Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-09-19
MOBILE BAY BATTLE.
An Account OF the Engagement Writ
ten by an Army Officer on the
Hartford.
Signaling From the FOre-T0p-Gallant
CrOsstreeS He Had the Best Posi-
bic View of the Combat.

niversary of the battle of Mobile bay and
the Hartford Courant celebrated the dav
by printing a graphic account of the bat
tie written by member of its staff, Mai
[. c. Kinney, for the reunion of the Army
and Navy club Of Connecticut last June
Maj. Kinney had extraordinary facilities
for viewing the fight. for he was ON the
fore-top-gallant crosstrees of the Hartford
during its progress He was an army sig
nal officer who had been detached for naval
service. as it was expected that it would
be necessary to communicate with the
army then besieging Fort Gaines He and
his associate army officer had been in
structed before the fight to remain below
IN the cockpit, as 1t was thought they
would not be of any use on deck. They
undertook to ignore the order, not so
much on account of valor as from fear of
the terrible torpedoes. and made them
selves as unObtruslve as possible, but
Executive Officer Kimberly, not the adj
miral whose name is familiar in Connecti-
cut with Samoa, spied them out and told
them Farragut' s orders must be Obeyed.
Twenty minutes afterward word came that
a signal officer was wanted on deck, as the
Brook yn, which led the feet, was signal
ing, and Kinney rushed up. Capt. Alden
of the Brooklyn signaled: The monitors
are right ahead. We can not go on with
out passing them" Farragut promptly
responded: "Order the monitors ahead
and go on. Just after Kinney had sent
this order the Hartford's starboard gun
opened fire on the Tennessee, and as the
smoke was too dense for him to see the
Brook Ign S signals from the deck he skipp-
ed aloft But finding a howitzer hard at
work in the foretOp he climbed on up to
the next roosting-place and from this point
observed the fight. He saw the monitor
Tecumseh stagger and go down with all
on board except half a dozen men who
crawled through the turret ports and were
picked up by boat from the Metacomet.
The Brooklyn signaled, "Our best moni-
tor is sunk, - but Farragut's response was
still, go on A terrible slaughter was
in progress upon the decks of the fleet and
the Hartford's was slippery with blood.
One poor blue-iacket. who lived to be ex-
hibited at the New York sanitary fair. had
both arms and both legs shot off. All the
crew upon one side of the gun were swept
down by single shot and one shell killed
or wounded fifteen men. The mast to
which Kinney chung was twice struck,
once by 120-pound shell which he saw
coming from the time it left the Blakely
rife on the rebel gunboat Selma.
Farragut was standing In the futlocl
shrouds under the maintOp, where he
could see everything, and could Communicate
with the pilot in the top above and the
fleet captain on the deck below. Kinney
can not say of bis own knowledge that he
was dashed there, because the admiral was
in the rigging when he went on deck and
remained there until the fort was passed
but Farragut himself showed two portrait
painters how the lashing was done. Capt.
Drayton frequently explained that he sent
quartermaster to do the job so that If
the admiral were wounded he would not
be killed by tall to the deck, and the old
sailor who performed the operation is still
alive. Finding that for some reason the
Brooklyn continued to stand still, Farragut
asked the pilot If there was water enough
for the Hartford to pass her. The reply
was in the affirmative. The signal to go
ahead-fast is four bells, and Farragut
shouted down through the shrouds -Four
bells, eight bells, sixteen bells!' The
Hartford, with her cOnsOrt-tO which she
was lashed-the Metacomet, swept OF,
and it was at this time that Capt. Alden
shouted from the Brooklyn his warning
about the torpedoes and received from
Farragut the historic reply, Dam the
torpedoes!' The Selma keeping Just
ahead. raked the Hartford's deck with ter
rible effect, doing more damage than all
the rest of the rebel feet Later she was
captured by the light-draught Metacomet.
Harry Howard Brownell, the poet, and the
admiral s secretary, sat composedly on the
quarterback taking notes In a neat and
regular hand that afterward caused the
question from an officer: How were you
able to write such a steady hand during all
that excitement and uprOar?" 'Oh, re-
sponded Brownell, suppose I'd been kill
ed during the fight and you had picked up
my notes and found an illegible scrawl,
some of you fellows would have said Brow
nell was feared. | wasn't going to have
any of that, you know.
The other vessels of the feet followed
the Hartford past the fort and anchored IN
the bay, the men who were aloft came
down, preparations were made for break
fast, and the reaction after the excitement
had begun, when Kimberly was heard call
ing all hands to quarters, for the ram Ten
nessee was to be seen making for the fleet.
To transmit the desired message by the
naval code would consume valuable time,
and Farragut had recourse to the army
1t took only few seconds for
Kinney to signal to Capt. Strong of the
Monongahela: ''Strong: Run down ram.
Farragut. > Before the message was fairly
finished the Monongahela had slipped her
cable and got under way. The same mes
sage was given the Lackawanna and the
and the general naval signal,
ATTACK the enemy" was set. The
MonOngahela and Lackawanna struck the
ram without doing particle of injury ex-
cept to themselves, and the Tennessee kept
on straight for the Hartford, Kimberly says
that if Buchanan had possesse the grit of
Farragut both vessels would probably have
gone to the bottom. for if the Tennessee
had struck the Hartford squarely bows on.
she would have cut her half IN two and
been dragged down by her as she sank.
But the Tennessee's course was slightly
changed and merely a glancing blow was
inflicted. The last hostile shot ever struck
the Hartfork was fired at that time, killing
five men and wounding eight. The Hart
ford responded with ten heavy guns load
ed with thirteen pounds of powder and a
solid shot each. but the balls merely dent
ed the Tennessee side and bounded off.
Farragut stood on the port-quarter rail-
holding on the rigging. to which an officer
secure him with a ropes end, making the
second circumstance of the kind that day.
As the ram sheered off without striking a
square blow Capt. Drayton shook his lorg-
uette at the vessel and shouted: The cow
ardly rascal He's afraid of a wooden ship.
The whole fleet now attacked the Tennessee
and the Lackawanna accidentiy struck the
Hartford blow which threatened to sink
her A cry went up: Save the admiral.' -
But the admiral glanced over the side,
made up his mind that the Hartford was