FARRAGUT AT NEW ORLEANS
IT WAS HARD WORK GETTING THE SQUADRON INTO THE MISSISSIPPI--PREPARING
THE SHIPS TO RUN BY THE FORTS GUARDING THE RIVER--MORTAR
SCHOONERS HIDDEN BY TREE BRANCHES--THE FORTS WERE WELL PLANNED,
BUT POORLY ARMED--A BARRIER CHAIN THAT WAS NO BARRIER AT THE
LAST--THE HETEROGENEOUS CONFEDERATE SQUADRON--THE FIRE-RAFTS--WORK
OF THE COAST SURVEY--BRAVERY OF CALDWELL--FOREIGNERS WHO
INTERFERED--WORK OF THE MORTAR FLEET--WHEN THE SQUADRON DROVE PAST
THE FORTS--SCATTERING THE CONFEDERATE SQUADRON--NEVERTHELESS,
AT LEAST THREE GOOD CAPTAINS WERE FOUND AMONG THEM--SINKING THE
_VARUNA_--FATE OF THE RAM _MANASSAS_--SURRENDER OF THE FORTS--END
OF THE IRONCLAD _LOUISIANA_--THE WORK OF THE MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON.
In the story of the capture of New Orleans, early in the year 1862, the
name of David Glasgow Farragut first appears in the annals of the Civil
War. When the war began Farragut was a captain, and was awaiting orders
at his home in Norfolk, Virginia. He was a Southern man by birth, and
his family were of the South. A most determined effort was made by
the Southern leaders to enlist him on their side; but Farragut was a
man who could not forget his oath to support the Constitution of the
United States. His only recorded reply to them was, “Mind what I tell
you: You fellows will catch the devil before you get through with this
business.”
[Illustration: David Glasgow Farragut.
_From a photograph._]
Removing his family to a home on the Hudson River, he reported himself
“ready for duty,” and felt some relief when he was made a member of
the naval retiring board, created by a new law passed to get rid
of superannuated officers. This appointment was at least a show of
confidence in his loyalty. And there he was trying his official peers
on a charge of old age when the expedition against New Orleans was
planned.
The idea of attacking New Orleans originated with Commander David D.
Porter, when in charge of the blockading steamer _Powhatan_, that,
during the summer of 1861, was lying off the Southwest Pass of the
Mississippi. Porter made it a point to collect all the information
possible about the river and the defences, and he found the fishermen
from New Orleans very good spies. Returning North, Porter went to
the Secretary of the Navy. He had a knack of getting the ears of the
leaders in those days, as well as some luck, as one may say, and the
expedition was decided on. Of course, Porter’s rank was too low for
the command of such a force, but he was permitted to suggest the name
of a suitable captain, and Farragut was promptly named. As the reader
will remember, Farragut was reared in the old _Essex_ under Commodore
David Porter, and David Porter was the father of David D. Porter. It
was, perhaps, what may be called log-rolling for one of the family,
but David D. Porter never did the nation a better service than when he
spoke for Farragut.
The offer of the leadership of this expedition was eagerly accepted,
and David Glasgow Farragut, whose form and features are more familiar
to the eyes of the American people than those of any other naval hero,
had the first opportunity of his life.
Making the _Hartford_ his flagship, he sailed from Hampton Roads on
February 2, 1862, and on the 20th arrived at Ship Island, near the
mouth of the Mississippi. Here he gathered the following squadron:
Screw sloops: _Hartford_, twenty-four guns, Flag Officer David G.
Farragut, Fleet Captain Henry H. Bell, Commander Richard Wainwright;
_Pensacola_, twenty-three guns, Capt. Henry W. Morris; _Brooklyn_,
twenty-two guns, Capt. Thomas T. Craven; _Richmond_, twenty-four guns,
Commander James Alden.
Side-wheel steamer: _Mississippi_, seventeen guns, Commander Melancthon
Smith.
Screw corvettes: _Oneida_, nine guns, Commander S. Phillips Lee;
_Varuna_, ten guns, Commander Charles S. Boggs; _Iroquois_, seven guns,
Commander John De Camp.
Screw gunboats: _Cayuga_, two guns, Lieut. Napoleon B. Harrison;
_Itasca_, two guns, Lieut. C. H. B. Caldwell; _Katahdin_, two guns,
Lieut. George H. Preble; _Kennebec_, two guns, Lieut. John H. Russell;
_Kineo_, two guns, Lieut. George M. Ransom; _Pinola_, two guns, Lieut.
Pierce Crosby; _Sciota_, two guns, Lieut. Edward Donaldson; _Winona_,
two guns, Lieut. Edward T. Nichols; _Wissahickon_, two guns, Lieutenant
Albert N. Smith.
Of the guns on this squadron ninety-three could be fired in broadside,
but none could be fired directly ahead; the pivots, however, could
be fired within a point or two of the line of the keel, and were
practically bow guns. More than half these guns were nine-inch
smooth-bores or better.
In addition to these ships, there were twenty schooners carrying
one thirteen-inch mortar each, and six gunboats (among them three
ferryboats), carrying heavy guns, were assigned to handle and protect
them. The mortar flotilla was placed under Porter.
It was an easy matter to get the gunboats up the river, but the big
ships stuck on the bar. The _Pensacola_ had to unload all of her guns
as well as other weights before she could pass, and even then her
bottom cut the channel a foot deeper when she was dragged through on
April 7th, and the _Mississippi_ had a like experience. An attempt made
to drag the _Colorado_ over failed altogether; but the attempt had to
be made in order to please the officials at Washington, even though two
weeks of precious time were wasted.
However, Capt. Theodorus Bailey and nearly all of the crew of the
_Colorado_ were taken along if the ship was left behind, and on
reaching the head of the Passes the work of preparing the ships for the
task before them began.
[Illustration: Thirteen-inch Mortar from Farragut’s Fleet.
_From a photograph made at the Brooklyn Navy Yard._]
Howitzers were placed in the tops (_i.e._, on platforms at the tops
of the lower masts), and there protected by boiler iron from musket
fire. Each ship was made to draw more water forward than aft so that
she would have a better chance to get off in case of grounding. As
the ships were to fight at point-blank range care was taken to secure
the guns so their elevation should not increase under the shock of
firing. The rigging was stripped down to the topmasts, and the spars,
etc., sent ashore, while some of the gunboats took their masts out
altogether. Chain cables were secured up and down the sides of the
ship to ward off shot, and “bags of coal or sand or ashes, or whatever
else came to hand,” were piled to keep the shot from the boilers
and engines. Nets were hung inside to stop the flying splinters in
case of shot piercing the wooden walls. Decks and gun carriages were
whitewashed to help the light for the night battle, and the outsides of
the ships were smeared with mud to make them less easily visible.
The mortar schooners were disguised by lashing tree limbs to the masts
in such fashion that they could not be distinguished from the trees
along the banks. In short, no precaution was omitted.
As for the Confederates, they rested in perfect confidence behind
the forts that had been erected to defend the river. As a glance at
the map will show, there was some reason in the location, if not in
the armament of these forts, for the confidence they felt. As will
be seen, the river comes down in a southerly direction until within
twenty miles of the head of the Passes. There it suddenly turns to
the northeast for nearly two miles, when it makes a sharp bend to the
south once more. It was right on this sharp, knee-like bend that the
forts were built. Fort St. Philip stood on top of the knee-bend, so to
speak, and from its walls a fair view was had for a long way down the
river. On the under side of the knee lay Fort Jackson. By the compass
it was about due south of Fort St. Philip and but 800 yards away. Its
guns pointed all over the bend of the river and away to the south, the
timber on the west side of the river having been cut away to allow an
unobstructed view of the stream almost to the uttermost range of the
guns.
But when the guns of these forts are considered, one must say they were
very poor. The Confederates made a mistake there. In all there were 109
cannon that might be used on passing ships at one point or another, but
of these, fifty-six were twenty-four-pounders--excellent guns in 1812,
but very small fifty years later. More than half of the others were
thirty-twos and forty-twos--in fact, but fifteen of them were really
guns of the day, and but two--the seven-inch rifles--could be called
first-class.
[Illustration: New Orleans, La., and its Vicinity.
1. Mississippi River. 2. Levee. 3. St. Charles Hotel. 4. Lake
Pontchartrain. 5. Fort Pike. 6. Rigolets. 7. Lake Borgne. 8.
Mississippi Sound. 9. Ship Island. 10. Chandeleur Islands. 11. Gulf
of Mexico. 12. Proctorsville. 13. Fort Dupré. 14. Fort St. Philip.
15. Fort Jackson. 16. Balize. 17. South Pass. 18. Southwest Pass.
19. McDonoughville. 20. Algiers.
]
Doubtless the Confederates depended too much on what nature had done
for the defence, but they tried to add to the forces of nature by
stretching a barrier from Fort Jackson to the east across the river.
Barriers appeal to the unlearned mind, but they have never obstructed a
fleet that was commanded by a determined man. Rafts of big cypress logs
were built and anchored in line, and then chain cables taken from the
Pensacola Navy Yard were stretched from trees on the Fort Jackson side
over these supporting rafts to heavy anchors buried on the east side.
Before Farragut arrived the floods of spring and the accumulation of
driftwood had broken the barrier, but it was renewed by substituting
schooners in place of the rafts where the current was heaviest.
In addition to the forts and barrier chain, the Confederates had the
support of eleven steamers and a floating battery. This battery was
built as an ironclad steamer to carry sixteen heavy guns behind plenty
of armor, but there were so many strikes in the shipyard where she
was built that she barely got afloat, and she was towed to a place
at the forts. Her engines were never used. Had Farragut been delayed
ten days more, she would have been a formidable ship, and she would
have had a still more formidable consort in another and larger ship
of her class that never got afloat. She was called the _Louisiana_,
and was commanded by Capt. John K. Mitchell. Another of this squadron
was the ram _Manassas_, that under Lieutenant Warley had created a
_Manassas_-like panic in the blockading squadron some months before.
Two of the squadron belonged to the State of Louisiana. They were
called the _Moore_, Capt. Beverly Kennon, and the _McRae_, Capt. Thomas
B. Huger. These were cotton-clads--ocean-going steamers protected
with cotton bales--very inferior as fighting ships, and yet the able
Kennon made a name for himself with the _Moore_. Of the remainder
of the squadron it may be said that six were of the “River Defence
Squadron”--the guerrillas afloat--and that one of the captains said
just before the battle that they were there “to show the naval officers
how to fight.”
There were also a number of unarmed vessels present, whose duty it
was to handle the fireboats that had been prepared--huge coal barges
loaded with fat pine knots that might have made serious trouble had
they all been turned loose together at the right time. And one of these
unarmed boats was the _Mosher_, with a crew of six men under Captain
Sherman--the bravest man in the Confederate squadron; but because he
was only a tug captain no record was made of his first name, nor is
anything said in history of his antecedents. Of the armament of the
Confederate squadron little need be said. The _Louisiana_ was well
armed, and the rest poorly. The _Moore_, under Beverly Kennon, had two
thirty-two-pounders, and she was about as well off as any.
While Farragut prepared his fleet a coast survey party under F. H.
Gerdes triangulated the river, under fire at times, and set flags on
the banks where the mortar schooners were to be moored. One division
of these was placed on the west bank, under shelter of forest trees,
and at an average distance of about 3,500 yards from the fort. The
other division was on the east bank. The exact range was given to each
schooner captain, and at ten o’clock in the morning on April 18, 1862,
the bombardment of Fort Jackson began. The mortars were fired once in
ten minutes, and the fire was continued for six days.
[Illustration: Mortar Boats.
_From an engraving._]
Meantime Lieut. C. H. B. Caldwell had requested permission to break
the chain barrier, and on the night of the 20th he was sent with his
boat, the _Itasca_, and the _Pinola_, Lieut. Pierce Crosby commanding,
to do so. While the mortar schooners dropped their shells in a shower
on Fort Jackson to keep down the fire as much as possible, two of the
barrier hulks were boarded, and on one of them it was found possible
to slip her anchor chain. This was done, and she drifted away, leaving
the barrier chain to sag down under water. Then Caldwell got above the
barrier with his shoal-draft _Itasca_, passing through a narrow space
between the hulks and what remained of the old raft barrier. Running
up far enough for good headway, he turned back at full speed with the
current to aid him, and headed for the place where the released hulk
had been. As the _Itasca_ struck the sagging chain with her curved bow,
she rose more than three feet out of water, and then the chain snapped
under her weight, and away she went. The barrier was effectually
broken, and the route to New Orleans was open. All this was done under
heavy fire, but there was no picket boat guarding the chain.
At this time the British frigate _Mersey_, Captain Preedy, and a
Frenchman were lying with Farragut’s fleet. These two foreigners
steamed up the river to examine the barrier, and on coming back were at
great pains to inform the Union forces that the forts were in perfect
order and the barrier absolutely impassable. The French were at that
time planning to establish an emperor on a throne in Mexico.
As said, for six days the mortar flotilla hurled shells high in air
to drop in and around Fort Jackson. By day each mortar threw a shell
every ten minutes--the flotilla of twenty threw 120 per hour--and at
night they threw one every half-hour each. On the 19th one of the
schooners was sunk by a shot from the fort, and another was thrown
out of the fight later on; but on an average about 1,900 shells were
thrown each day. The effect of these shells was to destroy all the
buildings in the fort, and, by cutting the levee, to flood the floors
of the bomb-proofs. They kept the men under cover, and rendered them
so uncomfortable that in the end they became desperate. What they did
then will be told further on. The garrison lost fourteen killed and
thirty-nine wounded in the course of the fighting.
Having the way clear, Farragut, on the 23d of April, 1862, issued his
orders for an advance that night. The squadron was divided into two
divisions, and Capt. Theodorus Bailey had the honor of commanding the
first division. His division flag was hoisted on the _Cayuga_, that was
to lead the line in what was supposed to be the post of real danger.
A ship’s cutter under Caldwell rowed up to the break in the barrier
and found it still open. The Confederates had a big wood-fire burning,
and the cutter crossed its light, but was not attacked. It was a dark,
still night--not the best for the work--but at 2 o’clock in the morning
of the 24th two red lanterns were hoisted at the peak of the flagship
_Hartford_, and a moment later the shrill piping of the boatswain’s
whistle was heard throughout the squadron with the call “All hands up
anchor!”
The merry click of the pawls as the men walked around the great
capstans soon rose on the still air--rose so high that it reached up to
the sentinels on Fort Jackson and roused the garrison to a knowledge
that an important action impended. It was a long task to get the
anchors of the largest ships, for they were breasting a three-knot
current, but soon after 3 o’clock they all got under way, and Porter’s
mortars, firing as fast as the men could tong the shells into them,
began drawing an almost unbroken arch of fiery bombs from the schooners
to Fort Jackson. The nation had never seen such a display of fireworks
as that. At 3.30 o’clock precisely the division leader _Cayuga_ passed
in silence through the barrier, followed by the huge _Pensacola_,
and then a flaming storm broke loose from the forts. Huge piles of
wood were lighted on the shore to illuminate the river, and away
upstream the blaze of fire-rafts opened the murk of night to reveal
the Confederate ships, weird and indistinct of outline, scattered
along the shores. The Union gunboats dashed ahead at full speed, but
the _Pensacola_ and _Mississippi_ steamed slowly, their black hulls
at regular intervals sheeting the air with lurid fire as they replied
to the forts. Abreast of St. Philip, where the Confederate fire was
hottest, they drew in so close that the gunners afloat and those ashore
heartily cursed each other as they worked. With fierce energy the men
ashore drove shot and shell into the wooden ships, while those afloat
dusted the rampart with hurtling showers of grape and canister. And
these were showers that no man could face, and the garrison fled to
cover for a moment, but they returned again as the blasts ceased with
the passing of each ship.
For the first division it was at first but a simple journey. They were
through the barrier and away before the Confederates fully realized
what was upon them. But for Farragut, at the head of the second
division, it was another matter. The clouds of smoke from the batteries
settled low upon the water to blind the pilots, and then came the
blazing fire-rafts to add to the confusion and the danger. As it
happened, it was the _Hartford_ that caught the first of these rafts.
She had grounded in the smoke and was trying to back off, when the
Confederate tug _Mosher_ shoved the flaming barge against her. In an
instant the paint on the whole side of the ship was flaming up almost
to the lower yards.
[Illustration:
Porter’s Mortar Fleet.
Farragut’s Fleet Passing the Forts.
Beginning of the Battle of New Orleans.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
As the flames rose, the men at the guns on that side drew back, but
they faced the danger again as Farragut shouted:
“Don’t flinch from that fire, boys; there’s a hotter fire than that for
those who don’t do their duty.”
But in a moment the case seemed desperate even to Farragut’s courageous
soul, for he raised his hands above his head and exclaimed, “My God, is
it to end in this way?” Just then Master’s Mate Allen, in charge of the
ship’s fire-brigade, climbed into the mizzen rigging with the nozzle of
a hose in his hand, and a moment later the spurting water of the hose
had drowned the soaring flames.
Meantime the tug _Mosher_ had held the raft faithfully against the
_Hartford_, although under the very muzzles of the ship’s big guns and
in the brilliant light of the blazing fire. But a half dozen shells
were fired at her, and drifting away, she sank in the black water,
carrying down every one of the heroic men upon her. And that was
not the last case where men were found to face certain death in this
fashion.
The accounts of what was done by other vessels of the fleets are as
confused as were their movements as seen by the various spectators.
It appears, however, that while the last division of the squadron
struggled through the pass in the barrier the _Cayuga_, at the head
of the first, suddenly found herself among the Confederate gunboats
and the guerrillas that were going to show the naval officers how to
fight. She had passed, perhaps without seeing her, the dread ironclad
_Louisiana_, moored above Fort St. Philip, but the rest of the
Confederate ships were lively enough. The guerrillas were lively in
their haste to escape, those that had steam up flying for life, and
the crews of those without steam setting them on fire and scrambling
ashore in haste, while the _Cayuga_ fired right and left at everything
in sight. The _Moore_ was close beside the _Cayuga_ on one side, and
the _McRae_ on the other. Both received a severe pounding as the
_Cayuga_ passed on. The _Oneida_ was not far in the wake, and she, too,
gave broadsides to the Confederates. The _Varuna_, swiftest of the
government squadron, ran past everything and continued up the river,
followed by the Confederate steamer _Moore_ with the Union signals
aloft. Captain Kennon, seeing that the Confederates were being
whelmed by the Union forces, determined to escape up the river.
[Illustration:
B. Brooklyn.
C. Cayuga.
D. River Defence Fleet.
F. Steamers or Mortar Flotilla.
G. Governor Moore.
H. Hartford.
H1. Hartford aground and on fire.
I. Iroquois.
L. Louisiana.
M. Mississippi.
Mc. McRae.
Ms. Manassas.
m. Mosher.
O. Oneida.
P. Pensacola.
Q. General Quitman.
R. Richmond.
S. Sciota.
U. Advance Vessels during bombardment.
V. Varuna.
W. Water Batteries
X. Head of Fleet daring bombardment.
Y. Bailey’s Division, April 23d.
Z. Second Division of Mortars, 1st day’s bombardment.
1. Katahdin.
2. Kineo.
3. Wissahickon.
4. Pinola.
5. Kennebec.
6. Itasca.
7. Winona.
Battle of New Orleans.
_From “The Navy in the Civil War.”_]
As the _Varuna_ and the _Moore_ disappeared the _McRae_ turned down
toward Fort St. Philip. On the way she ran aground, and then the Union
steamer _Iroquois_ came along. The _McRae_ fired a broadside of grape
and copper slugs at her, and the _Iroquois_ returned it with grape
and canister. The slaughter was great on the _McRae_, her commander,
Thomas B. Huger, being among the mortally hurt. Huger, but a few months
before, had been executive officer of the _Iroquois_, and most of her
crew were the men who had served under him. The _McRae_ afterward got
under Fort St. Philip.
The _Manassas_ during this time had not been idle. She had, indeed,
plunged into the thick of the Union force. The _Brooklyn_, in coming
through the barrier, almost ran down the _Kineo_. The collision changed
her course, and a minute later the _Manassas_ butted her. Her chain
cable saved her from a fatal wound.
As the _Manassas_ glanced clear, a man climbed out of her hatch and
stood by her smoke-stack a moment to see what damage she had done,
and then he suddenly tumbled over into the water and disappeared. An
officer of the _Brooklyn_ afterwards asked the quartermaster, who was
heaving the lead in the chains of the _Brooklyn_ on that side, if he
saw the man fall off the _Manassas_. “Why, yes, sir,” he replied; “I
saw him fall overboard--in fact, I helped him; for I hit him alongside
the head with my hand-lead.”
As the _Brooklyn_ passed on, the _Manassas_ turned upstream after the
Union ships, watching for an opportunity to strike. She was seen, and
the _Mississippi_ and _Kineo_ turned back to crush her, but she eluded
them and ran ashore. At that her crew fled to the river bank, and the
_Mississippi_ gave her a broadside that knocked her clear of the mud,
and she floated down the river. Opposite Fort St. Philip, Lieutenant
Read, of the _McRae_, boarded her. He reported that she was then sound
save for a cut pipe, but he must have been mistaken, for when she was
passing Porter’s mortar flotilla she was seen to be on fire, and she
soon “exploded faintly” and sank.
About the time the _Manassas_ was abandoned, the _Moore_, under Beverly
Kennon, was overtaking the _Varuna_ not far from the quarantine
station. The _Varuna’s_ captain was deceived by the _Moore’s_ false
lights. So was one of the Confederate fleet--a swift vessel called the
_Jackson_. The _Jackson_ fired with her one gun at both steamers, and
then fled to New Orleans, where her captain set her afire and abandoned
her. Then one of the guerrilla fleet, the _Stonewall Jackson_, came
up near the two, and Kennon, on seeing her, opened fire on the
_Varuna_. He expected the _Stonewall Jackson_ to come to his help,
for the _Moore_, with only two thirty-two-pounders, was no match for
the _Varuna_. Nevertheless, Kennon had to fight it out alone until
victory was won. He was now close on the _Varuna’s_ quarter, where
her broadside would not bear on him, but because of the height of his
own ship’s bow he could not bring his gun to bear, so he depressed
the muzzle of his gun and shot a hole through his own bow to make way
for shot to be aimed at the _Varuna_. The next shot from the _Moore_
raked the _Varuna_, and to bring his broadside to bear, Captain Boggs,
of the _Varuna_, put her helm over, and turned her across the course
of the _Moore_. And that was a fatal error, for Kennon, instead of
turning away, turned toward the _Varuna_ and drove the sharp bow of
the _Moore_, crashing through her side. The _Varuna_ got in a raking
broadside that was very destructive, but was herself cut through. The
_Moore_ hauled off and kept on upstream, and then came the _Stonewall
Jackson_ and rammed the _Varuna_ on the other side. The _Varuna_ was
then headed to the easterly bank, where she sank, leaving her bow out
of water.
But neither the _Moore_ nor the _Stonewall Jackson_ escaped, for the
_Oneida_ and _Cayuga_ came on and drove them both ashore. The
_Moore_ was fired, but her crew surrendered when the _Pensacola_ came
along.
[Illustration:
Forts.
_Brooklyn._
_Hartford._
_Mississippi._
_Richmond._
Forts.
The Battle of New Orleans.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
Of the whole Confederate squadron only the _Louisiana_, the _McRae_,
and the guerrilla _Defiance_ remained, and they were under the guns of
Fort St. Philip. The _Defiance_ had been abandoned, but men from the
_McRae_ took possession of her. The _Louisiana_, even as a floating
battery, did nothing but fire a broadside or two at the passing
squadron.
[Illustration: Confederate Ironclad Ram _Stonewall Jackson_.
_From a photograph._]
The river was clear, save for two batteries of no account, as far as
New Orleans, and at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, on April 25, 1862, the
triumphant government squadron was before the Crescent City. It had
lost only thirty-five killed and 128 wounded.
But two or three incidents of the occupation of the city need be
mentioned. Captain Bailey and Lieut. George H. Perkins were sent ashore
to demand that the mayor haul down the Confederate flags. A howling
mob surrounded and insulted and even threw filth upon the two lone
officers, who were simply obeying orders. The letter of Farragut was
delivered to Mayor Monroe in the presence of Pierre Soulé, who had
been a senator and a minister to Spain. Primed by Soulé, the mayor
wrote a letter filled with such expressions as “you have a gallant
people to administer”; “sensitive to all that can affect its dignity
and self-respect”; “order and peace may be preserved without resort to
measures which could not fail to wound their susceptibilities and fire
up their passions”; “you may trust their honor, though you might not
count on their submission to unmerited wrong.” As to the Confederate
flags, “nor 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.”
The flags came down, however, and the old flag was raised over the
Mint. A gambler named Mumford, with three associates, hauled it down,
dragged it in the streets, and tore it to pieces. It was a wild town
until May 1st, and even for a few days later; but on May 1st came
Benjamin F. Butler with his troops from the transports that had
accompanied the Union warships, and Butler was the man for the place.
If any reader wants to learn how to tame a mob with superabundant
“sensibilities” and “passions” and “aspirations” and “honor” mixed in
the jumble exhibited by Pierre Soulé and Mayor Monroe, let him read
“Butler’s Book.”
To return to Forts St. Philip and Jackson, it must be said that with
the government forces above and below them, they were in such a
desperate strait that when Porter threatened to renew the bombardment,
more than half the garrison mutinied. Most of them were foreigners,
anyway. The forts were surrendered to Porter on April 28, 1862. While
Porter was opposite Fort Jackson negotiating for the surrender, under a
flag of truce hoisted on the fort and on his flagship, Commander John
K. Mitchell, of the ironclad _Louisiana_, set her on fire, and she came
drifting down upon the Union squadron lying under the flag of truce.
Fortunately, she blew up just before she arrived where she could do any
damage. Some Confederate writers like Scharf assert that Mitchell had
a perfect right to destroy her, because she was not included in the
surrender. This is correct. But when they say Mitchell “took caution
that no injury should fall to the enemy’s fleet while under the flag
of truce,” they assert somewhat more than the facts warrant, for
Mitchell left the ship moored by ropes that he knew would burn off
before the fire reached the magazine, and they admit that he did not
draw the charges from her heavy guns. They say that he tried to “drown
the magazine” and failed, and that he then sent an officer to warn
Porter. The officer was sent, but he was sent so long after the fire
was started that she blew up before he reached Porter’s ship. Moreover,
before the passing of the fleet the _Louisiana_ was moored far up
the stream, against the protest of the military authorities, instead
of down below, where she could have driven off Porter’s mortars. The
Confederate heroes of the fight were Sherman, Kennon, and Huger. Every
American thinks of their bravery and skill with pleasure, but Mitchell
was another kind of a man.
The capture of New Orleans was of the greatest moment, as the reader
will remember. Baton Rouge and Natchez surrendered to Captain Craven,
of the _Brooklyn_, a few days later. Pensacola was evacuated, and the
Union forces took possession on May 10th. And because of these gains
the French Emperor, who was looking on Texas as well as on Mexico as a
good prize, was led to change his mind.
It was Porter’s belief that had Farragut been sent to Mobile
immediately, it would have fallen with small resistance, if any, and
the great battle later on would have been saved. But the Administration
wanted the Mississippi opened immediately, and Farragut went up to try
it. He succeeded in passing all the fortifications, including those
at Vicksburg, where he met Flag Officer Davis. But at Vicksburg the
forts were from 150 to 264 feet above the water, and the ships of that
day could not successfully attack such works. And even had Farragut
captured the forts, there were not enough soldiers at hand to hold the
town.
[Illustration: The _Essex_ after Running the Batteries at Vicksburg and
Port Hudson.
_After a photograph._]
In fact, Farragut’s bold cruise up the river was practically fruitless
because the Administration did not follow it up. This is not said to
criticise the Administration. It is the common belief of the American
people that no man in the nation could have done better than Abraham
Lincoln. But after the batteries were passed at Vicksburg, the Union
forces made what Mahan calls a recoil. Vicksburg was more strongly
fortified than ever, and so was Port Hudson, while Grand Gulf became a
point of no small importance to the Confederates.
[Illustration: The _Carondelet_ after Passing Vicksburg.
_From a photograph._]
While the combined squadrons of Farragut and Davis lay above Vicksburg
a Confederate ram called the _Arkansas_, Capt. Isaac N. Brown, was
reported as about ready for action at a shipyard up the Yazoo River.
“Little apprehension was felt in the Union fleet,” but Captain Walke,
with the _Carondelet_, the _Taylor_, and Ellet’s ram, _Queen of the
West_, went up for a look at her on July 15, 1862. Very unexpectedly
they met her coming down for a look at the Union forces. The _Taylor_
was in the lead, and she immediately turned back for the support of
the _Carondelet_. The _Carondelet_ turned back for the support of the
ram, and the ram turned back for the support of the squadron in the
Mississippi. Being very swift, the ram ran soon out of sight. The
gunboats now had their unarmored sterns toward the Confederate ship,
and for an hour she spanked them soundly, as they richly deserved.
The _Carondelet_ at this time actually threw 150 pounds of metal from
rifled guns in her bow ports to the 106 that the _Arkansas_ threw from
her bow ports, while her broadside fire was 170 pounds to 165 on the
_Arkansas_. And yet, although supposably supported by the _Taylor_, she
ran away, hugging the left bank, where the _Arkansas_, of thirteen feet
draft, could not ram her, and there she eventually grounded, leaving
the triumphant _Arkansas_ to chase the _Taylor_ and surprise the
government squadrons.
Fortunate it was that the Confederates at the Yazoo shipyards were
poor mechanics. When the _Arkansas_ reached the Union squadrons her
machinery was in such bad order that she was making barely one knot an
hour. The captured ram _General Bragg_ had steam up, but her captain
waited for orders, and so missed the chance of a lifetime, as Farragut
remarked at the time.
Boldly steering through the unprepared squadron, the _Arkansas_ fired
right and left and took a position under the Vicksburg batteries. Her
crew numbered forty-one. The two Union flag officers were greatly
mortified because they were caught napping, and Farragut, to retrieve
himself, took his squadron down past the batteries that night, hoping
to destroy the _Arkansas_ as he passed, but he failed because she was
safely moored. Two days later Farragut and part of his ships went to
New Orleans, and the handful of Union troops that had been on the point
opposite Vicksburg went to Baton Rouge.
On October 5th Breckenridge attacked the Union forces at Baton Rouge,
and the _Arkansas_ went there to help. The Union ironclad _Essex_,
Capt. William Porter, with four other gunboats, were below Vicksburg at
the time, three of the others being of Farragut’s fleet. The _Katahdin_
and _Kineo_ were able to give the Union army a good support in a fight
against superior numbers. The _Arkansas_, while trying to come to the
aid of Breckenridge, broke down and ran ashore. While she lay in the
mud the _Essex_ came up looking for her, and as she could not be moved
her crew set her on fire and escaped. She was of the usual form of
the river ironclads, and was armored with railroad iron. The design and
the material were good for that day, but she was doomed to defeat by
her builders before she was launched.
[Illustration:
_Queen of the West._
_Taylor._
_Carondelet._
_Arkansas._
Battle between the _Carondelet_ and the _Arkansas_.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration:
_Arkansas._
_Carondelet._
Battle between the _Arkansas_ and the _Carondelet_.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
On October 1, 1862, the Mississippi squadron was transferred to the
Navy Department, and David D. Porter was promoted and placed in charge.
A lot of light-draft steamers clad with half-inch or better iron were
added to the squadron and were armed with howitzers. They were called
tin-clads, and were of service in carrying transports, and for light
work generally.
[Illustration: Destruction of the _Arkansas_ near Baton Rouge, August
4, 1862.
_From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives._]
Another addition to the squadron was a class of heavy boats with their
wheels well aft and rectangular casemates forward. They carried some
eleven-inch Dahlgrens, and were plated with two and three-inch iron,
one carrying as much as six inches on the casemate. But they were built
in actual war-time, so the builders took advantage of the haste to
rob the nation by scamping the work, and the engines were constantly
breaking down.
In November the first of a series of moves against Vicksburg was made
by the way of the Yazoo River country. The swamps of the Yazoo had
served to keep the Federal forces from turning the north end of the
Confederate defences along the Vicksburg side of the river, and an
expedition was sent across through the bayous, leaving the Mississippi
near Helena, and entering the head-waters of the Yazoo. It failed
utterly, and the gunboat _Cairo_ was destroyed by torpedoes made of
whiskey demijohns.
[Illustration: David D. Porter.
_From a photograph._]
Then, in January, 1863, a naval force was sent to help the army
capture Arkansas Post, fifty miles up the Arkansas River. The _De Kalb_
(former _St. Louis_), the _Louisville_, and the _Cincinnati_, and all
the tin-clads were in the expedition, and on January 9th and 10th they
shot the forts to pieces, and disabled all the guns, seventeen in
number, including two nine-inch Dahlgrens that had come all the way
from the Norfolk Navy Yard. The white flag was raised before the army
could make an assault.
General Grant arrived opposite Vicksburg on January 30, 1863, and the
plan of attacking Vicksburg by turning the river line on the south was
adopted, and that succeeded some months later. Meantime Porter, to
control the river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, sent Col. Charles
R. Ellet, with his ram, _Queen of the West_, down past the Vicksburg
batteries. Owing to trouble with her steering gear, she did not get off
till daylight on February 2d; but the Ellets were the most recklessly
brave family known to the Mississippi. The colonel started in the face
of fire, rammed and set fire to a Confederate steamer at the Vicksburg
wharf, and passed on without losing a man.
A small ferryboat, called the _De Soto_, was added to Ellet’s command
when below Vicksburg, and then Porter sent down the _Indianola_, one
of the newest armored boats. That seemed to give the Union forces full
sway as far as Port Hudson; but within a week Ellet attacked a fort
near Gordon’s Landing, on the Red River, got his ship aground, and had
to abandon her. He retreated in the _De Soto_ until a prize they had
captured was reached, when the _De Soto_ was burned, and in the prize
(a steamer called the _Era_) they reached the _Indianola_. But the
Confederates were still after them, using the abandoned _Queen of the
West_ and one of the original Confederate rams, called the _Webb_, with
a couple of ordinary river steamers, the whole fleet being protected
with cotton. The _Indianola_ tried to escape up the river, but the rams
being swifter, chose their own time, and rammed her to death on the
night of the 24th. The Confederates once more held the river.
A curious thing then happened. The _Indianola_ was sunk on the easterly
bank, not far below Vicksburg. A Confederate force set to work to raise
and repair her. They were getting on well, when, early on the morning
of the 26th, a Federal gunboat was reported coming down the river.
There was a most furious cannonading at the Vicksburg batteries, and
the four steamers that had so gallantly captured the _Indianola_ at
once fled militia-fashion. A lieutenant with a hundred men was left
on the wreck (she was awash and near shore); but when he saw what a
fearsome aspect the coming monster had, he set the _Indianola’s_
two big guns muzzle to muzzle, fired them to destroy them, and then
fled. The story of these doings made the government forces laugh and
the Confederates curse for many a day after that, for the so-called
gunboat was a dummy in the form of a monitor, sent adrift for a lark by
Porter’s men.
[Illustration: Admiral Farragut Passing Port Hudson.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration: The U. S. Flotilla Passing the Vicksburg Batteries.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
On the whole, however, the Confederates were plainly having the best of
the contest, and Farragut came up from the Gulf to see about matters.
He had himself had both good and bad fortune in the Gulf. A number of
Texas ports, including Galveston and Corpus Christi, were captured,
but Galveston was retaken by the Confederates, who attacked it with a
combined land and marine force, the ships being cotton-clads. The Union
navy had the _Westfield_ destroyed, and the _Harriet Lane_ captured,
after both her captain and executive officer were killed. And a little
later the famous _Alabama_ appeared at night off Galveston. An armed
merchant steamer was sent to inspect her, and the _Alabama_ opened fire
and sank her, escaping before the other blockading steamer could come
out to assist.
So Farragut was in a state of mind to take risks, and he ran his
squadron past the works at Port Hudson on the 14th of March, 1863,
where nineteen heavy guns were mounted. It was a dangerous place
naturally on account of the currents in the stream and the shoals.
Seven vessels, including the _Hartford_, tried the passage. The
_Hartford_, with the gunboat _Albatross_ alongside, led the procession.
The _Monongahela_, with the _Kineo_ alongside, were next, with the
_Richmond_ and _Genesee_ following, and the _Mississippi_ alone in the
rear.
The _Hartford_ with her consort got past the batteries after some
little trouble. The _Richmond_ was disabled by a shot, and with her
consort’s aid turned back. The _Monongahela_ and consort both grounded,
but the _Monongahela_ passed on, while the _Mississippi_ grounded so
hard that she was fired and abandoned. It was a pretty serious affair
for the government force, but the Red River was blockaded, and it was
not opened for traffic until the end of the war. When two of the Ellet
rams were sent down past Vicksburg to increase Farragut’s force above
Port Hudson, one, the _Lancaster_, was sunk, and the other got through.
Both were commanded by the indomitable Ellet boys.
[Illustration:
Confederate Forts.
_Benton._
_Tuscumbia._
_Pittsburg._
_Lafayette._
_Louisville._
_St. Louis._
_Carondelet._
Battle of Grand Gulf--First Position.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
Near the end of February, while Farragut held the river between Port
Hudson and Vicksburg, Porter tried to get in behind Vicksburg by the
way of the Yazoo swamps once more. He took a different route from that
of the first expedition, but he could not drive the tin-clads over
the willows, and the Confederates cut trees across the bayous both
in front of and behind his steamers until he was well-nigh lost. And
at the last he found his way blocked by the hulk of the _Star of the
West_, the steamer at which the first shot of the war was fired--the
shot that turned her back when she was carrying supplies to Fort
Sumter. After the Sumter event she had gone to New Orleans, was there
taken forcibly by the Confederates, and ended her existence as a
barrier hulk in a Yazoo bayou.
This expedition having failed, Grant determined to go down the westerly
bank of the Mississippi to New Carthage, and then cross and surround
Vicksburg. On the night of April 16, 1863, Porter took the following
vessels down past Vicksburg to cover Grant when crossing: The flagship
_Benton_, sixteen guns, Lieut.-commander James A. Greer, leading, and
the other vessels in the following order: _Lafayette_, eight guns,
Capt. Henry Walke; _Louisville_, twelve guns, Lieut.-commander Elias K.
Owen; _Mound City_, fourteen guns, Lieut. Byron Wilson; _Pittsburg_,
thirteen guns, Lieut. W. R. Hoel; _Carondelet_, eleven guns, Lieut.
J. McLeod Murphy; _Tuscumbia_, five guns, Lieut.-commander James W.
Shirk. The _Lafayette_ carried with her, lashed to the other side of
her coal barge, the ram _General Price_, Lieut. S. E. Woodworth, which
had continued in the service after being taken from the Confederates
at Memphis. After the _Carondelet_, between her and the _Tuscumbia_,
came three army transports, the _Silver Wave_, _Henry Clay_, and
_Forest Queen_, unprotected except by bales of hay and cotton round the
boilers. They carried stores, but no troops.
The armed vessels were repeatedly hulled, but were in no way disabled.
One transport, the _Henry Clay_, caught fire and sank. On the 22d of
April a number of transports ran the batteries, and on the 29th, the
plans having been changed somewhat, the squadron attacked the works
at Grand Gulf. Here there were four of the best rifled cannon of the
day, two eight-inch smooth-bores, two old thirty-twos, and some light
guns--a battery of not a fourth of the power of the fleet, but it was
seventy-five feet above the water, and the fleet pounded it all day and
accomplished nothing. They lost eighteen killed and fifty-six wounded
at that.
However, the work of carrying the army across the river at Bruinsburg,
below Grand Gulf, began next day. This was on April 30th. On that day
the gunboats left above Vicksburg made such a determined attack on
the works there that no reinforcements were sent down to Grand Gulf.
Having carried the Union army over at Bruinsburg, Porter, on
May 3d, attacked the works at Grand Gulf and found them evacuated.
Then Grant made Grand Gulf his base of supplies, and the surrounding
of Vicksburg was accomplished by May 21, 1863. From that time on a
steady advance was made by the army, and the flotilla supported every
movement by shelling the river batteries. There was no great conflict
on the part of the navy, but the help of the ships in keeping open the
water route for supplies and in covering the movements of the army was
fully appreciated by General Grant and by the whole nation. The writer
hereof, who was a lad in the backwoods of Ohio at the time, remembers
that when, on the afternoon of the 4th day of July, the people of the
village where he lived, half crazy with joy over the news, were piling
up dry rails fifty feet high for a bonfire to celebrate the fall of
Vicksburg, the name of Porter was frequently mentioned by the shouting
crowd, with that of Grant, although the people there didn’t know a
warship from a coal barge.
[Illustration:
_Benton._
Fort.
_Tuscumbia._
_Carondelet._
_Mound City._
_Lafayette._
Lower Forts.
Battle of Grand Gulf--Second Position.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration:
Confederate Batteries.
_Pittsburg._
_Louisville._
_Lafayette._
_Mound City._
_Carondelet._
Battle of Grand Gulf--Third Position.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration: Admiral Porter on Deck of Flagship at Grand Écore, La.
_From a photograph._]
Meantime, while Grant was before Vicksburg the French troops were in
Mexico, and on June 10, 1863, they entered Mexico City, the capital.
The French Emperor, Napoleon III, had shown an unfriendly disposition
toward the United States, and, as already intimated, had been trying,
through his diplomatic agents, to get Texas to secede from the
Confederacy and establish an independent government. The operations
of the French led the Administration at Washington to send General
Banks on an expedition that had Shreveport, on the Red River, near the
boundary between Louisiana and Texas, and about 400 miles from the
Mississippi River, for its destination. It may be briefly said that the
expedition won some battles and accomplished nothing. Admiral Porter,
with the following vessels, accompanied the expedition:
_Essex_, Commander Robert Townsend; _Eastport_, Lieut.-commander S. L.
Phelps; _Black Hawk_, Lieut-commander K. R. Breese; _Lafayette_,
Lieut.-commander J. P. Foster; _Benton_, Lieut.-commander J. A.
Greer; _Louisville_, Lieut.-commander E. K. Owen; _Carondelet_,
Lieut.-commander J. G. Mitchell; _Osage_, Lieut.-commander T. O.
Selfredge; _Ouachita_, Lieut.-commander Byron Wilson; _Lexington_,
Lieut. G. M. Bache; _Chillicothe_, Lieut. S. P. Couthouy; _Pittsburg_,
Lieut. W. R. Hoel; _Mound City_, Lieut A. R. Langthorne; _Neosho_,
Lieut. Samuel Howard; _Ozark_, Lieut. G. W. Browne; _Fort Hindman_,
Lieut. John Pearce; _Cricket_, Master H. H. Gorringe; _Gazelle_, Master
Charles Thatcher.
[Illustration: U. S. Ram _Lafayette_.
_From a photograph._]
[Illustration: U. S. Gunboat _Fort Hindman_.
_From a photograph._]
It was on March 12, 1863, that Porter’s command started up Red River.
The advanced vessels of the fleet reached Alexandria on the 15th, and
all the fleet was there on the 16th. It was an easy voyage so far, but
above Alexandria were (and are) two rapids not to be passed during low
water, and in the spring of 1863 the water was exceptionally low.
However, the _Eastport_, _Mound City_, _Carondelet_, _Pittsburg_,
_Louisville_, _Chillicothe_, _Ozark_, _Neosho_, _Lexington_, and
_Hindman_ were dragged over with some thirty transports. These went
up the river and rendered considerable aid to the army, but the real
interest in the expedition lies in the backwoods scheme by which the
whole squadron above the falls was saved from destruction.
[Illustration: Joseph Bailey.
_From a photograph._]
Instead of finding high water at the season when it was naturally
expected, the river fell, and ten gunboats and two tugs were left
helpless above the falls. Nevertheless, help came when Lieut.-col.
Joseph Bailey, of the Fourth Wisconsin Volunteers, saw the situation.
Bailey was a log-driver, and knew how to lift a jam over any kind of
rifts or obstructions. Nearly everybody who heard of his plan, doubted
and many jeered at the idea; “but Bailey had the faith that moves
mountains.” Moreover, there were right at hand two regiments of men
from Maine--nearly 2,000 men, of whom Jeremiah O’Brien, who captured
the _Margaretta_, would have been proud.
The rifts were a mile long, and at a point below them the high banks
were 758 feet apart. The water between the high banks was deep enough
to float any gunboat, but not too deep for building a dam. Bailey said
he would build a dam there that would flood the rifts to navigating
depth, and he did it. The men from Maine swung their axes in the forest
near by, and the teamsters hauled the cut trees, branches and all, and
dumped them into the water. Here other Maine men piled the trees up
with their butts down-stream, cross-tied with logs and their branches
interlacing above. Similar dams can be seen in any of the logging
regions of the United States in these days. This dam extended from the
north bank, a little more than half-way across the stream. From the
south bank, for lack of trees, a crib dam--cribs of logs filled with
stone--was built. When the opening between the ends of these dams was
small enough--when it was but 150 feet wide--it was filled with four
coal barges that were loaded with brick and sunk there.
[Illustration: Red River Dam.
_From “The Navy in the Civil War.”_]
Astonishing as it seems to one who has seen such dams built, Bailey
and his men from Maine had completed the dam in eight days, deepening
the water on the rifts by more than six feet--the water was deep enough
on the rifts for the _Osage_, the _Neosho_, and _Hindman_ to pass down
and anchor in the still water between the foot of the rifts and the dam.
But just as this success had been attained two of the sunken coal
barges in the centre of the dam were shoved out of line by the weight
of water, and in an instant the backwater above the dam began to pour
through the opening in a mighty torrent.
At that moment the gunboat _Lexington_, with steam up, was at the
head of the rifts, ready to follow the gunboats that had passed down
to safety, while Admiral Porter stood on the bank, overseeing the
operation. One glance at the broken dam showed that the level of the
water must quickly fall, and Porter shouted to the _Lexington_ to go
ahead over the rifts and through the break in the dam to the still
water below. Instantly her pilot rang the bell to start the engines.
Up to this moment the thousands of soldiers who lined the banks had
been shouting and talking to each other, and making a most confused
noise; but when the _Lexington_ entered the growing current on the
rifts a hush fell upon the great throng, until no sound was heard save
the beating of her paddles and the rush of the current as the pilot
drove her straight at the opening. There the current took her from his
hands, lifted her up on the leaping waves, and, rolling her heavily
from side to side, dashed her down into the pool below.
[Illustration: The Fleet Passing the Dam.
_From an engraving._]
The mighty cheer that the great host of spectators raised seems to echo
in the ear to this day as one reads the story of the incident, for the
ship was safe.
The _Neosho_, _Hindman_, and _Osage_ passed through the dam after the
_Lexington_, but there were others still above the rifts, and these
could not pass. But after a while it was found that, even with the
break unrepaired, the dam still raised the water more than five feet,
and so, instead of repairing the break, Bailey built two wing dams on
the rifts above, and these gave the needed depth, and the remainder
of the squadron passed down in safety. Bailey received the thanks of
Congress, and was made a brigadier-general.
And to conclude the story of the Mississippi squadron, we may quote the
words of Mahan in his admirable “Gulf and Inland Waters”: “After the
Red River expedition little is left to say of the operations of the
Mississippi squadron during the rest of the war.”