n Calhoun, Commandant.

Flagship Minnesota, off Newport News, Va.

Reported April 8, 1864.--Apply to Col. Biggs, Army Quartermaster at
Fortress Monroe, for transportation to Newbern, and then report to
Captain Davenport in the sounds of North Carolina.

S. P. LEE, Acting Rear Admiral,
Commanding North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Transportation will be given by first steamer bound for North
Carolina.

HERMAN BIGGS.

April 9, 1864.

Reported April 14, 1864.

Report to Acting Master J. A. J. Brooks, Commanding U.S. steamer
Valley City.

H. K. DAVENPORT, Commander U.S.N.,
Senior Naval Officer, Sounds of N.C.

Reported April 15, 1864.

JOHN A. J. BROOKS, Acting Master,
Commanding U.S. steamer Valley City.

It being late in the evening of April 8, 1864, when I reported on board
the United States steamer Minnesota, and there being no opportunity to
return ashore, I was compelled to remain aboard the Minnesota till the
following morning, April 9, 1864. Being very much fatigued, I retired
early, and soon fell soundly asleep. About 1 a.m., I was aroused from
my slumbers by a noise; I could not for the life of me tell from whence
it came or whither it had gone; but it was sufficient to arouse and
bewilder me, for it made the vessel tremble. I soon arose from my
sleeping couch, put on my clothes, and made my way, in the darkness,
through the ward-room to the forward hatchway, and to the gun deck.
There I found Admiral Lee, with his officers and men, on deck in their
night clothes. I soon learned what was the cause of the excitement. It
was an explosion of a hundred-pound torpedo under the bottom of the
Minnesota, which had been borne thither by a torpedo-boat manned by
Confederates from somewhere up the James river. The officers and men on
deck, in the gloom of the night, were discussing in a subdued but
excited tone the possibility of capturing the torpedo-boat; but, owing
to the fires in the picket-boats to the Minnesota being out, nothing
could be done till the steam in them was raised; and in the meantime
the torpedo-boat was allowed to return up the James river. The damage
to the Minnesota was considerable, though no hole was made in her hull.
Her guns were dismounted, her partitions were broken down, her doors
were jambed, her chairs and tables were upset, and crockery-ware
broken. After the excitement of the occasion was over, I retur