The Passaic was made the flagship of the small squadron and Captain Percival Drayton in charge of the operation against Fort McAllister.
Drayton was a member of an old and distinguished South Carolina family, but had chosen to remain in the U.S. Navy. He had faced a brother, Confederate General Thomas F. Drayton earlier in the war at the Battle of Port Royal.
The Passaic led the small Union fleet into action and into position just 1,200 yards from the guns of the fort. From 8:40 am to 3:30 pm, the Passaic fired 52 projectiles at the fort and was his 34 times. In his report of the action, Captain Downes of the monitor USS Nahant, said that all of the fort's guns were concentrated on the Passaic.
The attack was not successful in capturing the fort, but, the Passaic had proved beyond a doubt that monitors were capable of withstanding heavy fire which would have sunk any wooden ship.
--Old B-Runner
No comments:
Post a Comment