Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-05-06


AND TIE CONFEDERATE COMMANDER.
Admiral Porter was doing regular quarter
deck walk up and down the floor of his Office
when STAR reporter called this morning to
ask him if he had anything to say in answer to
the direct charge, made by Gen. Ben Butler,
that the admiral had, once upon a time. run
away from his duty
The Boston Herald quotes Gen. Butler as say
ing in an interview that Admiral Porter is the
naval officer to whom he referred in his speech
of New Orleans
He also said: SAT the time the forts were
passed 5y Farragut was following him where
L could see the whole proceeding. I was
well up the river on my headquar-
tiers boat, the Saxon, watching the
progress of the fight. Porter was
in command of the mortar fiotiIla and was Or
dered to lombard the water batteries below
Fort Jackson after Farragut had passed up
Farragut got well by the forts about SUNRISE
and 1t was about O'Clock, or after perhaps
when the incident connected with Porter took
place.
My army was nearly thirty miles down
stream on transports, which were anchored
at the head of the passes About
the time 1 have mentioned my men on
the transports saw Porters whole
fleet rushed down the river pell nell and out to
sea. When Porter rushed by my troops he cried
out, The rebels are coming down the river: get
out OF here as fast as you can He came back
the next day."
WASTE OF GOOD AMMUNITION.
Am l going to reply to Butler? Well,
think i will. 1t seems to me as though it is
waste of good ammunition. but suppose 1 will
have to quiet him. AS 1 have taken the matter
up, l think had better crush him. and don't
know what agency can perform that little Job
more satisfactorily than official documents
How Is this scrap of testimony.
LETTER FROM SECRETARY wELLEs
NAVY DEPARTMENT May 10, 1862.
"SIR: Your dispatch Of April 80, inclosing the
articles OF capitulation of Forts Jackson and
81. Philip, which surrendered on the 2Sth. after
a bombardment of one hundred and forty-four
consecutive hours by the mortar hotilla. has
been received. have also to acknowledge the
receipt of the flags taken in the two forts on
that occasion, including the original one hoisted
on Fort st. Philip when the confederate forces
declared the state of Louisiana to have seeded
from the Union, which have been sent forward
to the department.
The important part which you have borne
III the organization of the mortar fotila. and
the movement on New Orleans. had identified
your name with one of the most brilliant naval
achievements on record; and to your able
assistance with the tiotila is Flag Officer Far
ragut much indebted for the successful results
officers and seamen of the mortar fiotilla the
department extends its congratulations.
Il am, respectfully. GIDEON WEIIEs
Commander David D. Porter. commanding
L. S. Mortar Flotilla, &C., &C."
ADMIRAL FARRAGUr's TESTIMONY
Now, if had been running away how could
the forts have surrendered to me, and is it
likely that the Secretary of the Navy would
have congratulated US if we had been guilty of
cowardice?
After passing the forts Farragut wrote to me
detailing his experiences during the passage,
and some of the events which took place i'm
mediately afterward. In that letter he said:
IF the general (Butler) will come up to the
bayou and land a few men, or many as he
pleases, he will find two of our gunboats there
to protect him from the gunboats that are at
the forts. l wish to get to the English Turn
where they have not placed a battery yet, but
they have two above. nearer New Orleans.
They will not be idle and neither will 1. You
supported us most nobly.
Very truly, yours, d. G. FARRAoUT."
LETTER FROM THE CONFEDERATE COLONEL.
THAT doesn't look as though / was run
ming away, does it? The rebels never charged
me with giving way an inch, and we certainly
should have heard from them if they had sue
ceeded in soaring US off, even if it was only for
a little while. Here is a statement from Col
Higgins, who commanded the forts our NOR
tars were pounding at:
"WAsHISGroN, April 4. 1872.
DEAR SIR: l send you, according to re-
quest, statement Of the condition Of Forts
Jackson and st. Philip, below New Orleans, at
the termination of the bombardment of those
forts by the mortar vessels under your com
mand and at the time of the passage of the
steam fleet which captured New Orleans. To
begin: Your mortar vessels were placed in po-
sition on the afternoon of the 18th April, 1862,
Ern NJ
where my headquarters were established. The
practice was excellent from the commence
ment of the fire to the end and continued with
out interrnission until the morning of the oath
of April when the fleet passed, at about 4
o'clock Nearly every shell ofthe many thousand
fired at the fort lodged inside of the works
On the first night of the attack, the citadel
and all buildings in rear of the fort were fired
by bursting shell. and also the sand-bag walls
that had been thrown around the magazine
doors. The fire, as you are aware, ragged with
great fury, and no effort of ours could subdue
it. At this time. and nearly all this night, Fort
Jackson was helpless; its magazines were in
accessible. and we could have ordered no re-
sistance to passing feet. The next morning
a terrible scene of destruction presented itself,
the woodwork of the citadel being all destroyed,
and the crumbling walls being knocked about
the fort by the bursting shells, made matters
still worse for the garrison.
The work of destruction from now until the
morning of the oath. when the fleet passed
was incessant. was obliged to confine the
men most rigidly to the easements or We should
have lost the best part of the garrison.
A shell striking the parapet over one of the
magazines (the wall of which was feet Thick
penetrated feet and failed to burst If that
shell had exploded your work would have
ended. Another burst near the magazine door.
opening the earth and burying the sentinel and
another man feet Ill the same grave. The
parapets and interior of the fort were COM
pletely honey-combed. and the large number
of sand-bags, with which we were supplied,
alone saved US from being blown to pieces a
hundred times, our magazine doors being much
exposed. On the morning of the oath, when
the fleet passed, the terrible precision with
which your formidable vessels hailed down
their tons of bursting she'll upon the devoted
fort. rendered 1t impossible for us to obtain
either rapidity or accuracy OF fire, and thus
rendered the passage comparatively easy.
There was no very considerable damage done
to our batteries, but few of the guns being dis
mounted by your fire; everything else in and
around the fort was destroyed.
am, truly, your obedient servant
EDWARD HIGGINS.
Admiral d. d. Porter, US. Navy.
THE ApMIRAL's PARTING SHOT HOT ONE
How was all this damage done if we ran
away" continued the admiral SIT is all
nonsense to say that we forsook our duty even
for an hour. The forts surrendered to me.
and Butler knows it. His position is untenable
and he never would have attacked me had he
been sober. That speech of his was a drunken
speech, you know. I'll give him enough of a
reply, however. I'll fire it at him for tie next
three weeks, and then he will let me alone for
five wears I shall not hear any more from him