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About Forest Grove press. (Forest Grove, Or.) 1909-1914 | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1913)
/ FOREST GROVE PRESS, FOREST GROVE, OREGON, THURSDAY. MARCH 27, 1913. Forest Grove Steam Laundry Wood, Coal, Cold Storage and Ice. J W. F. HARTRAMPH Feed Mill will run every day in the week. In Shade's bayou I he vessels often grazed th e hanks, an d th e chnnnel was ob structed by rafts which had floated down an d cau g h t betw een the trees and th e shore. L arge quantities of cotton bales were stored along shore aw a itin g safe tran sp o rtatio n to so u th e rn seaports, and this th e C onfeder ates set on Ure tb e mom ent th e fleet appeared, enveloping th e boats in sm oke and en dangering them with flames. I KING the hist week iii March fifty years ago Admiral 1>. D. Porter's fleet of Federal Iron clads stood In vital peril ot cap tu re by the Confederate land troops under circumstances which were novel In the extreme. They were hemmed in lay trees felled by th e cue- piy in front and rear across a channel s o narrow in places th a t a t times the ships' sides were only a foot from tlie bank. The ships were greased from stem to stern to prevent the nimble Steering by the Light of Lanterns. Confederates who were a fte r them At th e end of tw enty-four hours the from clambering aboard, and sailors ships had made but four miles. H e a r arm ed with pistols an d cutlasses lined ing th e noise of chopping ahead, For- D Cor. 5th Ave. und 2nd St., Ore A Novel Naval Dilemma In the Mississippi Bayous. Admiral D. D. Porter’s Fleet Hemmed In a Narrow Channel---Confederates Block the Way, Bombard the Federal Ships and Force Them to Retreat—-General W. T. Sherman Marches a Force Through the Swamps and Rescues the Imperiled Expedition From Cap- ture---Porter Prepared to Blow Up His Vessels Rath er Than Surrender Them to the Enemy. B y C . D ' a t n GEO. L. K I L M E R . Late U. i. V. MERTZ & LATTA Forest Grove, The War Fifty Years Ago versed his opinion of th a t class of ves sel. H itherto he hud condemned them. But be said they could bu tter down trees, uproot tbem and demolish bridges. l i e received warning d a y s be fore Sherm an was beard from th a t 5,1X10 Confederate troops bad been sent into the region to destroy th e expedi tion. pace to Face W ith Calamity. In order to av ert such calam ity a t the hands of the foe I’o rter made a r rangem ents in full detuil to destroy the ships himself rath er than let the enemy capture them. The machinery w as to be broken to a scrap heap, train s of powder were laid to the m agazines and signals arranged to w arn all hands when the hour had come. T h e men w ere put on half rations an d no lights | allowed a t night. They slept a t tbe guns so as to be ready to repel I boa rilers. Finally the force prepared fo r a last stand. The sides of the vessels were covered w ith grease to prevent the Confederates from climbing th e sides, the guns were loaded w ith canister and given the highest elevation possi ble. Once more the fleet cam e to a standstill before tw o large trees across the channel. The Confederates rushed up to w ith in fifty yards, and all tbe working p a r ties of tlie boats were called in to de fend their vessels. But tiefore a shot was fired a rattle of m usk etry sp ran g up in the Confederate rear, th e crews Absolutely Safe and Reliable The Bankers & Merchants Mutual Fire Association Of Forest Grove, Oregon Conducted on Economic and Business Principles. Tbe Home Company That Has Made Good. Insure Your Business or Dwelling in The Bankers & Merchants G ILTNER’S ROCERY Phone Main 701 South Main Street, Forest Grove, Ore. Fresh Vegetables Every Day Log Cabin Bread Am ber and Fresh Each Morning Golden Gate COFFEE Wholesale and Retail Bran,Shorts, Rolled Oats, Ground Oats, ‘Ground Wheat, Cracked Wheat, Cracked Corn, Whole Wheat and Corn, Middlings and several kinds of Hard Wheat Flour, Sack Twine and Sacks, Hay and Vetch Seed. Neat Printing is something every business man desires when he orders station ery. Neat appearing business letter heads, envelopes, state ments, bill heads, cards, etc., are what can be had from the Press Publishing Co. Neat printing Give us a call when in need. lnd Phone 50x F o rest Grove, Ore S. A. W ALKER H. U I l Y A I t l ) WALKER & LIDYARD Is Our Motto SHOEMAKERS and we endeavor to live up to it at all times. W hen we fail to deliver a job of printed work which entirely satisfies, we are prepared to make it right. A job turned out of this office must be correct in every par ticular. Bring your work to the 1st Ave. N., n ear Main St. We are prepared to do the very best of all kind of shoe'work. UP-TO-DATE MACHINERY Special attention given to crippled feet. C o p y r ig h t by th e R ev iew of R e v i e w s c o m p a n y . T H E F Kl >ERA L IRONCLAD C IN C IN N A T I, F L A G S H I P O F T l l K F L E E T . SURVEYOR Civil Engineering and Surveying A. A. KIRKWOOD, tlie upper decks to guard against as- Hiiilants leaping dow n from o verh an g ing dees. All tills took place in the sluggish w aters of tributaries of the Yazoo liver an incident of General U. S. G ran t's Vicksburg campaign. Move to the Rear of Vicksburg. P o rte r’s unique experience was the result of G ran t's desire to get In the rear of Vicksburg on (he north. The Yazoo empties Into the Mississippi close to Vicksburg, and the Confeder ates occupied the blulTs along that stream for fifty miles. The Yazoo It self is formed from (lie Tallahatchie, Sunflower. Vallabuslia and Beer creek, all navigable and used for bringing Confederate supplies to the Vicksburg garrison. G ran t wanted to establish a second ary base for operations far up th e Ya- i zoo above the bluffs and cut "IT not only supplies, hut re enforcements , coming from the ea st to the C onfeder ates In and around Vicksburg. The Confederates had a newly constructed fort nt the Juliet Ion of the Tallahatchie and Vallabuslia. By ru ttin g a c hannel from the Mississippi to the Cold water, N o rth First Avenue, betw een Main and a stream em ptying into th e T a ll a " A ” S t r e e ts , phone Stilt. hatchie. G ran t's engineer Hooded the whole system of inland channels, and a licet of Federal gunboats, with troops, a ft e r a tedious Journey, reached Fort P em berton, intending to reduce It. I.ieiitenaiit Watson Smith com m and ed this naval force, which included tw o heavy Ironclads, seven tiiielnds (light imiiori and tw o wooden rams. T w o brigade« of soldiers, led by G e n eral I,. K. Boss and General I. P. Qulnhy. accompanied th e ships. T he Fort Pemberton expedition was In d an g er of collapse, and P o rter di*- vlaed a plan of relieving It with a tb«‘t From the preparing of of Ironclads, which lie would take in through Steele's hnvoti, which opens the food to the serving, from the Mississippi, thence through a b s o l u t e cleanliness and P e e r creek, the Sunflower. Cold « a ter and T allah atch ie to th e Yazoo ii I mivm painstaking care is observ Fort Pemliei'ton. Abbot Bld’g Phone 482 Forest Grove, Ore. WM. WEITZEL Tinning and Plumbing, Sheet Metal Work and Re pair Shop. i ed by the Forest Grove Oyster House Everything to Eat O y sters and Shellfish a Specialty. Open Day anti Night ED. BOOS, Proprietor t Obstructions In the Channel. Ttie channels in these stream s were deeper th an th ose followed li.v th e first expedition, and live heavy draft Iron clad gunboat« were chosen for th e re lief e\|Mslltlon. At th e same tim e G en eral W T Sherm an set out with a force of tnsip s to |«>nctmtc th e wil derness along P o rter's route and eo «qiemte with the fleet Almost at th e «tart P orter found tits way ob structed by a dense grow th ot overhanging hushes, an d these had to Is* cut aw ay as th e Isiats inured ahead Occasionally a stray tree would Is* found In mldehannel. and this was uprooted by a charge of the Ironclad at full steam. The line ot lioats w ss broken, each going Its own way to open a channel, using ra w s • u d ax es to remove th e heavy tru u k s ler sent a tug forward, and tw o newly began cheering, while the Confeder felled trees were found across the c h an ates. a ft e r a volley or two. beat a re nel. T h ese were c u t aw ay, and the tr e a t up and down the river. boats moved on liv the light of lan terns carried along the shore. At one Sherman Arrives Riding Bareback. place th e r e were tweuty-flve trees cut S h erm an had heard the first firing Into with the intention of barricading of tlie C onfederate battery an d made the channel. This work had been skill a forced m arch through th e sw am p s fully done by General W. S. Feather- | to rescue P o rte r's fleet. He w as in the stone's Confederate cavalry, which had | nick of time, an d when he rode fo r been dispatched to head off and annoy w ard to the very edge of the flagship the expedition. the sailors greeted him with th e wild- Slowly ns the fleet moved It kept | est ovation of liis whole career. ahead of Sherm an's army. After four S h erm an had marched th e whole days of struggling P o rte r reached Boll d istance w ith th e exception of a short ing fork, which would take him into i stretch ju s t n t the close on foot. The Sunflower river, w here the channel I unique experience is described in his would lie easier. Suddenly the flag “Memoirs" as follows: “T he road lay ship Cincinnati, at th e head of the line, along B e e r creek, passing several ran into a bed of willows which block plantations. Occasionally it crossed ed the channel for IKX) yards Going sw am p s w h ere the w a te r cam e up to ahead with full steam on. the Cincin | my hips. T he sm aller d r u m m e r boys nati was cau ght In the withes of ttie had to c a rr y th eir d ru m s on th eir willows, which tw isted around her u p heads. per works and held her as in a vise. “T h e soldiers generally w ere glad to All the a rts of seam anship could not have th eir general an d field officers displace this new obstacle. It would afoot, b u t we gave them a fair speci have required weeks to uproot that bed men o f marching, accomplishing about of willows. ! tw enty-one miles betw een day light and T he ships were now seventy tulles noon. I ordered L ieutenant Colonel from Hie startin g point on the Missis Itiee to deploy his brigade as fa r Into sippi. Moreover, they were In w aters the sw a m p s as the ground would per which not even tlutbonta had sailed for mit and then sw eep forw ard until he a generation or more. Inhabitants uncovered th e gunboats. along th e route marveled at the sight “T he m ovem ent w as xvell executed, of Ironclads bringing w ar home to tbe and we soon cam e to largo cotton fields sw am py recesses far inland. and could see our gun boats in Beer creek occasionally firing a heavy eight Confederate Cannon Open on Shore. inch gun across th e cotton field into the For tw en ty-fou r hours men worked sw a m p behind. About th a t tim e M a with saws, axes and cutlasses to how jor Kirby of the Figlith Missouri gal the flagship loose. Suddenly a battery loped down th e road on a horse he hidden in the woods opened on the had picked up th e night before and licet, driving the workmen to the cover met me. H e explained the situation of th e Ironclads News of the d esp er of affairs an d offered me his horse. ate situation of the fleet had reached “ I got on bareback and rode up the the Confederates at Haine s bluff, close levee, the sailors coming out of their to Vicksburg, and a brigade and a b a t Ironclads an d cheering most vocifer tery of artillery hurried away to get in ously ns I rode by. and ns our men the re a r of Porter and capture his sw ep t ncross the cotton Held In full I Mails. view I soon found Admiral Porter, T he C onfederate commander. General who w as on the deck of one of his Iron Pouihertou. repeatedly urged his su b o r clads. with n shield made of a section dinates to tsild action. The boats of n sm okestack, an d 1 doubt If he was "m ust I m > ra p tu re d .” lie said "IHi It more glad to meet a friend limn he w as by boarding” and •'hurry down b o ard to see me." ers.” were Ills demands. Suddenly the General F eath ersto n e 's scouts in ter banks sw arm ed with sharpshooters, cepted a Sherm an m essage to P o rter l ainl the fleet came to a standstill be by c a p tu rin g its bearer. Sliertunn fore eight large trees newly felled said he had “ IXX1 men with him. This 1 across (lie channel In the rear of the made F e a th ersto n e both zealous and I mw I s . cautious, an d in spite of his zeal tbe IV rter put 500 arm ed sailors ashore, ad vance detac h m en t of Federal* under who tisik to the trees to flglit off the Colonel Smith of the Klghth Missouri sharpshooters. Working below the stopped th e felling of trees In tim e to hanks out of tin* enemy's range, the save the fleet. sailors saw ed aw ay the trees and re F eatherstone *abl In his official re moved th em with haw sers and tackles port th a t to a ssu m e th a t tbe gunboats Meanwhile the m ortars and howitzers could l>e boarded from shore w as kept up a rain of Are Into the woods a “ visionary ab surdity .” Hi* men In Ids report of the expedition th » re couldn't cross six to ten feet o f deep soitrreful sailor declared th a t Ills ex w ater betw eou the bank and tbe ships, perWnce with the clumsy Ironclads re he declared. I Press Publishing Co. and be assured of securing some thing which is typographically correct, tasty in construction and neat in appearance. ELECTRIC POWER Cheapest and Best W ashington-Oregon Corporation.