NAVY, U. S., OPERATIONS OF. 



633 



running up occasionally to draw the enemy's 

 fire when the mortars required relief. Each 

 boat having its precise distance from the forts 

 marked out by the surveyors, the firing was re- 

 markably accurate. At the given signal they 

 opened in order, each one throwing a shell 

 every ten minutes. Fort Jackson was the prin- 

 cipal object of attack. On the first day the cit- 

 adel was set on fire and burned until two o'clock 

 the next morning, all the clothing and commis- 

 sary stores in the fort being destroyed, and 

 great suffering caused by the intense heat. Dur- 

 ing the night the firing ceased on both sides. 

 Two of the mortar vessels had been injured by 

 the enemy's fire and were accordingly moved 

 to another position. On the 19th the mortar 

 schooner Maria J. Carleton was sunk by a rifle 

 shell passing down through her deck, magazine, 

 and bottom, but nearly all her stores and arms 

 were saved. One or two men were wounded, 

 but very little other damage was done except 

 to the masts and rigging of some of the schoon- 

 ers. On the other hand the officers' quarters 

 in Fort Jackson were set on fire and entirely 

 consumed, the artillerists were driven from the 

 parapet guns, and the batteries were silenced 

 every time the shells were concentrated on any 

 one point. The fuzes being bad, however, a 

 great many exploded prematurely in the air. 

 Commander Porter accordingly gave up timing 

 them and put in full-length fuzes, to burst after 

 they had entered the ground. The soil being 

 wet and soft, the shells penetrated 18 or 20 feet 

 into the ground, and then exploded with an ef- 

 fect like an earthquake. The levee was broken 

 in more than 100 places, and the water rushing 

 into the fort flooded the parade ground and 

 casemates. On the night of the 20th an expe- 

 dition was sent up under Commander Bell to 

 break the obstructions across the river. With 

 the gunboats Pinola, Lieut.-Com. Crosby, and 

 Itasca, Lieut.-Com. Caldwell, he made for the 

 hulks, under a heavy fire, while all the mortars 

 opened at once upon the forts to distract the 

 enemy's attention. Petards were arranged to 

 blow up the boom by means of a galvanic cur- 

 rent, but they failed to ignite. Lieutenant 

 Caldwell however, boarding one of the hulks, 

 managed to slip the chain, and thereby made an 

 opening sufficiently large for the fleet to pass. 

 His vessel was swept ashore by the current, 

 which was running with great violence, but the 

 Pinola got her off after about half an hour's 

 labor in full sight of the forts, the terrible fire 

 of the mortar fleet being probably the only 

 thing that saved the two boats from destruction. 

 The bombardment continued with undiminish- 

 ed vigor for 3 days longer, with little damage 

 to the squadron. Almost every night the Con- 

 federates sent down fire rafts, but Capt. Farra- 

 gut easily avoided them, and had them towed 

 ashore. On the 23d Commander Porter suc- 

 ceeded in breaking a heavy rifled gun on Fort 

 St. Philip, which had been annoying him seri- 

 ously for some time. Wth this single excep- 

 tion' the 6 davs' bombardment had not dimin- 



ished the fire of the forts in any perceptible 

 degree. 



On the 23d orders were issued to the fleet to 

 prepare for attacking and passing the forts. 

 The mortars were to continue the bombard- 

 ment while this movement was in progress, and 

 to try to drive the garrisons from their guns. 

 The five steamers of Porter's flotilla, assisted 

 by the Portsmouth, were assigned the duty of 

 enfilading the water battery of six guns, and 

 the barbette of guns which commanded the ap- 

 proach to the forts. The rest of the ships and 

 gunboats were to push on past the forts, engage 

 the Confederate fleet, and if victorious proceed 

 to Xew Orleans, leaving the final reduction of 

 the forts to Commander Porter and the land 

 forces under General Butler. Flag-OfBcer Far- 

 ragut now separated his gunboats into two di- 

 visions, of six boats each, the first under Capt. 

 Theodorus Bailey, his second in command, and 

 the second under Fleet Capt. H. H. Bell. The 

 first division of ships comprised the flag ship 

 Hartford, Commander "Wainwright ; Brooklyn, 

 Captain Craven ; and Richmond, Commander 

 Alden. The second was composed of the Pen- 

 sacola, Captain Morris, and Mississippi, Com- 

 mander Melancton Smith. "Every vessel," 

 says Captain Farragut, " was as well prepared 

 as the ingenuity of her commander and officers 

 could suggest, both for the preservation of life 

 and of the vessel, and perhaps there is not on 

 record such a display of ingenuity as has been 

 evinced in this little squadron. The first was 

 by the engineer of the Richmond. Mr. Moore, 

 by suggesting that the sheet cables be stopped 

 up and down on the sides in the line of the en- 

 gines, which was immediately adopted by all 

 the vessels. Then each commander made hia 

 own arrangements for stopping the shot from 

 penetrating the boilers or machinery that might 

 come in forward or abaft, by hammocks, coal, 

 bags of ashes, bags of sand, clothes-baps, and in 

 fact every device imaginable. The bulwarks 

 were lined with hammocks by some, with splin- 

 ter nettings made with ropes by others. Some 

 rubbed their vessels over with mud, to make 

 their ships less visible, and some whitewashed 

 their decks, to make things more visible by 

 night during the fight." On the night of the 

 23d Lieut. Caldwell made a second visit to the 

 obstructions, and ascertained that the passage 

 was still clear. He was discovered and fired 

 upon by the enemy, who had chosen that tune 

 to send down some of their fire rafts, and had 

 lighted fires on the shore near the chain. At 

 two o'clock on the morning of the 24th the sig- 

 nal was given to get under way, and the whole 

 squadron moved up the river in two columns, 

 Captain Bailey in the Cayuga leading the right, 

 composed of the 1st division of gunboats and 

 the second division of ships, and the Hartford, 

 with Captain Farragut. taking the post of honor 

 on the left. On passing the barrier chain the 

 right column attacked Fort St. Philip, and the 

 left Fort Jackson. They were discovered some 

 time before they reached the barrier, and both 



