The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-10

dous momentum making her to culver like n
leaf, but the small one held her place and up sid
the big one higher and higher, until she pre-
sented her vulnerable parts. when into
her went two eeven-inch shells opening her
iron and breaking in her wood, jamming and
setting her machinery and sending her back into
the water with her death blow. Down came the
Patrick Henry and Jamestown two small rebel
gunboats which made fast to her and tosed her
slowly up the bay into the river, from which she
made two attempts to get out, and failing, sub
sequently committed suicide And so ended the
Merrimac. During the engagement the COM
| mander OF the little craft had been badly
wounded in an eye. Recovering consciousness
and hearing no guns he asked his officers If the
night was over. He was told it was Have we
saved the Minnesota" eyes and whipped the
Merrimac" Thank God! don't care what be-
| comes of me now"
Saved the Minnesota and whipped the Merri-
mac! Think you the work performed on that
! Sabbath morning by John Lorimer Worden with
Ericsson's despiseu derided condemned little
Wonater was all2 No; then and there Worden
| with the Monitor had changed hundred years
of naval history, turned leaf and opened a new
| chapter. In that morning he revolutionzed the
thought and purpose of every navaf power on
earth. More than that, he saved to you your
Union and your Republic, for as sure as that
morning dawned the Merrimac would have gone
to sea- the fleets of England and France would
nave received her, and under their lnstruc-
lions recognized the independence of the South
ern States, had not the Monitor gone sailing
in there that Saturday night just in time to take
her place in the action next day, and won the
first great naval victory of the war
The lecturer described as the second great
| naval battle of the war the taking of forts st.
Phillip and jackson. destroying the rebel fleet
and taking New Orleans All this was done by
Farragut, with six frigates and sixteen gunboats,
which considered at the time Of the
greatest naval achievements the world had ever
known. Many of his best friends advised him
to retire. He had won laurels enough-retlre
and run no chance of marring good fortune.
Not only did he not mar his good fortune by
continuing in service, but far surpassed this
| great achievement in his memorable engage
ment at Mobile bay.
Mobile bay was the great strategic point of the
| rebels. 70 that point came all their foreign
supplies. At last the United States government
decided it must be captured, and gave Admiral
Farragut instructions so to do The attempt
was probably the most desperate ever made by
| a fleet. Two very strong forts, mounting 230
guns. the Tennessee a ram considered invulner-
able. covered with three feet of live oak and ten
| inches of iron, mounting several of the best En-
| naval officer who had always been a rival of
| Farragut This ram was attended by three gun
| boats, heavily armed Added to this. the pass
| age that Farragut must take had been rendered
very narrow and difficult by the driving of piles
! across the mouth of the bay, compelling him to
| go to the very muzzles of the guns of Fort Nor
| gan. Still worse, the narrow channel had been
almost literally paved for four and half miles
with torpedoes, over which he must ride.
This was the task to be undertaken. ALI sum.
mer Farragut had been kept waiting for moni-
tor that was being constructed which was ex-
| pected to be able to cope with the ram. On
Friday. the 9th of August. 1864, at daylight, the
| Admiral moved into action, having two monitors
carrying hfteen-inch guns, two carrying eleven
| inch guns, and fourteen wooden vessels, all ar
ranged IN pairs. The action began at o'clock and
| lasted two hours and forty seven minutes, dur
| ing,which the grand old hero led his invlncbe
fleet into and through that awful passage, losing
| but one vessel and that the monitor Tecumseh
| for which he had waited all summer,
The Tecumseh led, opening the engagement,
| fired half or dozen shots, ran upon a torpedo,
which opened her hull, and just as the first ray
| of the morning broke the curtain of smoke she
| was seen to careen and 90 down, and locked and
| sealed as in a coffin three hundred brave souls
Notwithstanding this loss the Admiral pushed
| boldly on. and when directly underline water bat
terry of Fort Morgan the Brooklyn, in command of
Captain James Alden. who had been assigned
the post of honor because of the torpedo rake he
| had constructed under his bowsprit ran upon a
line of torpedoes which swung him about across
the channel. stopping all the feet and apparently
ending the expedition: This was a
desperate -. moment There hung the
| OF the Hartford, where he had been dashed that
he might not fall to the deck or overheard should
| he be injured.
He Immediately hailed Captain Alden and
| asked the trouble. The reply came back, '"Tor
pedoes under my bow" The old Admiral rang
back his memorable reply, On the torpedoes;
get out of my way or will run you down!" and
| Immediately moved forward, barely passing the
stern of the Brooklyn. The moment she was
passed he let go broadside into the water bat
terry which was followed by a broadside of the
Richmond. Then he gave orders to
waste no more ammunition, but to
60 for the ram and the bay.
| The rebel gunboats Morgan and Gaines. ran on
the beach under the walls of Fort Morgan, and
were soon ablaze The ram followed them and
| dropped anchor. The Selma started for Mobile
city, and Captain Jouet and the Metacomet, the
attendant of the Hartford, cut her hawsers,
| started after the Selma, and with few hundred
| pound PARROT shots soon brought her to-the
| fleet, in the meantime, coming to anchor within
Mobile cav
I The fires had just been lighted to prepare
| breakfast when it was announced that the ram
was coming out Then and there transpired the
most heroic acts Of the rebellion. 1t was when
Admiral Buchanan, in command of the
! ram, came up, in broad daylight single
| handed. to fight three monitors and fourteen
wooden vessels, carrying twenty times his metal
| Admiral Farragut ordered the cables Slipped,
| each vessel to ram and give solid shot as they
| their own seams and knocked holes in their own
sides. The shots rolled off her harmlessly
This had continued for half an hour and the
ram had got into our very midst Her every
brcadside was Kidding US. She was maneuver-
ing to get her bow turned upon our
flagship Farragut, with the Hartford
cut almost to the waterlne by an
other vessel without a moments hesitancy
dove into her, full steam opened the seams of
the Hartford, knocked hole in her side, and
was followed by the Monongahela, which had a
ram Of twenty-five feet of iron and steel. which
she knocked off, Matters were desperate Now
came Captain George Perkins and the double
turreted monitor Chickasaw. and made fast IN