THE EARLY MONITORS.

INTERIOR VIEW OF THE TURRET OF A SEA-GOING MONITOR.

The only event of importance during the remainder of Du Pont's command was the capture of the Confederate iron-clad Atlanta. This vessel, formerly known as the Fingal, an English blockade-runner, had been converted at Savannah into an armored ram of the Merrimac type, armed with six heavy Brooke rifles and a spar-torpedo, and placed under the command of Commander William A. Webb. She was met on the 17th of June, in Wassaw Sound, by the monitors Weehawken, Captain John Rodgers, and Nahant, Commander John Downes. The Weehawken engaged her, firing five shots, of which four struck the Atlanta. The injury inflicted by these was enough to show that a protracted action would end in the demolition of the Confederate vessel, and she accordingly surrendered. She was towed to Port Royal, where the damages received were readily repaired.

THE EARLY MONITORS.BY CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON.

IMPREGNABILITY, proved by capability to keep out Confederate shot, being demanded by President Lincoln and promised by the constructor of the monitor fleet which was built during the early part of 1862, it will be proper to inquire how far the performance accorded with the anticipation. Admiral Dahlgren, the distinguished naval artillerist, commanding the blockading fleet at Charleston, reported to the Navy Department that from July 18th to September 8th, 1863, a period of 52 days, the monitors Weehawken, Patapsco, Montauk, Nahant, Catskill, and Passaic engaged Forts Sumter, Moultrie, Wagner, Gregg, and the batteries on Morris and Sullivan's islands on an average ten times each, the Montauk going before the muzzles of the enemy's guns fifteen times during the stated period, while the Patapsco was engaged thirteen times and the Weehawken twelve times. The number of hits received by the six vessels mentioned amounted to 629 ; yet not a single penetration of side armor, turret, or pilot-house took place. Admiral Dahlgren 'observes that the Montauk was struck 154 times during the engagements referred to, " almost entirely,'' he states, "by 10-inch shot." Considering that the hull of the Montauk was nearly submerged, and hence presented a very small target, the recorded number of hits marked splendid practice on thefederate gunners.

The report of the experienced commander concludes thus : "What vessels have ever been subjected to such a test ?" It merits special notice that the same monitors which Admiral Dahlgren found to possess such remarkable power of endurance had led the unsuccessful attack at Charleston three months before,- a circumstance which shows that difficulties presented themselves during that attack which had not been foreseen, or the magnitude of which had not been properly estimated.

The following facts rebut the allegation that injudicious advice to certain officers induced the Navy Department to adopt hazardous expedients in connection with the attack on Charleston. A letter from the Assistant-Secretary of the Navy to me in reference to the contemplated attack, written before the news of its failure had been received, contained the following sentence :

"Though everybody is despondent about Charleston, and even the President thinks we shall be defeated, I must say that I have never had a shadow of a doubt as to our success, and this confidence arises from careful study of your marvelous vessels." To this letter I sent the following reply the next day :

"I confess that I cannot share in your confidence relative to the capture of Charleston. I am so much in the habit of estimating force and resistance that I cannot feel sanguine of success If you succeed, it will not be a mechanical consequence of your "marvelous vessels," but because you are marvelously fortunate. The moat I dare hope is, that the contest will end without the. loss of that prestige which your iron-clads have conferred on the nation abroad. A single shot may sink a ship, while a hundred rounds cannot silence a fort, as you have proved on the Ogeechee. The immutable laws of force and resistance do not favor your enterprise. Chance, therefore, can alone save you."

The discomfiture of the "marvelous" vessels before Charleston; however, did not impair their fitness to fight other battles. manded by the late Admiral John Rodgers, defeated and captured the Confederate ram Atlanta, in Wassaw Sound, June 17th, 1863, ten weeks after the battle of Charleston, consequently previous to the engagements in