National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-04-26

of the Capital He cast in his lot with the Union
lists of the South; with Winslow and Carter anC
Nelson and Anderson and Thomas and Candy anC
Percival Drayton, and many another, both in thu
army and navy, whose names time would fail mt
to tell, who gave up all even hope ITSELF to thei
country, and counted 1t gain-unselfsh devotee
to a cause they esteemed without parallel among
things below. FarragutS life-work had now be-
gun; everything hitherto had been preparatory
Fifty years of naval service rallied to maintain tht
national existence. At the outset of the contest
the Capital was, naturally, the first point 10 be at
tackled and the point at all hazards to be defended
The effect of its loss would have been incacuiable
both upon the popular resolution and upon foreign
opinion. To this point the attention of the cOun-
try, especially in the North and East, and Of
Europe, was principally directed This gave tC
the campaign in the East an all absorbing interest
and the public were less attentive to the Titanic
operations in the West and Southwest. One of the
earliest
DISPLAYS OF CONFEDERATE STRATEGY
the closing of the Mississippi from Cairo to the
mouth thus, at the first, admOnshing the people
of the Northwest how great would be the incon-
venience of having any part of the central high
way to the Gulf under the control of a rival gov
eminent. If they were alarmed, they were also
Indignant, and resisted with amazing energy this
interference with one of their most valued rights
1t Is noteworthy that he who afteIward became the
great soldier of the war should. from the begin
ming, have conducted the military operations en-
plOyed in reopening the mighty stream. The clear
ing out of the Cumberland far up Nashville,
and of the Tennessee to the Muscle Shoals the first
winter of the war, formed a part of the
campaign which reduced Belmont, Column
bus, Hickman, Island No. 10, and other
distractions quite down to Memphis. Mean
while movement was organized of which
New Orleans was the objective, and Farragut Sc
ected by the Secretary of the Navy to take charge
oft. After furnishing him with all the force he
| considered necessary, he reminded him in his
order that the department aud the country re-
qaired of him success" and success was ex-
planned TO mean the certain capture of the city
of New Orleans" This was by far the most pop
ulous and commercially, if not politically the most
important city in the whole confederacy. Just
| before the it had the largest export trade of
any city in the country, perhaps in the world. In
the last war with Great Britain, while the defense
of this city by General Jackson on
| THE PLAINS OF CHALNETTE
| had crowned our arms with honor and filed the
Nation with joy. it had also attracted the attention
ofthe Engineer Bureau to the works necessary for
| its protection. These had been recently strength
ened, and additional batteries had been con-
structed. A considerable fleet of vessels had been
collected auxiliary, some of them of novel con-
! structiOn, and supposed to be very powerful
| Every conceivable method of attack had been an
| ticipated. But it is always the unexpected which
| is not provided for. To break through the OBJ
structions, pass between the two forts, Jackson
aud st. Philip, suppress the hostile fleet steam up
to the city and demand its surrender was the end
| to be achieved For its accomplishment Farragut
| had a feet of fifty vessels, carrying over 200
guns-far the most powerful naval expedition
that had ever sailed under the flag. General But
Ter was ready to cooperate with military force
| of 1900 men. We all know, historically, that
after feat in naval warfare which had no prece-
dent parallel, the great mariner, the 18th of
April, 1862, nineteen years ago this day. from his
flagship, the Hartford, at anchor off the CITY, die
tated the terms of surrender to the municipal au-
thOrities, restoring the chief Southern port to its
national allegiance and opening it once more to
the trade of the world. The country felt instinct
| lively that
SIGNAL VICTORY
had been gained for the cause of the Union: but
how or at what cost was not clear. Farragut had
not taken the press into his confidence; no re-
porters were there to throw giamOr around even
ordinary maneuvreS. Perfect silence is TO be
Observed was the injunction under which he had
sailed The spectators were all actors and too busy
to observe, and the rhetoric of the seaman is
usually brief and unadorned. But even now the
imagination kindles at the details of the combat
recited under the conStraint of official reports.
Among all the battle scenes familiar from child
hood, on the water and ON the land or in the
realm of fancy. know OF none more awfully pic
turesque. 1t is Homeric, 3IiltOnic. The time is
the darkest hour of the night, made more opaque
by the smoke from hundreds of guns, whose flashes
were the momentary illumination; friends from
foes difficult to distinguish powerful current
to stem, with imperfect pilotage; vessels aground
exposed to the encmys hottest fire. vessels losing
their Roadway and turning down stream; barrier
chains bombs, rams, and fire RATS; vessels ablaze
and vessels cut sheer to the waters edge vessels
wholly disappearing with all on board. going
down in the spirit of the old nautical refrain
The ship shall be coffin,
Our grave shall be the sea.
Amid the uproar and carnage the directing genius
of the battle remained lfpoised and confident
Flag Lieutenant Watson remarks that during
critical period in the fight he stood coolIy giving
his orders, watching the ship slowly turn, refer
ring occasionally to little compass which was at
tached to his watch ehain, though most of the
time during the engagement he was forward, OBJ
serving the conflict" 1t was the triumph of mind
over matter-of the mental and moral powers over
the forces of nature-a subject that great artists
love to treat.
THIS WILD, EyENTFCL NARRATIVE,
derives additional fascination from the recurrence
of names familiar to US by years of social or official
intercourse. The effect of the capture of New Or
leans was most marked; less am inclined to |
think in what, at that time termed the loyal
States, than in the confederacy and in Europe |
The language held at Richmond reads now like |
the rawlings ofe mad house. 1t was declared and |
suppose, with good reason believed, that but for
the loss of New Orleans the cOnfede-acy would |
soon have been recognized by both England and |
France. For the Union officers and soldiers there
no invective too bitter. Against the generalin
command especially presidential proclamation Of |
outlawry was issued, and, far as 1 know, has |
never been recalled. The condition of things in \
the city on the arrival of the feet may be given in
the Admiral's own words: "The levee of New Or
leans was onescene of desolatiOn. Ships steamers,
cotton, coal, &C., were all in one common blaze" |
&" Such vandalism 1 never witnessed as the de- |
struction of property" 81 am here among my !
relatives, and yet no one has dared to say, 4 am
happy to you. There is reign of terror in this
doomed city" For several days he devoted him |
self to the restoration Ofthe authority of the United
States and the establishment of public order: then
leaving the place to the effective
ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL BUTLER,
and acting under the orders of the Navy Depart |
ment, he passed on up the river to complete the
labor of reopenng it. This proved TO be a trouble
some and pro+racted undertaking. For more than
a year the navy, under Farragut and Porter and
the army, under Grant and Sherman, the first four
names of the war, ro-operated until the fall of
July 1863 and of Port Hudson few
days afterward. The mighty Mississippi was now
from the mouth to the source and
the war in that part Of the field virtually closed
The year 1864 witnessed the operations which re-
suited in the reduction of Mobile. Both Farragut
and Porter eoncurred in the opinion that Mobile !
should be attacked directly after the fall
Of New Orleans. At that time it was
believed the task would be comparatively easy.
Porter,s language was, Mobile would fall to us
ike mellow pear" but the President of the
United States thought the political Importance of
he river much greater than that of the Gulf CITY