“ITASCA.” *' 088) PEE•”	“CHICKASAW." “TENNESSEE.”	FORT MORGAN.
THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY.
From a war-time sketch.
of the entire fleet, and at last the concentration of solid shot from so many guns "began to tell. The flag-staff was shot away, the smoke-stack was riddled with holes and finally disappeared. The monitor Chickasaw, Lieutenant-Commander Perkins, succeeded in coming up astern, and began pounding away with 11-inch solid shot, and one shot from a 15-ineh gun of the Manhattan crushed into the side sufficiently to prove that a few more such shots would have made the casement untenable. Finally, one of the Chickasaw’s shots cut the rudder-chain of the ram, and she would no longer mind her helm.
COMMANDEE J. D. JOHNSTON, C. 8. N.
Of the ram "Tennessee.”
haste some of the sailors cut the “falls,” and two of the cutters dropped into the water wrong side up, andfloated astern. But the admiral spranginto starboard mizzen-rigging, looked over the side of the ship, and, finding there were still a few inches to spare above the water’s edge, instantly ordered the ship ahead again at full speed, after the ram. The unfortunate Lackawanna, which had struck the ram a second blow, was making for her once more, and, singularly enough, again came up on our starboard side, and another collision seemed imminent. And now the admiral became a trifle excited. He had no idea of whipping the rebels to be himself sunk by a friend, nor did he realize at the moment that the Hartford was as much to blame as the Lackawanna. Turning to the writ er he inquired. ‘ ‘ Can you say1 For G-od’s sake ’ by signal ? ” “Yes, sir,” was the reply. “ Then say to the Lackawanna, ‘ For God’s sake get out of our way and anchor!’” In my haste to send the message, I brought the end of my signal flag-staff down with considerable violence upon the head of the admiral, who was standing nearer than I thought, causing him to wince perceptibly. It was a hasty message, for the fault was equally divided, each ship being too eager to reach the enemy, and it turn ed out all right, by a fortunate accident, that Captain Marchand never received it. The army signal-officer on the Lackawanna, Lieutenant Myron Adams (now pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Rochester, N. Y.), had taken his station in the foretop, and just as he received the first five words, “ For
God’s sake get out” ----the wind flirted the large
United States flag at the mast-head around him, so that he was unable to read the conclusion of the message.
The remainder of the story is soon told. As the Tennessee left the Hartford she became the target
passed. The Hartford poured her whole port broadside against the ram, but the solid shot merely dented the side and bounded into the air. The ram tried to return the salute, but owing to defective primers only one gun was discharged. This sent a shell through the berth-deck, killing five men and wounding eight. The muzzle of the gun was so close to the Hartford that the powder blackened her sides.
The admiral stood on the quarter-deck when the vessels came together, and as he saw the result he jumped on the port-quarter-rail, holding to the mizzen-rigging, a position from which he might have jumped to the deck of the ram as she passed. Seeing him in this position, and fearing for his safety, Flag-Lieutenant Watson slipped a rope around him and secured it to the rigging, so that during the fight the admiral was twice “ lashed to the rigging,” each time by devoted officers who knew better than to consult him before acting. Fleet-Captain Drayton had hurried to the bow of the Hartford as the collision was seen to be inevitable, and expressed keen satisfaction when the ram avoided a direct blow.
The Tennessee now became the target for the whole fleet, all the vessels of which were making toward her, pounding her with shot, and trying to run her down. As the Hartford turned to make for her again, we ran in front of the Lackawanna, which had already turned and was moving under full headway with the same object. She struck us on our starboard side, amidships, crushing halfway through, knocking two port-holes into one, upsetting one of the Dahlgren guns, and creating general consternation. For a time it was thought that we must sink, and the cry rang out over the deck: “Save the admiral! Save the admiral!” The port boats were ordered lowered, and in their
assailant. The other vessels of the fleet were unable to do anything for the defense of the admiral except to train their guns on the ram, on which as yet they had not the slightest effect.
It was a thrilling moment for the fleet, for it was evident that if the ram could strike the Hartford the latter must sink. But for the two vessels to strike fairly,bows on, would probably have involved the destruction of both, for the ram must have penetrated so far into the wooden ship that as the Hartford filled and sank she would have carried the ram under water. Whether for this reason or for some other, as the two vessels came together, the Tennessee slightly changed her course, the port bow of the Hartford met the port bow of the ram, and the ships grated against each other as they
BRIGADIER-GENERAL RICHARD L. PAGE, C. S. A.
Commanding at Fort Morgan.