Passage of the pushed a fire-raft upon him. The Hartford was soon in flames half way up to her tops. In the struggle she was forced ashore. But while she was on fire her cannonading never ceased. Her crew extinguished the flames; she was backed off, and again headed up the stream. A Confederate steamer rushed at her with the intention of boarding her. One shell from the Hartford blew her up. Farragut was now passing St. Philip. He gave it such broadsides as he had given Fort Jackson, and silenced it. Half an hour more carried him through the fiery storm of iron, and his part of the work was thoroughly done. In passing the barricade, the Brooklyn, whose place was astern of the Hartford, missed the opening, grated on a hulk, and became entangled. She received the fire of St. Philip. The iron-clad Manassas, when within ten feet of her, gave her a shot at her steam-drum, and then attempted to butt her; but the dis tance between them being only a few feet, speed could not be got up, and the blow was ineffectual. While under the fire of Fort Jackson this ship encountered an other steamer. "Our port broadside (11 9-inch shells), at the short distance of fifty or sixty yards, completely finished her, setting her on fire almost instantaneously." As the Brooklyn, enveloped in a black cloud of smoke from a fire-raft, passed St. Philip in only thirteen feet of water, her grape and canister drove the men from their guns, and for a time completely silenced the fort. The Brooklyn was under fire an hour and a half. In the same manner, Bailey, who headed the right col Passage of the right umn, went in the Cayuga through the bar ricade, both forts opening upon him and column. striking him repeatedly. He gave his fire of grape and canister at short range as he passed St. Philip, and found himself, owing to the speed of his ship, ahead of his friends, and alone in the midst of the Confederate fleet. CHAP. LII.] FARRAGUT'S VICTORY. 335 He beat off two that tried to board him. In the quaint phraseology of a sailor, he says that "an 11-inch Dahlgren, at thirty yards, quieted a third, who thereupon shoved off for shore, ran aground, and burned himself up." The Cayuga was struck forty-two times. Boggs, in the Varuna, following her, "got into a nest of rebel steamers." He "worked both his sides, loaded with grape," on his antagonists; exploded the boiler of one of them— she drifted ashore. Three others were driven after her in flames. The Varuna was now raked by the fire of an iron-clad, which killed four and wounded nine of her men. The iron-clad then butted her twice; but, while she was so doing, Boggs "managed to get into her three 8-inch shell and several shot from his rifle, thereby dis abling her." Again another iron-clad twice butted him, but, happening to go ahead after the concussion, he was able to put through her unarmored stern five 8-inch shells, "that settled her, and she went ashore in flames." The side of the Varuna had been crushed, but she kept up her fire until the water was over her gun-trucks. In fif Sinking of the Va- teen. minutes from the time she was butted she sank, her top-gallant forecastle only be ing out of the water. She went to the bottom as she "settled" her antagonist. runa.. The Mississippi, one of the ships of this column, was shot through and through eight times; her mizzen-mast was shattered. The ram Manassas struck her on the port quarters, making a hole seven feet long and four inches wide. Through the same fiery ordeal the other steam-ships The fleet forces its and gun-boats passed, three only excepted— way past the forts. the Itasca, which had been shot in her boiler; the Kennebec, caught in the chain; and the Winona, forced back. The Confederate flotilla was tilla destroyed. totally destroyed. Its chief reliance, the The Confederate flo iron-clad Manassas, had been run ashore, and riddled by the broadsides of the Mississippi. Her crew escaped to the land; she was boarded, set on fire, drifted down the river, and blew up. Twelve of the Confederate flotilla had been sunk or burned. Commander Porter, who kept up the mortar fire while Farragut was forcing his way, says of the conclusion of the battle: "It was reported to me that the celebrated ram Manassas was coming out to attack us, and, sure enough, there she was, apparently steaming along shore, ready to pounce upon the defenseless mortar vessels; but I soon discovered that she could harm no one again. She was beginning to emit smoke from her ports or holes; she was on fire, and sinking. Her pipes were twisted and riddled with shot; her hull was well cut up. She had evidently been used up by the squadron as they passed along. I tried to save her as a curiosity by getting a hawser round her and securing her to the mored ram Manas- bank, but just after doing so she faintly exploded. Her only gun went off, and, emit ting flames through her bow-port, like some huge animal, she gave a plunge and disappeared under the water. "Next came a steamer on fire; after her two others, burning and floating down the stream. of the river before Fires seemed to be raging all along the 'up river,' and we supposed that our squadron was burning and destroying the vessels as they passed along. The sight of this night attack was awfully grand. The river was lit up by rafts filled with pine knots, and the ships seemed to be literally fighting among flames and smoke." Explosion of the ar Awful appearance daybreak. At five o'clock the Cayuga discovered the encampment of the Chalmette regiment on the right bank Passage of the feet of the river, and compelled it to surrender. The telegraph wires ahead were cut, the fleet toward New leans. CHAP. LII.] THE FLEET REACHES NEW ORLEANS. 337 proceeding up toward New Orleans, encountering cottonloaded ships on fire. Three miles below the city, the Chalmette batteries, mounting twenty guns, were reached. The Cayuga, leading, sustained their cross-fire for some time alone; but the Hartford, Pensacola, Brooklyn, and other ships coming up, gave the batteries such a storm of shells, shrapnel, and grape as drove the men from their guns. "The forts were silenced, and those who could run were running in every direction." The Confederates ton and ships. Farragut reports that, "owing to the slowness of some of the vessels, and our want of knowledge. set fire to their cot- of the river, we did not reach the English Turn until about 10.30 A.M. on the 25th, but all the morning I had seen abundant evidence of the panic which had seized the people in New Orleans. Cotton-loaded ships on fire came floating down, and working instruments of every kind, such as are used in ship-yards. The destruction of property was awful. The levee in New Orleans was one scene of desolation. Ships, steamers, cotton, coal, were all in one common blaze, and our ingenuity was much taxed to avoid the floating conflagration." Lovell, seeing what had taken place at the forts, galloped to New Orleans. He ordered the land defenses to resist to the utmost; but the water in the river was so high that the ships could command all the earth-works. After a brief and angry consultation with the terror-stricken municipality, he sent off his munitions, disbanded his troops, and turned the city over to the mayor. In the midst of a thunder-storm, Farragut anchored his The squadron anch Squadron off New Orleans at 1 P.M. The ors off the city. populace, who had believed that the defenses. of the city were impregnable, were astounded, and in an impotent frenzy. The sailors in the national ships were cheering, the crowd ashore was cursing. Some were clamoring for the blood of the commandant of the forts; some were invoking vengeance on Lovell; some, ragged and raging, but with nothing to lose, insisted that the city should be burned. its surrender. A demand was now made by Farragut for a surrender, Farragut demands and the display of the United States flag on the public buildings. So suddenly and so unexpectedly had the blow fallen on them that the may or and municipal authorities hardly knew what to do. On one side they had an unreflecting and turbulent populace to deal with; on the other, a clement conqueror. Farragut, as merciful in victory as he was brave in action, appreciated their hour of bitterness, and listened with generosity to the mayor's querulous protestations. Reply of the mayor. Upon his arrival before the city, Farragut had sent Captain Bailey, his second in command, to the mayor with the demand for the surrender, and to inform that func tionary that no flag but that of the United States would be permitted to fly in presence of the national fleet. To this the mayor replied, "transmitting the answer which the universal sentiment of my con stituency, no less than the promptings of my own heart dictate to me on this sad and solemn occasion." It was to the effect that the city was utterly defenseless; that he was no military man; that he knew neither how to command an army nor to surrender an undefended place. "As to the hoisting of any flag than the flag of our own adoption and allegiance, let me say to you that the man lives not in our midst whose hand and heart would not be palsied by the mere thought of such an act; nor could I find in my entire constituency so wretched and desperate a renegade as would dare to profane with his hand the sacred emblem of our aspirations. Sir, you have manifested sentiments which would become one engaged in a better cause than that to which |