The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1885-10-06
FARRAGUT'S FLEET.
PASSING THE CONFEDERATE FORTS
BELOW NEW ORLEANS.
The Famous Fight of April "a, 1863
beginning Of the Hattle-In the
Midst of the Fray-A Terri
BILE Scene.
iChicngo HERALD

| At O'Clock on the morning of April "a a
red light from the Hartfor rs taffrail warned
| the fleet to get under way. Positions in lins
| of battle had been taken the night before
and every ship lay shove snort" to her All
chor. The fleet was formed in two divis-
ions That to follow up the west bank and
| tackle Fort jackson was the Hartford,
Brooklyn, Richmond and four smaller ships.
That to follow the east bank and engage
| Fort St Phillip were the Cayuga, Pensacola
Nj issipr Oneida, lroquois, and three small
gunboats. The three slooIs Hartford, Rich
| mond, and Brooklyn, carried each fifteen
guns in broadside, besides brass pieces in the
| tops.
II was dark night yet stars were shih-
| iny. The great river doomed, for the water
| was high, and piles of DRIFT wool coming
down had kept all look-outs the alert.
The first division, Farragut leading, Rugged
| the west bank close a the Harttord's
p It would permit. The pilot was an old
New Orleans man. He had no politics He
was working for money. He had a little
| cage built W hich let down from the port
fore 'hains-and dropped him just to the
waters edge His idea was to get under the
| smoke. Two midshipnen were stationed to
signal his orders. Farragut and his staff
went forward to the forecastle. Capt. VAIN
| right took the bridge and Lieut. Thornton,
| he of Kearsrage fame afterward, took
| charge OF tine batteries. The two lines
| steamed slowly up. Porter's mortars doubled
their fire The Confederate forts were silent.
There were no sounds save the swish of
the current, the dull thump OF the engines
and the buzz and restlessness Of tho crew.
Farragut stood with his night glass peering
into the darkness ahead. wainwright was
| beside him. Watson, his signal officer, near
as Bailey well up in liner he asked, without
III
| sir" said the signal man softly. All at once
there was flash ahead that lit up the
heavens, and in an instant the whirr whizz
| zeepl of shot came like a summer musquito
| over the Hartford's bow. Farragut re-
moved his glass and said quietly, "Gante
| men, the time has come. Wainright have
your men stand by their guns. Pilot
Ito the man over the sde) do you soc
that water battery right adeadl Put this
ship as close to it as you can get her BY
| that time the whole Confederate force was
reused. Fort ST. Phillip opened Fort
| jackson turned loose her classmates; the
water battery had its whole twenty guns in
play. Away ahead In the gloom coult be
| seen the preparations of the Confederate
hsst-ths fire RATS beng ignted, the black
smoke skurrying back and forth, and withai
the deadly missiles kissing by sport"
yelled the pilot, "here we are, STRIP Farra-
gut leaned over the side. Cant you get us
any closerP THE Hartford seemed then
within 100 feet of the battery.l Not with.
out danger of grounding"
"All right Port it is. Hard a .portl Now
boys" and the old man waved his glass.
The crew waited for the ship to sheer, and
then came the crash. 1t was the first broad
side that had been fired in that squadron.
1t was deafening; it was almost paralyz ing,
but, like the taste of blood, the stripped
SAILORS wanted more of it. From that houl
smoke enveloped the ship Obeying his
orders, the pilot kept his ship close to the
west shore. BY this time the guns Of Jack
son were all in full play. The smoke was so
dense that from the deck nothing could be
seen but sheet of flames issuing from the
canopy. The fierce hail of iron from the
fort was like the hiss of countless steam
valves. Happily the artillerymen had
poor range, and no most of their fire
was Ineffective. The fleet made little
Or no reply. but steamed ahead Pretty
soon the Hartford, Richmond, and
Brooklyn were all in position to bring their
guns to bear at close range. The orders
were to get rs close as the pilots would allow
and sweep the parapets with grape and can
ester. 1t was hardly five minutes after the
ships batteries had got into this work before
the enemy's fire slaokened. They could not
stand it. The ships passed upward BY this
time all ahead was black and fire famed
The Confederates had set afame dozen fire
RATS and they were coming down with the
current
Here was new danger. The forts were
still firing, but in the dense smoke nobody
could tell where he was A great fire raft,
the flames rising fifty feet came swooping
down on the Hartford. To dodge it the pilot
made an error and the ship went ashore in
ol<,,, IA
an instant the flames had caught the Hart
ford's rigging. Lieut. Thornton's fire
department was perfect. and it re-
sponded even in the face Of such
awful danger. The Hartford's engines
backed and then it was discovered that the
ram Manassas was pushing the fire raft and
holding it against the ships side "Cast
loose that starboard batteryp yelled Farra-
gut Quick, gentlemeni See that RAM
For Gods sakel give it to hinl" The ram
got it The MANASSAS fell off from the raft
the raft slid by the Hartford, and the latter
was free. Capt. Warey, the commander of
the Nana1sas, seeing he was hurt, tried to
make for shore. The Mississippi caught
him, ralninsd him, hammered HIM and then
pushed him INTO the mud. There was no
time TO Stop, or Marley would have been Il
prisoner but he wRs helpless, and it was the
duty of the wooden ships TO get out OF fire.
Once above the range OF fire of ths forts
the ensmy's fleet had to be encountsreu. 1t
was getting almost daylight. The smoke
was drifting away, and looking ahead the
flag officer could SEQ the Confederate gun
boats and cotton-boats aud rams. Tha Fed
eral sunboat Naruna, Capt. Boggs, had al
ready dashed in among them, and, as the
result proved got the worst OF it, for after
half an hours tussle she went down stern
first and lost thirty Of her crew. The
Oneida was also being sore beset when the
heavy ships came up. Farragut, through
his glass, could see at glance where the
trouble lay. The little vessels did not carry
guns enough. He sisnaled the big ships TO
form in '.ine ahead, that is, single tile, aad
take the middle of the channel. Tue Cen
federate fleet was formed in two lines "Man
both si,lesi" lie called to his captain Is the
Hartford's bow ioomed up through the
smoke, and the Richmond Brooklyn and
Mississippi followed. Man both sidesl' was
the signal to the other ships
1t was dreadful. As the line steamed ID
aAd the heavy batteries poured from both
sides into the trail and panic stricken craft
1t seemed like horror dsden destruction. The
big river steamers were all top-hampor
They had cotton bales to protect them, but
the shells from the nine-inch Dahlgrens sent
these flying into mit-air. Two OF the craft
people; the Richmond sheered within twenty
roof and cabin and texas" and smoke pine,
all went by the board On either bank, as
the feet passed up, were the wrecks of the
wretched feet The officers AMI crews had
fed. Grape and canister from the big
ships hal knocked them into match kin,
ding. and all we're eithsr sinking or burn
ing There Was not Ons yess,ol left