526 military power under Butler, Commodore Farragut sent a portion of his force up the river, for the purpose of reducing such posts on its banks as were held by the Confederates. Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, was captured on the 7th of May without resistance. The Mayor refused to surrender it formally. So Commander Palmer, of the Iroquois, landed, and

LAND AND NAVAL FORCES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

a May,

1862.

¿ May 18.

P. Lee, on the Oneida, as far as Vicksburg, without opposition. There the troops of Lovell, who fled from New Orleans, after having halted at different places, were now stationed. Lee sum moned' the city to surrender, and was answered by a respectful refusal by the Mayor, and a preposterous note of defiance from "James L. Autry, Military Governor and Commandant Post." M. L. Smith, the "Brigadier-General Commanding," also refused, and Lee prudently awaited the arrival of Farragut with the remainder of his squadron, a portion of Porter's mortar-fleet, and transports with four thousand land troops under General Thomas Williams. The latter were sent by General Butler to occupy and hold places that might be captured by the navy. It was expected that batteries would be found on the bluffs at Port Hudson, Elles's Cliffs, Natchez, and Grand Gulf, but no serious resistance was offered at those places. Williams landed below Elles's Cliffs, and made a circuit in the rear to capture a battery on their crown, but the troops had fled with their guns. There were no signs of opposition at Natchez, but fearing it at Grand Gulf, the troops landed, took possession of the town, and, in retaliation for being fired upon, they burned it before they left.

The whole force appeared off Vicksburg on the 26th of June, and that night the gun and mortar boats opened fire on the formidable Confederate batteries there. These were too elevated to be much damaged by the bombardment, and, after two days of almost ineffectual firing, Farragut deter

1 See notice of its capture by the insurgents on page 181, volume I. The large turreted building seen in the above picture, above al the others, is the State-House of Louisiana.

2"I have to state," said Autry, that Mississippians don't know, and refuse to learn, how to surrender to an enemy. If Commodore Farragut or Brigadier-General Butler can teach them, let them come and try."

BRIEF SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.

527

mined to run by them. This he did without much harm,' at three o'clock on the morning of the 28th, with the flag-ship Hartford and six other vessels, leaving the mortar-fleet and transports below, and met the gun and mortar flotilla of Commodore Davis, and the steam-rams, under the younger Ellet

(the elder having just died at Cairo), who had come down from Memphis. Williams, under the direction of Farragut, made an attempt, with twelve hundred negroes, to cut a canal across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, through which his transports might pass in safety, but failed; and such was the result of a bombardment by the floating batteries above and below the town. So, in the course of a few days, the siege was temporarily abandoned. A startling rumor now reached Farragut, to the effect that a formidable "ram" was lying in the Yazoo River, which empties into the Mississippi above Vicksburg. She had been commenced at Memphis, and two days before the evacuation of Fort Pillow3 she was towed down the river with materials sufficient to finish her. She was now completed, with low-pressure engines possessing in the aggregate nine hundred horse-power, and was named Arkansas.* Farragut sent the gun-boats Carondelet and Tyler, and Ellet's ram, the Queen of the West, to reconnoiter her position. They passed cautiously up the Yazoo on the 15th, about six miles, when suddenly they encountered the formidable foe. A sharp contest ensued, in which the armored Carondelet, Captain Walke, bore the most con

He lost by the fire of the batteries fifteen killed and thirty wounded.

DAVID G. FARRAGUT.

2 This is from a sketch of the Cliff's made by the writer from the steamer Indiana, in April, 1866. These cliffs, on the east bank of the river, are at a sharp turn in the stream, about eighteen miles below Natchez. They are of yellow clay, and rise from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the water.

3 See page 298.

4 This was a sea going steamer of 1,200 tons burden, and hal a cutwater composed of a sharp, solid beak of

528

ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE RAM "ARKANSAS."

spicuous part. After a severe contest, in which the Carondelet was badly injured and lost fourteen men killed and wounded, and the Arkansas twentyfive killed and wounded, the latter, beating off and much damaging her antagonists, made her way down the Yazoo into the Mississippi, and tock Luelter under the batteries at Vicksburg.

a July, 1862.

Farragut now ran past the Vicksburg batteries again, and anchored below, and he and Davis abandoned the bombardment of that post. On the 22d another attempt was made to capture or destroy the Arkansas. The Essex, Captain W. D. Porter, and Ellet's Queen of the West were employed for the purpose, while the gun-boats were bombarding the batteries above and below the town. The attempt was not successful, and, as the river was falling fast, and thus made naval operations less efficient, the siege of Vicksburg was abandoned, under instructions from Washington, and Farragut's fleet returned to New Orleans on the 28th. His transports having been annoyed by the firing upon them of a guerrilla band at Donaldsonville, on the left bank of the river, at the mouth of the Bayou

La Fourche, he ordered that village to be bombarded, after warning the inhabitants of his intention. Much of the town was destroyed.' Aug. 10. It was afterward occupied by National troops, who built a strong earthwork there, and named it Fort Butler.

When Farragut descended the river, General Williams and the landtroops debarked at Baton Rouge, for the purpose of permanently occupying it. Re-enforcements were sent to him, and Farragut took a position to give him aid in holding the place if necessary. Williams's troops were suffering severely from sickness, and this fact, in an exaggerated form, having been communicated to Van Dorn by resident secessionists, he organized an expedition to capture the post. It was composed of about five thousand men, under General J. C. Breckenridge, who expected to be aided by the ram

cast-iron, sixteen feet in length, covering the bow ten feet, and bolted through solid timber eight feet. She was covered with T-rail iron, with heavy thick timber bulwarks and cotton-pressed casemating, and was impervious to shot. She had a battery of ten 64-pounders and 32-pounders rifled, and was commanded by the best officers in the Confederate service.-Statement of Captain Walke.

1 This was the appearance of Fort Butler and vicinity when the writer sketched it from the Indiana, just at the close of a bright April day, 1866. The mouth of the Bayou La Fourche is seen between the small building on the left and the fort.

BATTLE OF BATON ROUGE.

529

Arkansas. He approached the city with General Daniel Ruggles, of Massachusetts, leading his left wing, and General Charles Clarke his right.' With his entire force moving along the two roads that enter Baton Rouge from the southwest, he made a vigorous attack at the early morning twilight of the 5th of August.

Williams was expecting an attack, and had well disposed his troops to meet it, both from land and water, as Confederate gun-boats had come out of the Red River, and the Arkansas was expected. His forces consisted of only about twenty-five hundred effective men. The regiments were very thin, on account of sickness. He posted the Fourth Wisconsin on Bayou Gros, on the extreme left, with a portion of Manning's battery in the Arsenal grounds on its left. On the right of that regiment was the Ninth Connecticut, with four of Manning's guns, in the Government cemetery. To the left of the Greenwell Springs road was the Fourteenth Maine; and next came the Twenty-first Indiana, posted in the woods in rear of the Magnolia Cemetery, with four guns of Everett's battery. Then the Sixth Michigan was posted across the country road on the right of the cemetery and the Clay Cut road, with two guns. In the rear of the two last-named regiments was the Seventh Vermont, near the Catholic Cemetery, and next the Thirtieth Massachusetts, forming the right, posted about half a mile in the rear of the State-House, and supporting Nim's battery.'

The first blow in the attack fell upon the Fourth Maine, Second Indiana, and Sixth Michigan. They were at first pushed back, when General Williams ordered up the Ninth Connecticut, Fourth Wisconsin, and a section of Manning's battery to the support of the left, and the Thirtieth Massachusetts and two sections of Nimm's battery to the support of the right. The battle raged fiercely for about two hours, and in the hottest of the fray the Twentyfirst Indiana was grandly conspicuous. It lost all of its field-officers before the end of the action. Seeing this, General Williams placed himself at its head, exclaiming, "Boys! your field-officers are all gone; I will lead you." They gave him hearty cheers, when a bullet passed through his breast, and he fell dead. He had just issued directions for the line to fall back, which it did in good order, with Colonel T. W. Cahill, of the Ninth Connecticut, in chief command. The Confederates, dreadfully smitten, also fell back, and then retreated. So ended THE BATTLE OF BATON ROUGE.*

The dreaded Arkansas, which was expected to sweep every National vessel from the Mississippi, and "drive the Yankees from New Orleans," did not appear in time for the fight. On the following morning, Porter, with the Essex, accompanied by the Cayuga and Sumter, went up the river to meet her. They found her five miles above Baton Rouge, when an engagement ensued. Owing to defects in her engines, the Arkansas became unmanageable, when she was headed to the river-bank, and set on fire. Her magazine exploded, and the monster was blown into fragments.

1 Breckenridge's troops consisted of two Louisiana, two Mississippi, six Kentucky, and two Tennessee regiments, and one Alabama regiment, with thirteen guns and a considerable guerrilla force.

2 Report of Lieutenant Godfrey Weitzel to General Butler, August 7, 1862.

3 Lieutenant-colonel Keith and Major Hayes were severely wounded, and Adjutant Latham was killed. See reports of Colonels Cahill, Dudley, and others, and Lieutenant Weitzel. The National loss was reported eighty-two killed, two hundred and fifty-five wounded, and thirty-four missing. The Confederate loss is not known. The Nationals took about one hundred of them prisoners.

VOL. II.-34

530

LA FOURCHE DISTRICT "REPOSSESSED."

Soon after the repulse of the Confederates at Baton Rouge, that post was evacuated by the Nationals, and Porter ascended the river to reconnoiter batteries said to be in course of construction at Port Hudson. He passed up above to Bayou Sara to coal, where guerrillas fired upon him. The little town was destroyed in consequence. Because of the fiendish act of armed citizens of Natchez in firing on a boat's crew who went on shore to procure ice for sick men, that city was bombarded by the Essex, set on fire, and captured. The Essex then turned back, and on her passage down the river had a short and sharp contest" with the growing batteries at Port Hudson.

• Sept. 7,

1862

♪ October.

General Butler was satisfied, at the beginning of September, that the Confederates had abandoned all idea of attempting to retake New Orleans, and he sent out some aggressive expeditions. The most important movement of this kind was to "repossess" the rich district of La Fourche, on the west side of the Mississippi, and for that purpose he sent the gallant Weitzel, then a brigadier-general, with a brigade of infantry, with artillery and Barnet's cavalry. Late in October, Weitzel landed at Donaldsonville, and traversed the region in its rear and south of it with very little difficulty, after a sharp fight near Labadieville on the 27th. The Confederates, under McPheeters, were there on both sides of the Bayou La Fourche, with six pieces of artillery. Weitzel brought up his cannon and moved to the attack, with the Thirteenth Connecticut and Seventy-fifth New York in advance. A battle was soon opened, in which the Eighth New Hampshire and Twelfth Connecticut gallantly co-operated with the other two regiments. The batteries of Thompson and Carruth did eminent service. The Confederates were driven and pursued about four miles. Weitzel lost eighteen killed and seventy-four wounded. He captured two hundred and sixty-eight prisoners and one piece of artillery.

Weitzel now marched on through the country to open communication with the city by the bayou, and the railway connecting Brashear City with New Orleans. It was almost entirely abandoned by the white people, and the negroes received the victor joyfully as their deliverer. The industrial operations of the district were paralyzed, and General Butler thought it expedient, as a state policy and for the sake of humanity, to confiscate the entire property of the district. He did so, and he appointed a commission to take charge of it. By that commission the negroes were employed and subsisted, and the crops were saved. Two Congressional districts in Louisiana were now recovered, and in December the loyal citizens of New Orleans elected to seats in Congress Benjamin F. Flanders and Michael Hahn, the number of Union votes in the city exceeding by a thousand the number of votes cast for secession.

• Nov 9.

General Butler was superseded in the command of the Department of the Gulf late in the autumn' by General Banks. The latter arrived at New Orleans on the 14th of December, and was received by the commanding general with great courtesy. Banks formally assumed his new duties on the 16th, and on the 24th, Butler, after issuing an admirable fare

1 This commission consisted of Major J. M. Bell, Lieutenant-colonel J. B. Kinsman, and Captain Fuller, of the Seventy-fifth New York Volunteers, the latter being made provost-marshal of the district.