Excerpt from The Life and Adventures, Songs, Services, and Speeches of Private Miles O'reilly: The Post of Honor Is the Private's Station In the discussion of the iron-clad question, form ing the earlier portion of this volume, the arguments advanced and the conclusions arrived at, are those of sincerity and deep conviction. Justice is sought to be done to Admiral Du Pont and his gallant subordinates, but certainly not at the expense of the Admiral and officers now in command of the South Atlantic Block ading Squadron. On the contrary, in the whole dis cussion, properly reviewed, the friends of the officers now commanding will find an ample explanation of the reasons which have Operated for the disappointment of public expectation in regard to the attack upon Charles ton. The fault is herein traced to its true source, and is found to rest in the inherent defects of the Monitors, and not in any incapacity on the part of their present commanders. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.