CHAP. XV. Farragut, Admiral D. G. Farragut," p. 208. Welles to Jan. 20, 1862. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. a flag in the Gulf, and the rest depends upon myself. Keep calm and silent; I shall sail in three weeks." On the ninth of January Farragut was appointed to the command of the Western Gulf Blockading Farragut, Squadron; on the twentieth he received his confidential instructions to attempt the capture of the city of New Orleans. He sailed from Hampton Roads on the third of February in the steam sloop Hartford, a screw ship of the second class, 1900 tons burthen, capable, under combined sail and steam power, of a speed of eleven knots, and carrying a battery of twenty-five guns-a swift, strong ship of beautiful proportions and with perfect appointments, realizing the sailor's highest ideal of grace in outline, celerity in motion, and efficiency in combat. Farragut made the Hartford his flagship; and at a time when the traditional glories of wooden ships began to vanish before the encroachments of iron armor, the admiration and confidence he bestowed on his vessel lends a tinge of romance to the achievements by which he carried her fame into history. The reader may be spared the period of vexatious delay and anxious preparation; it is enough to say Farragut acted on his maxim, "the rest depends upon myself." With his half-century's sea experience, his critical inspection neglected no detail of hull, spar, or rigging, omitted no essential instruction to each commander and crew of his fleet. If space permitted it would be a pleasure to record the qualities of his vessels, and, high above these, the skill and devotion of the commanders who sailed under him. They caught his zeal; they shared his courage. One impulse of confidence, one resolution of success, possessed them all. There have probably been few instances where the will CHAP. XV. and the power of the fleet were so thoroughly centered in the flag. Butler to Stanton, 1862. W. R. Vol. VI., p. 708. Farragut, "Life of Admiral D. G. Farragut," p. 216. By the middle of April the expedition was before the forts below New Orleans, Farragut with seventeen men-of-war and 177 guns; Porter with a mortar flotilla of nineteen schooners and six armed steamships for guard and towing service; General Butler with the army contingent of six thousand April 13, men, the remainder being yet detained at Ship Island for want of transports. The rebel defenses were of threefold character. First, Forts Jackson and St. Philip with about 115 guns, fourteen of them in casemate; second, a river barrier, one and one-half miles below the forts, consisting of lografts and dismasted schooners, anchored at intervals and connected by strong chains; third, an improvised fleet of sixteen rebel gunboats, several of them armed with iron prows, and one of them (the Manassas) an iron-plated ram. Still another vessel of formidable construction, also designed for iron plating, but in default of which her sloping sides were covered with railroad iron, remained unfinished; she was brought down and anchored half a mile above Fort St. Philip, thus adding a stationary battery of sixteen guns to the strength of the upper fort. Of the various land defenses nearer the city, and breastworks and rifle-pits to guard against inland approaches and through bayous, it is needless to make mention; the course and consequences of the attack rendered them of no avail. One additional and by no means insignificant device of protection had been ingeniously prepared by the enemy. Long flat-boats CHAP. XV. were filled with the resinous and highly inflammable pine knots of the South, and thus converted into On the 18th of April Porter's flotilla of nineteen schooners, carrying two mortars each, were anchored from 2500 to 4000 yards below the forts, where they began a terrific bombardment, firing on the first day over 1400 shells. Nearly all the bombs were directed at Fort Jackson, the nearest and largest work; and, notwithstanding a certain want of accuracy, the immense number of missiles created fearful destruction, burning the wooden structures and dismounting barbette guns. That first night, while the fire was raging within and about it, Fort Jackson was well-nigh helpless. But its condition was not known in the Union fleet, and advantage could not be taken of the panic. For five days longer Porter continued his furious bombardment, greatly increasing mere exterior damage; but, as the garrison was kept in the casemates, the effectiveness of the work was not thereby materially reduced. On the third day Porter began to lose confidence in mortars, and on the fifth day Farragut decided to try his ships. Two of the gunboats were sent on the night of the twentieth to cut away the barrier of hulks and rafts stretched across the river, and succeeded in making an opening sufficient to enable vessels to pass through. At May, 1862, two o'clock on the morning of April 24 Farragut gave the signal to advance, Porter at the same time increasing his bombardment to its utmost rapidity. The fleet was organized for the attack in two sec Farragut, and Porter, tions; the "column of the red" to proceed first and, CHAP. XV. following the east bank, to engage Fort St. Philip; this division, consisting of eight ships with sixtyseven guns, was commanded by Captain Theodorus Bailey and led by the gunboat Cayuga. The "column of the blue " was to follow, keeping to the west bank, and attack the stronger works of Fort Jackson; this division, consisting of nine ships with eighty-seven guns, was commanded by Farragut himself and led by his flag-ship the Hartford.1 And now there ensued a naval battle which, after the opening movements, it is simply impossible to describe. As the divisions passed through the barrier, the forts opened their cannonade, to which, until near approach, the ships' guns were not in position to make reply. Once abreast the works, the vessels successively slowed their speed to discharge broadsides of grape and canister, quickly clearing the parapets; the rebel gunners, however, pluckily returning to their guns as chance permitted. The fire of St. Philip, upon which Porter had exercised only a single mortar, dismounting but a single gun, was especially hot in these intermissions of defense. It was a quiet April night, illumined only by starlight and the thin crescent 1The following vessels composed the divisions. COLUMN OF THE RED.- Cayuga, flag gunboat, Lieut.-Com. Harrison, with Capt. Bailey on board; Pensacola, Capt. H. W. Morris; Mississippi, Com. M. Smith; Oneida, Com. S. P. Lee; Varuna, Com. C. S. Boggs; Katahdin, Lieut.-Com. G. H. Preble; Kineo, Lieut.-Com. Ransom; Wissahickon, Lieut.-Com. A. N. Smith. COLUMN OF THE BLUE.-Hart- Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1, 1862. CHAP. XV. of the waning moon; but with the opening of battle the scene changed to alternations of fire and smoke, a quick succession of light and darknessof dazzling blaze and impenetrable gloom. The divisions, starting in orderly line, became separated and mixed. "The fire became general," says Farragut's report, "the smoke dense, and we had nothing to aim at but the flash of their guns; it was very difficult to distinguish friends from foes. It was a kind of guerrilla; they were fighting May 6, 1882. in all directions." Farragut, Report, While the Hartford and her consorts were yet thundering their broadsides against Fort Jackson, the "Division of the Red," led by the Cayuga, had already run the gauntlet of the two forts; but above their line of fire they encountered the Confederate gunboat flotilla. The vessels composing it were not only inferior in strength and armament to the Union gunboats, but were under three different and independent commanders, which diminished their efficiency for defense. It was still dark when the Union gunboats dashed among them, and no coherent narrative of the encounter has been, or perhaps could be, preserved. On the Union side, it was hot pursuit; on the rebel side, quick catastrophe. Bailey, the division commander, sententiously sums up the struggle: "Two large steamers now attempted to board, one on our starboard bow, the other astern, a third on our starboard beam. The eleven-inch Dahlgren being trained on this fellow, we fired at a range of thirty yards. The effect was very destructive; he immediately steered in shore, ran aground, and burnt himself up. The Parrot gun on the forecastle |