Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-12-17
Farragut Taking Possession of New
Orleans.

Commander kantz contributes to the
Century some of the "Incidents Of the Oc-
cupation of New Orleans, which came un-
der his observation as on officer under
Faragut's command. From the article we
quote. as follows: "a battalion of marines
made part of, our expedition; this was un-
der the command of Captain John L.
Broonie.. We landed at the foot of Canal
street. and proceeded to position in front
Of the Custom House, where the marines
were drawn up in line, with loaded pieces,
and hanked by the howitzers, loaded with
shrapnel. The people made no demonstra-
ton. but looked on in sullen Silence. Cap
tain Bell and"I, with boatswains mate
carrying our ensign, entered the Custom
House, where the postmaster received us
cordially, Semarking: sThank God that you
are here. have been Union man all the
time. I was appointed by Buchanan,
not by: jeff DaXls;@ he only allowed
me to remain The postmaster showed
us. to the Il. roof of the building. where
we found a flag staff with hafliards. The
boatswains mate bent on the Gag and 1
reported all ready, when Captain Bell gave
the order, Hoist awayy and the boatswain's
mate and I put our hands to the halliards,
and swelled on the breeze "A guard with
lieutenant of marines was left IN charge
of the flag at the Custom House, and the
landing party moved on to the City Hall,
the crowd increasing as that small body of
Union men approached the State flag
There the marines were again drawn up in
line, and the howitzers commanded the
streets; thousands of spectators filled the
open spaces. That immense assemblage
had the will to annihilate the small force of
sailors and marines, but they. had begun to
think, and the impression that resistance to
United States authority would invoke the
wrath of the squadron had gone abroad;
still, no one knew but one or two desperate
men were ready to fire the train that would
lead to the magazine. ..4>,
Captain Bell gave Mayor Monroe the
privilege of hauling down the State flag.
but he indignantly declined. Captain Bell
then directed me to go to the Eoof of the
bull ding and haul the flag down, he re-
manning on the top floor at the foot of the.
ladder.
Before We assembled to the roof, the
Mayor informed Captain Bell, in the pres
ence of his officers, that the men who at
tempted to haul down the flag might be
shot by the indignant populace assembled
on the surrounding housetops, and he ex-
pressed his fears in the hope that he would
not beheld responsible for the act, in case it
should be perpetrated. Fortunately for the
peace Of the city of New Orleans, the vast
crowd looked on in sullen silence as the
flag came down. There was no flag hoisted
on the City Hall in place of the State flag,
for the reason that it had not covered
United. States property. The mission of
the landing party having been accom-
| plished, the officers and men returned to
the levee in marching order, where they
took boats for their respective vessels. The
flag ON the Custom House was guarded by
| the marines of the Hartford until the arri-
val of General Butler with his troops.