The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-01-17
A CONSIDERABLE ADMIRAL.


Porter always had fatherly care for
and interest in the comfort and salts
faction of those of his comrades who
had suffered by the fortune of war.
He knew that the poor wounded and
helpless heroes languishirg In the
wards of the Red Rover felt keen
sympathy with him and with those he
would like with him in this desperate
undertaking, and he knew that all
eagerly wished to see what might be
seen OF a spectacle which promised to
be one of tremendous import and ex-
element. One day he intimated to DIR.
Pickney that he might take the Rover
down TO the bend above Vickburg to-
ward evening Gust for an aring) and
anchor there for the night. We knew
what that meant. And all the weary
sufferers on board soon knew it, too. 1t
was better than dose of quinine.
There is no tonic like going into action,
or seeing your friend go in.
At sunset we weighed anchor and
stood down the river and took or
chestra seats" as spectators and aud
itors of drama which would be lit by
the lurid blaze of artillery and accom-
panied by the music of its thunder. 1t
was clear and splendid evening, but
as the shades of night closed in the
sky, though starlit, became hay, and
gloom settled over the river, which
rendered almost undistinguishable the
outlines OF its shores. AS the darkness
til ckened l heard the remark often re-
peated among our invalid boarders:
1T is just the night for it..
1t was touching to see wounded
veterans who that morning would have
thought it impossible to leave their
cots, straining their crippled sinews to
Chamber up to the hurricane deck,
where thGS might have the best view of
the scene to be enacted. There was
little conversation on board that even
ing. Anticipation was too busy for
words. We were oppressed with that
sense of expectancy of something I'M
defined and fearful which engrosses the
attention and renders language mute.
The time seemed interminable. We
thought the devoted squadron would
never appear We strained our sight
to pierce the thickening shadows, and
held our breath to listen for the pant
ings of the steam. At last we tired of
Watching and waiting Midnight was
at hand and we began to fancy that
something had caused postponement
of the movement.
SPECTRAL PROCESSION.
Just then some one in the pilot house
exclaimed, in a stage whisper, but
which was heard by all, so intently
silent were we:
"There they comet" We gazed up
the channel and saw the dark form of
the Benton evolve itself out of the in
visible. Like Banquo's line of specters
the others followed There was no
CLEAN OF light, no wreath of vapor, no
pulse of the paddle wheels, and no res
piration of the steam. The long column
swept by us in majestic but horrible
silence. There was weird ghostfiness
about this death-like apparition more
impr ssve and appalling than if it had
shone with the flashes and shivered with
the roar of the grim monsters we
knew were frowning from those dusky
portfolios. l have witnessed wild and
thrilling scenes, but all fade beside the
memory of the awe-inspiring passage
of that spectral procession.
The transports came last, and defined
against the glimmer OF the sky we could
distinguish the outlines of our friends
the pilots, statue-like, at either side of
the naked wheels. Not man aboard
ship but envied them the rapture of the
fierce experience before them. AS the
shadowy squadrol appeared so it van
ished. 1t glided out of the night and
departed into it again. 1t left us
breathless, awe-struck. We rubbed
our eyes and wondered if the vision had
been real. Then there was another
interval of excruciating suspense We
waited anxiously. The last scene was
about to open.
THE THUNDERoUs ERUPTION.
At length we saw a single flash. Then
another and another and another, then
o whole sheet of fame, followed by the
deep crashing thunder of the dread
artillery" The sky lit with the light
of confagration. The enemy, provi-
dent for this event, had filled vacant
buildings with combustibles, and now
fired them to illuminate the river and
give their cannoneers better chance
for aim. But the night was still, and
the deuse smoke of the burning struct-
ures and of the busy batteries hung like
lurid sheet over the surface of the
stream. Everything was enveloped in
vapory veil, through whit h could only
be deserted the quick eruptions CT the
volcano of guns as they hurled their
iron tempest at the passing squadron.
So bewildering was the storm that
the pilot of the Tuscumbia 10 6 his bear
iugs, and finally turned his ship COM
pletely around, heading up the
stream! While in this position, but
without yet suspecting it, her command
er, who was on deck, told me that he
looked up and saw close above him the
upper works of one of the steam trans
ports as she swept by. The pilots,
standing at the naked wheel, doomed
out like gigantic specters! He hailed
them TO know how they were gettip G
on. "All right, by Cd" they shout
ed back, and on they went.
The passing of icksburg took not
many minutes, but they were capacious,
and had good deal crowded into
them. We lost one of the transpol t.