The National tribune., 1898-07-28

been cut, the cables by which the hulk wa
anchored had been slipped, and now tn
hulk, still chained to the nearer shore, wa
swept resistlessly round by flood and win
until it grounded in the mud of the bank
pulling the lashed Itasca along with it, an
driving her fast aground directly in th
range Of both forts.
/ BY this time, however, the Pinola wa
ready to come to her rescue; and, after a
hour of earnest tugging, and parting tw
fve-inch hawsers, she finally grappled he
with an 11-inch cable, and, by help of stean
and current, dragged her again into dee
water and down into the kindly darkness
each vessel entirely unharmed, and the open
ing thus made in the barrier was speedil.
and constantly enlarged by the current, s.
that boats crew from the Itasca, pullin,
up in the thick darkness two nights later
found nothing to obstruct the upward pass
age of our feet. A new and grander fire
raft was sent down two hours after th'
chains were broken, only to be caught ant
served as her predecessors had been.
| DETAILS OF THE ENTERPRISE.
The bombardment was continued two
DAYS farther; in part, because two of oul
gunboads had been so much injured as to re-
quire assistance for their rapid repair. The
morning of the oath was fixed on for the
grand attempt, of which the rebel officers
somehow had an intimation; SO that, through
out the preceding day, the forts were silently
preparing for the eventful hour at hand,
while our bombardment was little more than
formality. Meantime, Duncan reported
from Fort Jackson that he had suffered very
little, though %, 200 13-inch shells had been
fired at him. whereof ] 900 had fallen within
the fort (We had actually fired 5000 only. }
"God is certainly protecting u.s. was his
assurance.
Farragut's arrangements for passing the
forts were completed at sunset. April %.
The mortar-boats, retaining their stations.
| were to cover the advance with their utmost
possible fire. Six small steamers-the Har-
| riet Lane, Westfeld, Owasco, Clinton,
Miami, and Jackson, the last towing the
| Portsmouth-were to engage the water
battery below Fort Jackson, but not attempt
to pass Capt. Farragut himself, with his
three largest ships-the Hartford, Richmond,
and Brooklyn-was to keep near the western
bank, fighting Fort Jackson; while Capt.
Bailey, with the Cayuga, Pensacola, Missis-
sppi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, kineo, and
Wissahickon, was to hug the eastern bank,
exchanging compliments with Fort st.
Philip.
Capt. Bell with the third division-con-
ssting of the Scioto, Iroquois, Pinola
Winona Itasca, and Kennebec-was to keep
the middle Of the river, and, disregarding
the forts, to attack and vanquish the rebel
feet in waiting above.
Lieut. Weitzel had wisely suggested that,
as the guns of the forts had been fired at a
| high elevation in order to reach their remote
assailants, and as the vessels would natur-
ally be expected to keep the middle of the
river, the rebel gunners would be pretty
sure to fire over them if they kept close tc
the respective shores.
All being ready, Gen. Butler and his staff
went On board the Saxon; every naval Officer
was at his post; and the silence was only
broken by an occasional fire from the mortar
slOops. At II p. m., signal fIom the Itasc:
announced that the opening in the cable wa:
still unclosed. The night was dark and
heavy; the moon-what there was of it
would rise at 3 a. m.
At /, April "A, all hands were called
steam got up, the last preparations made
and at 2 the signal to weigh anchor wa
given from the flagship. Half an hou
later, Farragut's Division was ready. Capt
Bailey, little slower, was farther away; i
was 3: 80 before the latter was fairly abreast @
Farragut, when each division moved silentl
up stream. The current was SO swift, tn
night so heavy, that the feet advanced bu
four miles per hour.
The silence was broken by our mortars
whose gunners, prepared for the rapides
possible fire, at once filled the air with thei
shells, and roared out to the rebels thei
warning that the hour had come. AS on
ships in their three lines closely followed eac
other, Capt. Bailey, in the Cayuga, was frs
observed and opened upon by both forts a
he was passing through the breach in the bar