each; the whole number of guns and mortars was 310, many of them very heavy and very good. Capt. Farragut, our commander, had passed 52 of his 63 years in the navy, having been a midshipman in the war of 1812; a Tennessean, his loyalty was of that stern and sterling quality whereof the best examples were furnished by the South. His time, and that of his officers, had for weeks been well spent in providing and preparing every thing likely to be required in the intended combat; so that when, on the day after our fleet reached the vicinity of the forts," and before it had opened fire, a Rebel flat-boat, piled with wood saturated with tar and turpentine, and then cut adrift, came rushing down the heady current-a crackling, roaring, flaming volcano-into the midst of our thickly clustering vessels, a few shells were thrown into it from the gunboat Mississippi, without the designed effect of exploding and sinking it; when a row-boat from the Iroquois quietly tackled it, fixed three grappling-irons in its bow, and towed it obliquely to the river bank, where it was permitted to burn itself harmlessly away, while the fleet proceeded with its preparations for the morrow's bombardment. Axes, ropes, fire-buckets, and whatever else might be needed, were placed exactly where they would be at hand when wanted, and every thing made ready for business,

FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP.

Explanations.-A, B, C, D, &c., are points on the left bank, and 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., points on the right bank of the river, selected for placing the gunboats and mortars in

position. The position of the mortar-boats on the 18th

was as follows: 6 mortars on the left bank, between G and J, 8,900 to 4,500 yards from Fort Jackson; 14 mor

yards from Fort Jackson. On the 19th, they were all on

and remained nearly in the same position through the

At daylight next morning, each of the small steamers took four of the tars on the right bank, from 1 to 5, distant 2,830 to 8,190 schooners in tow and drew them slow- the right bank, 8,010 to 4,100 yards from Fort Jackson, ly up the river, their decks and yards 20th and 21st. The large steamers and gunboats wero covered with great branches of trees, first day, the small steam sloops and gunboats went up to whose green foliage rendered them and the enemy's steamers. "April 17.

placed from to 1 miles below the mortar-boats. On the

abreast of the smoke-stack, where they engaged the forts

BOMBARDMENT OF FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP. 89

of Jackson, distant 21 to three miles; | Fort Jackson not being extinguished all were under orders to concentrate till 2 next morning. But its batteries their fire on Fort Jackson, that being opened as lively as ever at sunrise, the larger and more important work, and at 11:30 one of their rifled bolts whose fall necessarily involved that crashed through one of our schooners, of Fort St. Philip. sinking her in 20 minutes; while the Oneida, in our advance, was twice hit in the afternoon, two of her guncarriages smashed, and 9 of her men wounded. The fort had evidently suffered by the day's work; but the fathomless mud of the Mississippi seemed exactly constituted to absorb our shells, with the least possible harm to all around. Gen. Butler and staff arrived during that afternoon, and went up in a small boat to take a look at the chain; which, it had begun by this time to be understood, was badly in the way, and must be subjected to an operation.

At 9 A. M., before our mortar vessels were ready, Fort Jackson opened fire; but her balls struck the water 100 yards short of our gunboat Owasco, which held the advance, and which was first to reply. Capt. Porter, who commanded the mortar fleet, watched through his glass the effect of our very deliberate fire, constantly giving new directions, founded on his observations, as to the elevation of pieces, length of fuse, and weight of charge. By 10 A. M., both parties had closed their experiments, and were firing steadily and heartily, though as yet with little visible effect, save that the fish in the river, stunned and killed by the tremendous concussions, had begun to float past our anchored vessels. Soon, three more rafts are seen sweeping down from the new barrier of chains and hulks, and, as they approach, are dealt with as their predecessor had been, without interrupting the fire of our guns. At 4 P. M., Gen. But ler's little dispatch steamer Saxon arrived, with news that the army was below, ready and waiting for service, and that the Monitor had disabled the Merrimac in Hampton Roads. At 5, flames were seen bursting from Fort Jackson, whose fire slackened; and it was manifest that its wooden interior had been ignited, like that of Fort Sumter in the initial bombardment of the war. The Rebel forts ceased firing, as our boats did, an hour later, and the night passed silently; the flames in

The bombardment having been continued through a third day without encouraging result, Capt. Farragut called a council of captains in the cabin of his flag-ship Hartford, and, having heard all opinions, decided on an attempt to force a passage by the forts. To this end, it was essential that the cable should first be broken; and to Capt. Bell, with the gunboats Pinola and Itasca, supported by the Iroquois, Kennebec, and Winona, was assigned the conduct of this critical undertaking; which, the night being dark, it was determined to attempt forthwith; and, at 10 P. M., the Pinola and Itasca had set out on their perilous errand; Capt. Porter, so soon as they were out of range of his guns, opening upon Fort Jackson a tremendous fire from all his mortar-schooners, under which the Pinola ran up toward the cable near the western shore, directly under the guns of the

fort; and, nearing one of the hulks, Mr. Krohl, the inventor of a new and powerful petard, threw it on board; but it failed to explode, because the Pinola, having stopped her engine a moment too soon, was whirled away on the rushing current, snapping the wire hitherto connected with the petard. The wind blowing fiercely from the north, it was half an hour before the Pinola was again minding her helm, with her bow toward the chain.

water and down into the kindly darkness; each vessel entirely unharmed: and the opening thus made in the barrier was speedily and constantly enlarged by the current, so that a boat's crew from the Itasca, pulling up in the thick darkness two nights later, found nothing to obstruct the upward passage of our fleet. A new and grander fire-raft was sent down two hours after the chains were broken, only to be caught and served as her predecessors had been.

The bombardment was continued two days farther; in part, because two of our gunboats had been so much injured as to require assistance for their rapid repair. The morning of the 24th was fixed on for the grand attempt, of which the Rebel officers somehow had an intimation; so that, throughout the preceding day, the forts were silently preparing for the eventful hour at hand, while our bombardment was little more than a formality. Meantime, Duncan reported from Fort Jackson that he had suffered very little, though 25,000 13-inch shells had been fired at him, whereof 1,000 had fallen within the fort. (We had actually fired 5,000 only.) "God is certainly protecting us," was his assurance.

Meanwhile, the Itasca, Captain Caldwell, had steamed up to the chain-supporting hulk next in order eastward, and, making fast to its side, her men, who had boarded the hulk, were studying in the darkness the economy of the cable. A rocket thrown up from Fort Jackson favored them with a fitful, transient light, to which a cannonade, instantly opened on them from both forts, seemed to add very little; but they steadily went on with their business; and in half an hour the great chain, vigorously plied with sledge and chisel, had been cut; the cables by which the hulk was anchored had been slipped; and now the hulk, still chained to the nearer shore, was swept resistlessly round by flood and wind until grounded in the mud of the bank, pulling the lashed Itasca along with it, and driving her fast aground directly in the range of both forts. By this time, however, the Pinola was ready to come to her rescue; and, after an hour of earnest tugging, and parting two 5-inch hawsers, she finally grappled her with an 11-inch cable, and, by help of steam and current, dragged her again into deep Capt. Farragut himself, with his

.

it

Farragut's arrangements for passing the forts were completed at sunset." The mortar-boats, retaining their stations, were to cover the advance with their utmost possible fire. Six small steamers-the Harriet Lane, Westfield, Owasco, Clinton, Miami, and Jackson, the last towing the Portsmouth-were to engage the water battery below Fort Jackson, but not attempt to pass.

mile and a quarter of Fort Jackson, | silenced, and her garrison were seen by our men in the tops of the Brooklyn, by the fitful flashes of their bursting shrapnel, running like sheep to their coverts. Thus passing the upper fort, Capt. Craven engaged several of the Rebel gunboats, at 60 to 100 yards. He was an hour and a half under fire, lost 8 killed and 26 wounded, while his ship was badly cut up by shot and shell; but she bore her full part in the attack on the Rebel batteries below New Or

when he was opened upon from that
Fort and repeatedly struck. Still
steaming directly for the fort, and re-
plying only from his two forecastle
guns, when within half a mile he
sheered and gave them broadsides of
grape and canister, which soon drove
every man from their barbette guns;
but those in the casemates rendered
full and quick returns for every vol-
ley received. The Richmond, closely
following, hurled grape and canister
in profusion. The Brooklyn, bring-leans next morning.
ing up the rear, ran over one of the
hulks which had upheld the chain,
during a hot fire from Fort St. Phil-
ip. Hardly had she been freed from
the hulk and her head turned up
stream, when the ram Manassas came
butting into her starboard gangway,
first opening her iron trap-door at
ten feet distance and firing at the
smoke-stack of the Brooklyn a heavy
bolt, which was caught and stopped
by the sand-bags protecting her
steam-drum. A guard of chain
armor, which had been woven over
her sides, shielded her from destruc-
tion by the ram, which soon slid off
and disappeared in the darkness. A
few minutes later, while still under a
raking fire from Fort Jackson, the
Brooklyn was attacked by a large
Rebel steamer, to which she gave a
broadside at 50 yards, setting it in-
stantly on fire and putting an end to
its career. Still groping onward in
the thick darkness, Capt. Craven
soon found himself abreast of Fort
St. Philip, and so near that his leads-
man reported 13 feet of water. Bring-
ing all his guns to bear for a few mo-
ments, he poured in grape and canis-
ter so that the fort was completely

The Cayuga, having saluted and
passed Fort St. Philip at short range,
still pushing on, encountered, when
just out of fire of the fort, the entire
Rebel flotilla, consisting of 18 gun-
boats, including the Manassas and
Louisiana. For a moment, her doom
seemed certain, as no supporting ship
was to be seen. By skillful steering,
however, Capt. Bailey avoided all
their attempts to butt and board,
and had already forced three of the
less formidable to surrender, when
the Varuna and Oneida were seen
coming to the rescue.
At early
dawn, perceiving a Rebel camp on
the right bank of the river, Capt.
Bailey anchored close beside it, and
ordered the Rebels to pile their arms
on the bank and come on board as
prisoners, which was obeyed. The
captives proved to be the Chalmette
regiment, Col. Sysmanski. Their flag,
tents, and camp equipage, formed a
part of the spoils.

The Varuna, having safely passed the forts, found herself "amid a nest of Rebel steamers,"" into which she plunged, firing broadsides at each as she passed it, exploding the boiler of the first, which appeared to be 14 Commander Boggs's official report.