THE CONFEDERATE CRUISER “SUMTER,” CAPTAIN SEMMES, LEAVING NEW ORLEANS, JUNE 18, 1861.
FLAG-SHIP “HARTFORD” ATTACKED BY A FIRE-RAFT, PUSHED BY THE CONFEDERATE
TUG-BOAT “MOSHER.”
From a sketch made at the time.
ate forts and gun-boats opening together on the head of our line as it came within range. The Union vessels returned the fire as they came up, and soon the guns of our fleet joined in the thunder, which seemed to shake the very earth. A lurid glare was thrown over the scene hy the burning rafts, and, as the bomb-shells crossed each other and exploded in the air, it seemed as if a battle were taking place in the heavens as well as on the earth. It all ended as suddenly as it had commenced. In one hour and ten minutes after the vessels of the fleet had weighed anchor, the affair was virtually over, and Farragut was pushing on toward New Orleans, where he was soon to crush the last hope of Rebellion in that quarter by opening the way for the advance of the Union army.
From what I had seen of the conflict I did not greatly fear for the safety of our ships. Now and then a wreck came floating by, all charred and disabled, but I noted that these were side-wheel vessels, and none of ours.
I must refer here to a gallant affair which took place between the Mississippi and the ram Manassas. The latter vessel proved the most troublesome of the Confederate fleet. She had rammed the Brooklyn and the Mississippi at different times during the action.
At early daylight, as the vessels approached the quarantine above the forts, the Manassas was seen coming up the river as rapidly as her steam would allow.
As she approached the fleet, Flag-Officer Far-ragut directed Commander Smith in the Mississippi to turn and run her down. The order was instantly obeyed by the Mississippi turning and going at the ram at full speed; but when it was expected to see the Manassas annihilated, the vessels being within fifty yards of each other, the ram put her helm hard-a-port, dodged the Mississippi, and ran ashore, where her crew deserted her. Commander Smith set fire to her, and then so riddled her with shot that she was dislodged from the
in the forts been completely demoralized, they would have sunk these two vessels in ten minutes.
While these events were taking place, the mortar-steamers had driven the men from the water-batteries and had kept up a steady fire on the walls of Fort Jackson. Although at first sight my position in front of these batteries, which mounted six of the heaviest guns in the Confederate works (110-ineh and 2 8-inch Columbiads, 1 10-inch sea-coast mortar, and 2 rifled 32-pounders), seemed a very perilous one, it was not at all so. I ran the steamers close alongside of the levee just below the water-batteries, and thus protected their hulls below the firing-decks. I got in my first broadside just as the middle of Bailey’s column was opened upon by Fort Jackson. The enemy responded quickly, but our fire was so rapid and accurate that in ten minutes the water-battery was deserted. I had 25 8-inch and 32-pounders on one side and 2 11-ineh pivot-guns. During the remainder of the action I devoted most of my attention to the battlements of the main fort, firing an occasional shot at the water-battery. The Harriet Lane had two men killed, but the only damage done to the vessels was to their masts and rigging, their hulls having been well protected by the levees.
While engaged on this duty I had an excellent opportunity of witnessing the movements of Farragut’s fleet, and, by the aid of powerful night-glasses, I could almost distinguish persons on the vessels. The whole scene looked like a beautiful panorama. From almost perfect silence—the steamers moving slowly through the water like phantom ships — one incessant roar of heavy cannon commenced, the Confeder-
tanee of twenty yards, and drifted out of action in flames. Notwithstanding the heavy fire which the Brooklyn had gone through, she was only struck seventeen times in the hull. She lost 9 men killed and 26 wounded.
When our large ships had passed the forts, the affair was virtually over. Had they all been near the head of the column, the enemy would have been crushed at once, and the flag-ship would have passed up almost unhurt. As it was, the Hartford was more exposed and imperiled than any of her consorts, and that at a time when, if anything had happened to the commander-in-chief, the fleet would have been thrown into confusion.
The forts had been so thoroughly silenced by the ships’ guns and mortars that when Captain Bell came along in the little Sciota, at the head of the third division, he passed by nearly unharmed. All the other vessels succeeded in getting by, except the Itasca, Lieutenant Caldwell, the Winona, Lieutenant Nichols, and the Kennebec, Lieutenant Russell. The first two vessels, having-kept in line, were caught at daylight below the forts without support, and, as the current was swift and they were slow steamers, they became mere targets for the Confederates, who now turned all that was left of their fighting power upon them. Seeing their helpless condition, I signaled them to retire, which they did after being seriously cut up. The Itasca had a shot through her boiler, and was so completely riddled that her commander was obliged to run her ashore just below the mortar-fleet in order to prevent her sinking. She had received fourteen shot and shell through her hull, but her list of killed and wounded was small. Had not the people
tops, and was in a condition of great peril. The fire department was at once called away, and while the Hartford’s batteries kept up the fight with Fort St. Philip, the flames were extinguished and the vessel backed off the shoal into deep water,— a result due to the coolness of her commander and the good discipline of the officers and men. While the Hartford was in this perilous position, and her entire destruction was threatened, Farragut showed all the qualities of a great commander. He walked up and down the poop as coolly as though on dress-parade, while Commander Wain wright directed the firemen in putting out the flames. At times the fire would rush through the ports and almost drive the men from the guns.
“ Don’t flinch from that fire, boys,” sang out Farragut; “there’s a hotter fire than that for those who don’t do their duty! Give that rascally little tug a shot, and don’t let her go off with a whole coat! ” The Mosher was sunk.
While passing the forts the Hartford was struck thirty-two times in hull and rigging, and had 3 men killed and 10 wounded.
The Brooklyn, Captain Thomas T. Craven, followed as close after the flag-ship as the blinding smoke from guns and fire-rafts would admit, and the garrison of the fort was again driven to cover by the fire of her heavy battery. She passed on with severe punishment, and was immediately attacked by the most powerful vessel in the Confederate fleet, excepting the Louisiana — the ram Manassas, commanded by Lieutenant Warley, a gallant young officer of the old service. The blow that the Manassas struck the Brooklyn did but little apparent injury, and the ram slid off in the dark to seek other prey. (It must be remembered that these scenes were being enacted on a dark night, and in an atmosphere filled with dense smoke, through which our commanders had to grope their way, guided only by the flashes of the guns in the forts and the fitful light of burning vessels and rafts.) The Brooklyn was next attacked by a large steamer, which received her broadside at the dis-
THE MAINTOP OP THE “ IIARTPOK1),’ WITH HOWITZER.
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