Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-05-05
A STORM OF IRON HAIL
THE ADVANCE ON FORT DoNELSoN
BY FOOTE'S eUNBoATs.

|
As Il remember Observation-Disclosures
Admiral-Foote in the early days OF the
Mississippi flotilla, he was a man of nearly
60, below the medium stature, with gray
hair and whiskers and pair of piercing
but kindly blue eyes.
! had been sent to Cairo by the Cincin
natl Gazette to act rs correspondent from
that quarter The gunboats had just re
turned from the bloodless victory of Fort
Henry and were fitting out for what after
ward proved to be for them the very disas-
trous defeat of Fort Donelson The com
modore happened to be suffering just then
from a rheumatic hand, and his ;nhrinity
became my opportunity, for through a
| friend offered my services as a volunteer
private secretary, which were promptly &C
| cepted, and thus ] obtained a berth on the
| flagship Of the squadron, the St. Louis.
The fleet consisted of four ironclads-the
ST. Louis, the Louisville, the Pittsburg and
the Carondelet, and two wooden vessels
the Tyler and Connestoga The gunboats
were of Il very slow motion. They were
propelled by large paddle wheel located
amidships, which seemed to have all it
could do sometimes to stem the current of
the Mississippi and afterward of the Cum
berand, in bend upon the right bank of
which, AZ we assembled, Fort Donelson was
located The ironclads were built of very
heavy oak plated with wrought iron ~ to
9 inches thick and supposed to be proof
against the heaviest artillery
The condition of the ships and their crews
after the battle showed that the latter sup
position was incorrect The pilothouse
was on the upper deck, well forward. 1t
was concal in shape and would hold four
men standing up and two or three more re
clining ON cots in the angles formed by con
tact with the deck. 1t was entered by a
ladder from below, reaching from the gun
deck. 1t was built of oak and iron and
was intended to have more resisting power
than any other part of the ship, but those
who occupied it touring the engagement dis
covered that this was II mistake.
called at the commodore's cabin late on
the night of the 18th to ask if my services
as an anlanuensiS were needed NO" the
commodore said, with much cheerfulness;
everything is ready now Before go to
bed will pray for victory, which | think
we shall win, or for the next best thing to
victory, which is grace to bear defeat"
Everything was in readiness on the morn
ing of Feb "A, and the commodore signal
ed the ships to move in the order previous
y agreed upon and to prepare for action
The st. Louis, being the flagship, led the
procession accompanied the commodore
from his cabin to the pilothouse, where we
both remained until after the battle was
over When we reached the pilothouse, the
commodore said it was one of his sick
headache days. and Immediately threw
himself on cot which filled one of the
angles of the small apartment. directing
me ut the same time to stand ut one of the
little iron windows and report to him how
we were progressing.
had n COOL feldglass. which | brought
To n focus on the fort. Very soon there was
puff OF white smoke from one of the bat
teries, and ! cried out, Here she comes
She did come, too in the shape Of IA cannon
bail which missed and whizzed past us in
MI instant The pilots began to swear as
the first shot was swiftly followed by the
second the third and the fourth Then
there was II slight pause, as if for better
ann tor with renewal Of firing the balls
began To strike the ship and to pound
against the plothouse The pilots swore
louder than ever | thought thousand
d Ills. but uttered none The commo
dore raised himself from his cot in remon
STRANGE, Tut, tut, tut, men. don't swear
il does no good said he.
All this time the st. Louis had been
moving toward the fort at full speed I'VE
are getting awfully close, commodore
Through this glass | can almost put my
hand Oh The fellows at the guns in the
fort That > right" said the commo
dOre III voice without the slightes; emo
ton. Put on a little more steam, Mr.
Pilot. and get ~ CLOSE as you can" As be
tween the fort and the fleet il was now a
mighty hot fight From within the pilot
/ house we could hear the great iron balls
unfolding themselves in the armor with
thump and n thud rs though knocking for
admission and determined soon to gain it.
The commodore still lying on his cot, un-
able To see what was going on ahead, AZ the
two little windows were occupied one by
the pilot on duty and the other by myself
a. the commoiore's lookout, kept asking
foi more steam and was only half satisfied
when told from below that the ship could
not carry anOthe pound OF steam without
danger of an explosion
We were now within 3OO yards of the fort,
and the All was full OF the iron hail of all
the guns on both sides One could almost
see the big prolectiles as they crossed each
others path going IA opposite directions.
What had been long feared aud expected
came al last 4 shell from the best aud
largest rifl,d gun IN the fOrt--a gun that
had been trained on ON pilothouse since
the opening vi the hattl,--struck our ar
mored plating at right angles and came
! crushing through the iron and the OAK as
through IA piece of pastebOard II must
/ have exploited either in coming through or
Immediately on entering the pilotholse,
al any rate. we picked up ii full bushel of
iron fragments from the floor of the pilot
hOuse that night The pilot, who was at
the wheel at the time "A brave fellow named
Reilly OF Cincinnati was struck on the
thigh and bled to death in AN hour: tue
commodore was badly and painfully
wounded on the leg and went on crutches
during the remainder of his life three 9th
trs were hurt in various ways, | was the
only one vi siN who entirely escaped The
steering wheel was battered into match
timber, aud all the apparatus for control
ling the vessel was utterly destroyed.
Everything was IN chaos inside of our
shattered citadel, but the commodore
sorrly wounded though he was, had SUI
liclrnt presence Of mind to order the steam
shut off as the vessel was still moving to
ward the fort without pilot or rudder and