fire, having commenced on the 18th, Flag Officer Farragut determined to attempt their passage with his whole fleet, except that portion of it under the immediate command of Captain Porter, known as the mortar fleet, being the Harriet Lane, Westfield, Owasco, Clifton and Marine, also the Jackson, towing the Portsmouth. This flotilla was to remain below, so that when the Commodore should have effected his passage above the forts, the enemy would be placed between two fires, with his supplies from New Orleans cut off, thus rendering his surrender merely a question of time.

About eleven o'clock P. M. of the 23d, the Itasca signaled that the chain was clear, and that the fleet could proceed when ready. The night was moderately dark, and the mortar vessels kept up an incessant roar.

The first division of the fleet was lying along the right bank of the river, the second division was formed on the left bank, while the third division was in the centre of the lines. The whole were to sail in the following order:

1st Division, FLAG OFFICER FARRAGUT commanding. Hartford, Coм. WAINRIGHT, Brooklyn, CAPT. T. T. CRAVEN. Richmond, Coм. ALDEN.

2d Division, CAPT. BAILEY commanding.

Oneida, Coм. J. P. LEE.

Wissahickon, LIEUT. A. A. SMITH.

3d Division, CAPT. BELL commanding.

Sciota, CAPT. H. H. BELL.

Iroquois.

Pinola.

Itasca

Winona, LIEUT. EDW. NICHOLS.
Kennebec.

At one o'clock A. M. on the 24th, all hands were

called, hammocks stowed, and everything put in order to weigh anchor at two o'clock.

At two o'clock two red lights at the Hartford's mizen peak announced the time to get under way. The second division from some cause did not start at the signal, and the whole were delayed half an hour.

At three o'clock the moon arose, and a silvery path was bright before us upon the placid waters; and in thirty minutes we were gliding over it swiftly to the conflict; while the signal fires of the enemy, enhancing the lunar light, rendered our approach distinctly visible to them.

The advance column, led by the gunboat Cayuga, Captain Bailey, approaching Fort St. Philip at a quarter to 4 o'clock, both forts opened their fire. At ten minutes to four o'clock, having brought her guns to bear, the Cayuga opened fire with grape and shrapnel on Fort St. Philip. At four o'clock she passed the line of the fort, and encountered eleven gunboats above.

Meanwhile the rest of the fleet were not idle; the Oneida and Verona coming up, pitched gallantly into the fight. The flag ship Hartford joined in the fight at five minutes to four, replying to Fort Jackson with a nine inch shell, soon followed by rapid broadside firing, the other vessels of the division following suit; while to add to the deafening noise the mortar boats incessantly belched forth their destructive missiles with continuous roar.

Shot, shell, grape and canister filled the air. Steadily we steamed on, giving them shell; the forts firing rifled shot and shell, ten inch, columbiads forty-two, thirty-two, and twenty-four pounder balls; and at the same time thirteen steamers and the floating battery Louisiana,

were pouring into and around us a hailstorm of iron, perfectly indescribable.

Their steamers were crowded with troops who fired volleys of rifle balls at us with but little effect. One of them neared us, containing some 200 men, when our howitzer opened on her, and Captain Proome, of the Marine Corps, also opened upon her with two nine-inch guns, when was heard an explosion, terrific yells, a careen, and that fellow was done for.

The Verona sunk six of them in succession, and was herself sunk by a ram. The Cayuga, as before stated, encountered a fleet of them, which she succeeded in discomfitting, either sinking, capturing, firing, or driving them ashore. At half past five o'clock, having been under a terrific fire for an hour and twenty minutes, the Hartford passed the forts badly cut up, and saw several Rebel steamers which had encountered the Cayuga, and other boats of the advance, in flames along each side of the river. The Hartford passed up to the quarantine, which had previously surrendered to Captain Bailey, of the Cayuga.

In the afternoon, Commander Farragut dispatched Captain Boggs, of the Verona, to Captain Porter, with the following letter:

"DEAR PORTER: We had a rough time of it, as Boggs will tell you; but, thank God, the number of killed and wounded was very small, considering. This ship had two killed, and eight wounded. We destroyed the ram in a single combat between him and the old Mississippi; but the ram backed out when he saw the the Mississippi coming at him so rampantly, and he dodged her and ran on shore, whereupon Smith put two or three broadsides through him and knocked him

J

all to pieces. The ram pushed a fire-raft on to me, and in trying to avoid it I ran the ship on shore. He again pushed the fire-raft on me, and got the ship on fire all along one side. I thought it was all up with us, but we put it out, and got on again, proceeding up the river, fighting our way.

"We have destroyed all but two of the gunboats, and these will have to surrender with the forts. I intend to follow up my success, and push for New Orleans, and then come down and attend to the forts, so you hold them in statue quo until I come back. I think if you send a flag of truce and demand their surrender, they will yield, for their intercourse with the city is cut off. We have cut the wires above the quarantine, and are now going ahead. I took three or four hundred. prisoners at Quarantine. They surrended, and I paroled them not to take up arms again. I could not stop to

take care of them.

"If the General will come up to the bayou and land a few men, or as many as he pleases, he will find two of our gunboats there to protect him from the gunboats that are at the forts. I wish to get to the English Turn where they have not placed a battery yet, but have two above New Orleans. They will not be idle, and neither will I. You supported us nobly.

Very truly, yours,

"To Captain D. D. PORTER,

66

"D. C. FARRAGUT.

Commanding Mortar Flotilla."

Captain Boggs, the bearer of this letter, late commander of the Verona, stated that before the Verona sunk, she destroyed, alone, six of the Rebel steamers, of which he learned the names of four, viz.: the Wm. H.

Webb, Palmetto, Phenix, and Jackson. As he passed the forts, the Verona, as well as all the other vessels, received their fire. The Richmond, and one or two more of the large steam-sloops, slackened speed, and poured three or four broadsides each into the enemy.

The Verona, after discharging two broadsides, passed on a mile or two above, and came in contact with several Rebel gunboats, by which she was attacked, two or three assailing her at once, butting her with their iron-cased prows, and making several large holes in her.

Captain Boggs fought them bravely with his guns as long as his vessel floated, and drove the Rebel steamers ashore, where they were fired by their own crews. One of his shot disabled still another steamer, by making a hole in her boiler, when she surrendered to the Oneida, which took her officers and crew prisoners."

The Verona's last guns were fired when her decks were under water, and no clothing or property of any I kind on board was saved. She lost three of her crew killed, and seven wounded. Eleven Rebel steamers, including the ram, were destroyed, and the captain of the ram captured.

After the fight, the whole squadron that passed the forts, numbering twelve vessels, repaired to the Quarantine anchorage, seven miles above the fort. There the dead were buried, and the wounded cared for. Our killed and wounded was estimated, by Captain Boggs, at about one hundred and twenty-five; the enemy's loss was thought to be enormous.

Captain Porter, acting on the suggestion of Commodore Farragut, sent Captain Guest, with a flag of truce, up to the forts, with a demand for an unconditional surrender. As the captain approached Fort St. Philip,