332 PREPARATIONS FOR PASSING THE FORTS. [SECT. X. On the third day of the bombardment Farragut held a council. He determined to cut the barricade, Farragut resolves to pass the forts. barricade. and carry the fleet past the forts to New Orleans. Two gun-boats went up in the darkness of the ensuing night to break the obstruction. One of them attempted, but unsuccessfully, to blow up a hulk by means Cutting of the chain of a petard. The other, more successful, boarded the central hulk. A rocket from Fort Jackson revealed what was going forward, and fire was opened on them, but, with a cold chisel and hammer, the chain was cut. The current at once swept aside the gun-boat and the hulk, which had been lashed together. After much difficulty the former was extricated, and, favored by the darkness, returned with her consort safely to the fleet. Preparations for the passage were now made. Five ships and twelve gun-boats, carrying nearly The order of battle. 300 guns, were arranged in two columns: The ships of the left column, led by Farragut, were to attack Fort Jackson; the second division of gun-boats in that column was to keep the middle of the river, disre gard the forts, and attack the Confederate fleet above. The right column, under Bailey, was to attack Fort St. Philip. Six small steamers, belonging to Porter's flotilla, CHAP. LII.] THE BATTLE OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 333 were to silence the water battery below Fort Jackson, but not to pass it. for action. Each ship was got ready for battle. The chain cables The ships prepared were looped over the sides in two layers, to give an iron-clad protection. The decks and gun-carriages of some were whitewashed-an expedient that was found to be of very great service in making things visible at night. Bags of sand, coal, and other suitable materials were so placed as to protect the en gines. tack. At five minutes before two o'clock in the morning of Signal for the at- the 24th of April two red lights were hung out. It was the signal to go into action. In little more than an hour the fleet was all fairly under way. Porter's mortar-boats redoubled their fire, and made the air alive with shells. Care had been previ ously taken to get accurate range for them. They kept up their work with unceasing vigor until after the last vessels of Farragut's columns were in the heat of the bat tle. The night was very close, hazy, and dark; the smoke of the cannonading lay heavily on the river. A rain of bombs was falling into the forts. Dark as it was, every ship, spar, and rope soon became visible-visible through the smoke in the red light of the battle. The waning crescent of the moon rose just at the time that Farragut was going into action. Struggling against the current of the river, Farragut Passage of Farragut carried his ship, the Hartford, safely through in his flag-ship. the broken chain. Both the forts were firing on him. He reserved his guns for fifteen minutes, until he could bear fairly on Fort Jackson; then he poured forth such broadsides of grape and canister that nothing living could stand before them. The cannoniers in the fort fled from their guns. The Confederate ram Manassas, which had been hidden from sight by the smoke, 334 Passage of the THE BATTLE OF THE MISSISSIPPI. [SECT. X. 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 openBrooklyn. ing, 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 another 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. column. 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 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 themshe 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 disabling 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 being 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. The fleet forces its Through the same fiery ordeal the other steam-ships and gun-boats passed, three only exceptedway 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 totally destroyed. Its chief reliance, the The Confederate flotilla destroyed. 336 NIGHT-SCENE ON THE RIVER. [SECT. X. 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, emitting 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 sas. Awful appearance daybreak. At five o'clock the Cayuga discovered the encampment of the Chalmette regiment on the right bank of the river, and compelled it to surrender. The telegraph wires ahead were cut, the fleet Passage of the fleet toward New Orleans. |