Northern navy, designed by different inventors, approved by a cominitttee, and adopted as experimental vessels by the . Government. Two other iron-clad ships also formed part of the flotilla, but, except that they carried " long guns," we have no information as to their character or armamentThis squadron of iron-sides was oidered to penetrate up the James River, to operate - against Richmond, and to aid in cutting off the p retreat of the Confederates. It was anticipated in the North that the rebels would either be pounded between the double attack, or, if they ventured upon another of their masterly retreats that they would be captured by M'Clellan. But the interesting project failed. The Confederates, it appears, in relinquishing active operations in the James River, by no means j intended to give up its waters to the unobstructed use of the invaders. The way to Richmond by water was accordingly contested as stoutly as the way by land. On the Btb of May, two batteries had been silenced on the passage up the river, an achievement whioh was described in glowing terms in a letter written from the Galena to a New Yerk paper. The attacking vessels sustained no injury from the fire of the forts. But this success was not to be of long duration ; for, as the flotilla ascended the stream, it arrived at a point about seven miles below Richmond where it was evident that a more serious resistance had been prepared. The navigation of the river was artificially closed by sunken vessels, piles, and chains ; and and on a high bluff of land, commanding the spot a heavy battery had been thrown up, known as Fort Darling. Here it was that an engagement took placj, which ended in the total defeat of the iron-clad squadron. The redoubtable Monitor proved wholly unavailable since the guns in her turret could not be sufficiently elevated to reach the battery on the height. The Naugatuck, from which so much had been expected, burst her large 100 pouuder ' Parrot gun at the first discharge, aud lust seventeen men by the explosion. The work was thus entirely thrown on the Galena, the Port Royal, and the Aristook gun boats of the ordinary build. The fate of the Galena is a warning not to put implicit trust in these

invincibles. She appears to have fought her guns well enough, but her armour altogether failed her. She was penetrated by no fewer than eighteen shots from the fort, so that she had either some weak points or her plates were of no great value. In the end, after four hours hard n>htin<r, the Federal fleet retired, with a loss admitted to exceed 1,000 men. This disaster caused great vexation throughout tbe North, and no attempt has at present been made to efface it. The iron-sides have gone into temporary oblivion and seclusion. The Federal reverse, in the meanwhile, has bad an inspiriting effect upon the discouraged Confederates ; while the incidents of the contest no far to neutralise the summary lessons supposed to have been taugiit by the combat between the Merrimac and the Monitor. Stationary forts are evidently of some value, after all, and are not to be hastily discarded.