D. H. Hiul to Oommanding Left Wing, December 5, 1862

December 5, 1862.

I have the honor to report that the Yankee gunboats (four in number) have been run away from Port Royal, Va. Three of these were the notorious pirates Pawnee, Anacostia, and Live Yankee. The fourth was unknown.* They carried twenty-one guns, and had a complement of some 500 men. Captain [R. cal Hardaway opened upon them with his Whitworth gun at a distance of 3 miles. They replied promptly, but, finding their range short, attempted to approach him, but were promptly driven back under cover of the town by Captain [T. H.] Carter from the hills opposite it. Riflemen were placed to greet them above Port Royal, so that they were afraid to go in that direction. And now was witnessed an instructive sight. These piratical cruisers, which have bombarded so many unoffending private residences, and have carried desolation to so many peaceful homes, shrank from the wager of battle and kept close under the shelter of town, so that the flank batteries could not fire upon them without endangering it. Hardaway still kept up his pelting in front until dark, when they fled down the river. And now two 3-inch

: The steamers were the Anacostia, Cour de Lion, Currituck, and Jacob Bell peu ot eee ta AEE awe ne Harwood, U.S. Navy, in Annual Report of the esl e Navy, dated December 7, 1863. See al i Pee EE st moe. ee also Gregg to Cohen, December 4, in rifles, under the gallant [John] Pelham, of Stuart’s cavalry, placed near the water’s edge, gave them a parting salute. I regret to add that he had 1 man severely and 1 slightly wounded. There were no casualties in the batteries of my command.

This same gun of Hardaway, at Upperville, drove entirely off the field near Upperville a Yankee battery of artillery and a large force of cavalry and infantry at a distance of 34 miles. “The restorers of the Union” have made their trust so much in their long-range guns that, when they find themselves under the fire of a superior range, they become demoralized and will not fight.

I make this report to call the attention of the War Department to the extraordinary merit of the Whitworth gun in the hands of such a man as Hardaway—the best practical artillerist {£ have seen in service. He still remains a captain, while officers never engaged have been promoted over him.

With great respect,