COMMODORE PORTER VISITS THE FORTS. ceive the surrender of the forts. The rebel flag was hauled down and the stars and stripes once more floated over the property of the United States. The sun never shone on a more contented and happy looking set of faces than those of the prisoners in and about the forts. Many of them had not seen their families for months, and a large portion had been pressed into a service distasteful to them, subject to the rigor of a discipline severe beyond measure. They were frequently exposed to punishments, for slight causes, which the human frame could scarcely endure, and the men who underwent some of the tortures mentioned on a list of punishments I have in my possession must have been unable afterwards to do any duty for months to come. Instead of the downcast countenances of conquered people, they emerged from the fort (going home on their parole) like a parcel of happy school boys in holiday times, and no doubt they felt like them also. When the flags had been exchanged I devoted my attention to Commander Mitchell, who was lying a half mile above us with three steamers, one of which he had scuttled. Approaching him in the Harriet Lane, I directed Lieutenant Commanding Wainwright to fire a gun over him, when he lowered his flag. I then sent Lieutenant Commanding Wainwright on board to take possession and receive the unconditional surrender of the party, consisting of fourteen naval officers and seven engineers, temporarily appointed; the crew of the iron-clad battery consisted of three hundred men and two companies of marine artillery, nearly all from civil life, and serving much against their will, so they said. Commander Mitchell and the other naval officers were transferred to the Westfield as prisoners of war, and as soon as time would allow, the marines and sailors were sent in one of the captured vessels to Flag-Officer Farragut, at New Orleans. The captured military officers were sent up to New Orleans on their parole; and 391 thus ended the day on which the great Mississippi rejoiced once more in having its portals opened to the commerce of the world. The backbone of the rebellion was broken, and from the appearance and talk of the soldiers we might soon hope to see the people united again under the folds of the flag of the Union. While the capitulation was going on I sent the steamer Clifton down to bring up troops, and when General Phelps came up I turned the forts, guns, and munitions of war over to his keeping. 'My next step was to visit Forts Jackson and St. Philip. Never in my life did I witness such a scene of desolation and wreck as the former presented-it was ploughed up by the thirteen-inch mortars, the bombs had set fire to and burnt out all the buildings in and around the fort; casemates were crushed and were crumbling in, and the only thing that saved them were the sand-bags that had been sent from New Orleans during the bombardment, and when they began to feel the effects of the mortars. When the communication was cut off between them and the city this resource of sandbags could avail them no longer. It was useless for them to hold out; a day's bombardment would have finished them; they had no means of repairing damages; the levee had been cut by the thirteeninch bombs in over a hundred places; and the water had entered the casemates, making it very uncomfortable, if not impossible, to live there any longer. was the only place the men had to fly to out of reach of the bombs. The drawbridge over the moat had been broken all to pieces, and all the causeways leading from the fort were cut and blown up with bomb-shells, so that it must have been impossible to walk there or carry on any operations with any degree of safety. The magazine seems to have been much endangered, explosions having taken place at the door itself, all the cotton-bags and protections having been blown away from before the magazine It door. and burned up, and every amount of discomfort that man could bear seemed to have been showered upon those poor deluded wretches. Fort St. Philip received very little damage from our bombs, having fired at it with only one mortar, and that for the purpose of silencing a heavy rifled gun which annoyed us very much; we were fortunate enough to strike it in the middle, and break it in two, and had not much more annoyance from that fort ; two guns were capsized by a bomb at one time, but without injuring them; they were soon replaced; some trifling damage was done to the works, though nothing to affect the efficiency of the batteries; it was from Fort St. Philip that our ships suffered most, the men and officers there having had, comparatively, an easy time of it. I felt sure that St. Philip would surrender the moment Jackson hauled down the secession flag, and consequently directed all the attention of the mortar schooners to the latter fort. The final result justified me in coming to this conclusion." Eleven guns were dismounted during the bombardment, some of which were remounted again and used upon us. The walls were cracked and broken in many places, and we could scarcely step without treading into a hole made by a bomb-shell; the accuracy of the fire is, perhaps, the best ever seen in mortar practice; it seems to have entirely demoralized the men and astonished the officers. A water battery, containing six very heavy guns, and which annoyed us at times very much, was filled with the marks of the bombs, no less than 170 having fallen into it, smashing in the magazine, and driving the people out of it. On the night of the passage of the ships this battery was completely silenced, so many bombs fell into it and burst over it. It had one gun in it, the largest I have ever seen, made at the Tredegar works. I would not pretend to say how many bombs fell into the ditches around the works, but soldiers in the forts say about three thousand; many burst over the works, scattering the pieces of shell all around. The enemy admit but four- The total number of casualties in the teen killed and thirty-nine wounded by Union fleet, from the commencement of the bombardment, which is likely the the bombardment on the 18th to the arcase, as we found but fourteen fresh rival at New Orleans on the 25th, was graves, and the men mostly stayed in the 38 killed and 159 wounded. The heaviest casemates, which were three inches deep loss was in the Brooklyn, which reported with water and very uncomfortable. 9 killed and 26 wounded. The loss of Many remarkable escapes and incidents the Varuna was but 3 killed and 9 were related to us as having happened wounded-altogether an extraordinary during the bombardment. Colonel Hig-preservation of human life in a week's gins stated an instance where a man was buried deep in the earth, by a bomb striking him between the shoulders, and directly afterwards another bomb exploded in the same place, and threw the corpse high in the air. All the boats and scows around the ditches and near the landing were sunk by bombs; and when we took possession the only way they had to get in and out of the fort to the landing was by one small boat to ferry them across. All the lumber, shingles, and bricks used in building or repairs was scattered about in confusion exposure to shot and shell, and the various hazards of the final encounter. We have seen in Commander Porter's report the small number said to have been lost by the enemy in the forts. Their casualties on the river, from the rapid destruction of their rams and gunboats, must have been very heavy. At the surrender of Fort Jackson, 332 privates and 53 non-commissioned officers were paroled. During the progress of the bombardment, General Butler was with his troops in the transports on the river waiting his GENERAL BUTLER'S PART IN THE ACTION. opportunity to cooperate with the fleet. On the morning of the grand action he was in the immediate vicinity of the conflict. "I witnessed," says he, in his report to the Secretary of War, "this daring exploit from a point about eight hundred yards from Fort Jackson, and unwittingly under its fire, and the sublimity of the scene can never be exceeded." It was arranged that in case the forts were not immediately reduced by the fleet, General Butler should leave the river by the South West Pass, and make a landing from the Gulf side of the narrow strip of marshy ground through which the Mississippi here ran, and attempt St. Philip on the eastern side of the river by storm and assault. For this purpose he now proceeded with the transports to Sable island, in the Gulf, the nearest practicable point of approach to the fort for the ships, being twelve miles in its rear. A delay occurred of twenty-four hours, in consequence of the Miami, a vessel of light draught, sent to aid the landing of the troops, grounding at the mouth of the Mississippi. When the troops were brought to within six miles of the fort the Miami grounded, compelling "a most fatiguing and laborious row," some four and a half miles further. General Butler, foreseeing the necessity, had provided some thirty boats for the movement. "A large portion of this passage was against a heavy current, through a bayou. At the entrance of Mameel's canal, a mile and a half from the point of landing, rowing became impossible, as well from the narrowness of the canal as the strength of the current, which ran like a mill race. Through this the boats could only be impelled by dragging them singly, with the men up to their waists in water." The troops engaged in this arduous operation were the 26th Massachusetts, a portion of the 4th Wisconsin, and 21st Indiana Volunteers. So difficult was the enterprise that no preparations had been made, as might easily have been done, by the enemy to op 393 pose it. General Butler having thus established himself, with about 3,000 men, in the rear of the fort, and having, in concert with the movements of Captain Porter, already described, got General Phelps in the river below with two regiments, thus effectually blocking the escape of the enemy from the gunboats in front, they despaired of further resistance. On the night of the 27th, as related by General Butler, "the larger portion of the garrison of Fort Jackson mutinied, spiked the guns bearing up the river, came up and surrendered themselves to my pickets, declaring that as we had got in their rear resistance was useless, and they would not be sacrificed. No bomb had been thrown at them for three days, nor had they fired a shot at us from either fort. They averred that they had been impressed, and would fight no longer." The next day the formal surrender was made to Captain Porter, and General Butler, leaving the 26th Massachusetts to garrison the forts, proceeded with the remainder of his troops to take possesion of New Orleans."* Immediately on his arrival before New Orleans on the 25th, Commodore Farragut, as we have seen, sent Captain Bailey to the mayor of the city, Mr. John T. Monroe, to demand its surrender, when the latter, disinclined to act, referred to the military commander, General Lovell, who announced his intention to retire, leaving the conduct of affairs with the civil authorities. Upon this Commodore Farragut, on the 26th, while he announced that the rights of persons and property would be secure, peremptorily demanded the unqualified surrender of the city, and that the emblem of sovereignty of the United States be hoisted over the city hall, mint, and custom house, by meridian this day, and that all flags and other emblems of sovereignty other than those of the United States, Department of the Gulf, Forts Jackson and St. Philip, April 29, 1862. * General Butler to Secretary Stanton. Headquarters shall be removed from all public buildings by that hour." In reference to a scene which had been witnessed on the previous day he added, he particularly demanded that no person should be molested in person or property for professing sentiments of loyalty to their government. "I shall speedily and severely punish," he said, "any person or persons who shall commit such outrages as were witnessed yesterday, armed men firing upon helpless women and children for giving expression to their pleasure at witnessing the old flag." 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 you have devoted your sword. I doubt not but that they spring from a noble though deluded nature, and I know how to appreciate the emotions which inspire them. You will have a gallant people to administer during your occupation of this city; a people sensitive of all that can in the Pray, sir, do not allow them to be insulted by the interference of such as have rendered themselves odious and contemptible by the dastardly desertion of the mighty struggle in which we are engaged, nor of such as might remind them too painfully that they are the con To this Mayor Monroe sent an extra-least affect its dignity and self-respect. ordinary reply, the tone and temper of which little befitted the necessities of the situation, to say nothing of the penitence properly due from the discomfited rebellion. It was, in fact, arrogant and insulting throughout, and cruelly aimed, by its false appeal, to inflame the Southern mind, and to perpetuate the wan-quered and you the conquerors. Peace ton and ruinous hostilities of the insurrection. The city was declared to be "without means of defence, and utterly destitute of the force and material that might enable it to resist the overpowering armament displayed in sight of it. I am no military man, and possess no authority beyond that of executing the municipal laws of the city of New Orleans. It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to lead an army to the field, if I had one at my command, and I know still less how to surrender an undefended place, held as this is at the mercy of your gunners and mouths of your mortars. To surrender such a place were an idle and unmeaning ceremony. The city is yours by the power of brutal force, and not by any choice or consent of its inhabitants. It is for you to determine what shall be the fate that awaits her. As to the hoisting of any flag than the flag of our own adoption and allegiance, let me say to you, sir, that the man lives not in our midst whose hand and heart would not be palsied at the mere thought of such an act, nor and order may be preserved without a resort to measures which could not fail to wound their susceptibilities and fire up their passions. The obligations which I shall assume in their name shall be religiously complied with. You may trust their honor, though you might not count on their submission to unmerited wrong. In conclusion, I beg you to understand that the people of New Orleans, while unable at this moment to prevent you from occupying this city, do not transfer their allegiance from the government of their choice to one which they have deliberately repudiated, and that they yield simply that obedience which the conqueror is enabled to extort from the conquered." Simultaneously with this communication came the decision of the common council to make no resistance to the forces of the United States, with a resolution approving the letter of the mayor, who was "respectfully requested to act in the spirit manifested by the message." On the morning of this day, the 26th, at six o'clock, Commodore Farragut sent THE CITY AUTHORITIES. to Captain Morris, whose ship, the Pensacola, commanded the mint, to "take possession of it, and hoist the American flag thereon, "which was done, and the people cheered it."* The flag thus erected was pulled down by one of the desperadoes with which New Orleans abounded, one William B. Mumford, who, a month or so after, under the administration of General Butler, was tried for the offence by a military commission, and having been condemned to death, was executed on the 7th of June on a gallows projecting from a window of the second story of the very building beneath the flagstaff from which he had torn the national colors. In consequence of the removal of the flag from the Mint, the insults shown to his officers and men when they were sent to communicate with the authorities, and the continued display of the flag of Louisiana on the court-house, Commodore Farragut, on the 28th, threatened the bombardment of the city within fortyeight hours, "if," as he wrote to the Mayor, "I have rightly understood your determination." To this Mayor Monroe again replied in effect that the city was at the disposal of the superior force, but that it must not be humbled and disgraced by the performance of an actthe substitution of the national for the local or Confederate flags- against which our nature rebels. This satisfaction you cannot expect to obtain at our hands. We will stand your bombardment, unarmed and undefended as we are. The civilized world will consign to indelible infamy the heart that will conceive the deed, and the hand that will dare to consummate it." Commodore Farragut the next day, the 29th, enforcing his requisition, with the view of the surrender of the forts, repeated his demand, and announced his intention to raise the flag of the United States on the Custom-house. In reply to the letter of Letter of Commodore Farragut to Assistant Secretary of Navy, G. V. Fox. New York Tribune, May 10, 1862. 395 the Mayor, touching the bombardment which he had threatened under certain conditions, "This," he wrote on the 30th, "you have thought proper to construe into a determination on my part to murder your women and children, and made. your letter so offensive that it will terminate our intercourse; and so soon as General Butler arrives with his forces I shall turn over the charge of the city to him, and assume my naval duties." The coming of General Butler, indeed, quite altered the aspect of the rebellion in New Orleans. "I find the city under the dominion of the mob," he wrote on his arrival to the Secretary of War :"They have insulted our flag-torn it down with indignity. This outrage will be punished in such manner as in my judgment will caution both the perpetrators and abettors of the act, so that they shall fear the stripes if they do not reverence the stars of our banner." There proved, however, to be little call for any great severity. General Butler adroitly dispersed the small force which he brought up, 2,000 in all, at the beginning, as guards about the town, marching and maneuvering so as to give the impression of a much larger number, and was speedily employed not in any vindictive exercise of military authority, but in finding ways and means to feed a starving population. With the fall of the forts on the river, Forts Pike and Wood, at the entrance of Lake Pontchartrain, were also surrendered. The capture of New Orleans, so brilliantly executed, and in a great degree an unexpected success to the nation, was hailed in the loyal States with unqualified admiration. By prompt and vigorous action, the designs of the enemy to fortify their position beyond, perhaps, the reach of assault, had been anticipated; their formidable defences, actually constructed, overcome-a result which was not the less thought of when other similar attempts proved afterwards from various causes less successful. The victory at |