The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-07-10
FOOTE, GRANT And LOGAN.
An Article for the Veterans to
CritiCiSe.
How These Glorious Leaders Acted
Under Fire = Fort Donelson and
Vfcksburg-Logan's Faith in His
Men.

Admlral-Eoote in the early days of the
Mississippi hotilla, he was a man of
nearly CO. below the medium stature,
with gray hairs and whiskers, and a pair
of piercing, but kindly blue eyes. He
was always, on or of duty, arrayed III
the fine naval uniform of his rank, and
was quite an interesting figure on the
badly paved streets of Cairo, where |
first met him. 1 had been sent to Cairo
by the Cincinnati gazette to act as CORE
spondent from that quarter. The gun
boats had just returned from the blood
iess victory Of Fort Henry, and were fit
ing out for what afterward proved to be,
Tor them, the very disastrous defeat Of
Fort Doneson. The Commodore hap
pened to be suffering just then from
rheumatic hand, and his inhrmity be-
came my opportunity; for through a
friend l offered my services as volun
teer private secretary, which were
promptly accepted, and thus | obtained a
berth on the flagship Of the squadron, the
st. Louis. The fleet consisted of four
lronclads-the st. Louis, the Louisville,
the PiUtsburg and the Carondelet-and
two wooden vessels, the Tyler aud Con-
nestoga. The latter, though well handled,
were not of much service in the engage
ment.
In the action each of the iron-clads
worked her two bow guns to their full
capacity. ! have forgotten their caliber,
but they were the largest of the time and
the eight In concert made q fearful racket.
The gunbOatS Were OF very slow mo-
ton. They were propelled by a large
paddle wheel located amidships, which
seemed to have all 1t could do sometimes
To stem the current OF the Mississippi,
and atterward Of the Cumberland, III
bend upon the right bank OF which, as
we assembled, Fort Donelson was located.
The iron-clads were built OF heavy oak,
plated with wrought iron an inch ana
hall TO two inches thick and supposed TO
he proof against the heaviest size artil-
lery. The condition of the ships and the
crews after the cattle showed that the
latter supposition was incorrect. The
pilot house was on the upper deck, well
forward. 1t was conlcal in shape and
would hold four men standing up and
two or three more reclining on cots in the
angles formed by contact 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 snip, but those who occupied it
during the engagement discovered that
TINS was a mistake
] called at the Commodord's cabin late
on the night ofthe l3thto ask ifmy services
= an d1ldnHGnSlS were neGdeQ- 'NO.'
The Commodore said, with much cheer
lulness; everything is ready now. Be-
ore l 20 TO bed l will pray for victory,
which / think we shall win, or for the
next best thing TO victory, which is grace
10 bear defeat" Everything was in readi-
ness on the morning of February 18th.
and the Commodore signaled the ships to
move in the order previously agreed
fpon, and to prepare for action. The ST.
A-Ouls, being The flagship, led the process
sion. She carried the COmmodore's pen
uant, and this, together with the fact that
ahe was in front, Of course made her the
principal target Tor the batteries Of the
tort. l accompanied the Commodore from
MS cabin to the pilot house, where we
both remained until after the battle was
over. AS we passed along the gun deck
he Commodore, pointing to one Of the
men among the crew who had seen sea
service, said to me: That old man was
with me in the China sea; he is a typical
salt and is full OF sailor supersJitions. |
know he don't like this thing Of going
into action on a Friday" Sure enough:
] saw the Old man in the hospital that
night, nursing wounded leg, and he in
sisted that 1t was all because it was Fri
day.
When we reached the piIot-house the
Commodore said it was one OF his sick
headache days" and Immediately threw
himself on a cot which filled one OF the
angles OF the small apartment, directing
me at the same time to stand at one of the
little iron windows and report to him
how we were progressing. l had good
held glass, which 1 brought to a focus on
The fort. Very soon there was a puff of
white smoke from one OF the batteries
and l cried out, Here she comes" She
cid come, too, IN the shape OF a cannon
Tall, which missed and whlzzed past US
III an instant. The pilots began to swear as
nv
the third and the fourth. Then there was
a slight pause, as if for better aim, for
with = renewal OF firing the balls began to
strike the ship and to pound against
the pilot-house. The pilots swore louder
than ever. | thought a thousand damns
but uttered none. The Commodore raised
himself from his cot in renonstrance
Tut, tut, tut, men, don't swear; ii does
no good" said he. subsequently he re-
baked US all for ''ducking' in foolish eff
forts to get out of the way of approach
ing cannon balls. You can't escape bv
ducking; you are more apt TO get hit
while doing that said he, adding that
he had seen men cut III two in the China
war by ducking, who would not have
been hurt Icy standing up. He then asked
me whether the firing from our ships
was damaging the forts. | told him 1t
was doing very well; that the men in the
fort were hustling ground pretty lively
and that our shots were throwing up the
mud around the fort in big lots, but l
COuld not tell whether any OF the COnfed-
crate guns had been dismounted.
All this time the st. Louis had been
moving toward the tort at full speed.
I'VE are getting awfully close, Commo-
oore; through this glass l can almost put
my hand on the fellows at the guns in
The fort" That's right" said the Com
mUdore, in a voice without the slightest
emotion. Put on a little more steam
Mr. Pilot, ana get as close as you can"
AS between the fort and the fleet it was
now a mighty hot hight Shots were strik-
ing the vessel and the pilot house at the
rate of several a minute. When they
struck Us Squarely on the armored bow,
between the TWO great gun ports, the YES
sci reeled and trembIed from stem TO
stern; 1t was like man struck on the
forehead with A heavy fist From within
The pilot house we could hear the great
iron balls Embedding themselves IN the
armOr with tauup ana thud, as
though knocking for admission and de-
Iermned soon 10 get IN. The COmmO-
dore, still lying on his cot, unable TO see
what was going on ahead, as the two lit
lie windows were occupied, one by the
pilot on duty and the other by myself Is
the COmmodOre's lookout. kept asking
Tor more steam, and was only half saUls-
ned when told from below that the ship
could not carry another pound of steam
without danger OF an explosion. ''(1et
right under the fort, that's the way to
fight" said the Commodore, with his
hand on his forehead, still nursing his
headache, but now standing up instead
OF. as heretofore, reclining on his cot.
We were now within 200 yards OF the
fort and tine air was full OF the iron hail OF
the guns on both sides. one could al
most see the big projectiles as they
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