, 1862-05-14
THE BATTLE OF THE FORTS.
Incidents OF the NaFa1 Fight on the
l7tssteslpPt-0ur Chain-PIatod Ves-

8E1B3
The official reports Of Commodore Porter
and others, have told the whole story of the
battle Of the forts st the mouth of tile Mis-
sif5ippi; but the following Incidents Of the
fight, from tho correspondence Of the Boston
.E17t477al, are interesting:
]; GETTING TIE CHAIN ACROSS TIE RIVER.
On sunday night the gunboats Pinola and
tain Bell, to cut the chain TIC Pin
ola ran in the west bank, and after striking
Bunken wreck she succeeded In reaching ono
Of the hu1ks, to which NJ. Kroehl, the expsr-
imeuter attached q heavy ,petard. The
| the steamer was coiled up On deck, but the
current ran SO strong, and tie Pinola drifted
| 50 rapidly, that the wire WAS broken and the
| attempt failed. In the meantime the Itasca
| ran up to one Of the hu1ks on the east side of
| aud Amos johnson, with eight men, boarded
| the schooner, and ID half an hour succeeded
III unshackling the chain from the ,noorings
ard dropping it down
TIE following letter from Captain Cildwel1,
| Of the Hasca gives an account Of the affair;
:sThc operator on board the Pinol.
did not succeed in blowiag up the chain, as the
connecting wire broke and the Vessel cuuid not be
blown up. as the current pressed the PinoIa upon
her With such force that It took half an hout to
anJ in half an hour slipped the chains, but unfur-
tunatey, before she could get well elsar the euE-
MG hisg Ii The naseas fofcfoot Into i the 4 mud. md
~hhre che remained sa nearly txo hours
Pinola parted two ttnch hawsers III trying to pull
her of, hut a. last started her with an l1lach daw
mas eayn she
agc for the iieet- On E, dnesday light, ':apsatn
C3law ell, with Acting Master Jones aud eleven Of
DARK to make final reconnaissance OF tho schoon-
| err. They pulled up aud sounded round the
schoone5g en the vet .t bank H. and then crossed
east bank. They found the channel more than
sufficiently vice and entirely unobsttucted.
"Tbe rebels had lighted 3 fire On the east bank
to e1poee everything attempting to pass up; but
the boat, with unified oars parsed safely up, and
| made all their observations unobscrved, although
b. II ihe men calling and talking verJ loudly
about somo business they we've carrylrg on oat
Fiue The fort, The best 1hen rctus9ad aad made
| number, two white and one rcd lanterns. Till
WAS pfeeoncerted efgoal With the Flag Officer, in
fag ship ho1sted another prcconcerted signal, twe
red lanterns. This was to: get under weigh, pre-
pare 1oI battle, and pass up t6s river. Within i've
hi md Brilliant fests that s7eF 6onofed sny nsvy
t and made the glorious passage OF the river"
cHAm-cIAD sLooPs-oF-wAk.
The most conspicuous feature In the out
ward appearance of the fleet was the iron
, | linked mail of the sloops ~of-WaF Richmond
Brooklyn and Pensacola, each of which ha,
|. their engines and boilers protected By chain
to ice-bolts and rods running fore and ait
1.-The chains .Mere. dropped from til
height: Of the gun-deck to below th
r. water line, and connected together BY stronl
: cordage. This was equivalent TO four inc
: plates, provided it #ithstood the effect Q
| pIarcfTr nr nf,}i1ue kh0tK
4 The only danger apprehended from the chain
! On the steamers Nas from rakluG shot teasin
o them Of, In which :case 1t was feared the
u would become entangled With the propellera
y To guard against this, some OF the ships u1
+ shackled the chain in short lengths, 80 taat
T. might reach astern. TIE machinery OF Il,
10. Iroquo,s was protected In the same way, th
T. credit Of originating which plan is due 70 al
;, sistant Engineer Hoyt Of the Richmond, upo
u which ship it was 1rst adopted, the other fe
la sels following her example.
Among the most efficient Of the Intern
arrangements for Fhe protection Of the boiler
destruction Of which by shot or she'll y.
the moet to be dreaded, although this ri
+. not the only dHngerous part Of the ship
ie was that adopted On board tho sloop Of y
more above the water line, Was consequent
more exposed to the ire Of the euem,
The Of this ship for Il
action involved sn immense amount
st fAbGr, which engaged her oEnccfB and cr5
ge for weeks before the attack. Under the dire
Id tinn OF Chief Engineer Lawton, Mr. Blrtl
IN man, the First Assistant, worked night at
a day With strong force. and constructed
ae temporary roof in the coal bunkets just belo
the wateF 1Ine, about which the heaTy cha
ad cables Of the ship were packed in Layers, ru
at ming fore and AFT The ends of the shaft
ey The mississippi we're protected By fonr bal
ar of bsgEiug on the outside Of each .whes
II The Bows Of several Of the ships, inc1u
IN ing the Richmond and Hartford, we
70 protected By sandbags piled up benes
ut the forecaatle, and intended to be remcv
. oft to break the force Of 1aking shot aft
In the ships should hare passed the forts
On alluded In former letter to the log psc
1t. ing Of tho boilers Of the guuboat 0wase
id The bu1kheads Of other gunboats HE
al strengthened In like manner, aud also by "a
OF bags, and the coal hunkera OF all being ke
K, t full, Lupplied the want of extra barriers
I'd shot and she'll From the moment the slot
'p4 of-war Portsmouth. arrived in the liver, /
m officers and crew were engaged in putting
en- ship In fighting trim Sic wore mail, Ct
Ire strueted Of her sheet chains for the protecti
cir Of her bow sgainss Taking ti1e, and sprea.
: complete epaT netting Of strong ropes to ?
n vent her lofty spars, cut away by cannon Bal
X frcm filling on deck.