The age-herald., 1898-05-07
GUNBOAT MISSISSIPPI.
"Reminiscences of the Perote Squad at Port
 Hudson.

I was much interested Tn the aftlcle III Tuesdays Age-Herald on "Dewey and His Captains" but for the truth of history would correct that part referring to the hurning of the gunboat Mississippi in front of Fort Hudson, I was gunner at one
 Perote Guards) battery and was an eyewitness of the engagement and the burning of the Mississippi.
 The following account, published in the Union Springs Herald, January IA, 1885, has the approval of Colonel I. G. W. Steedman, colonel First regiment, Alabama vlunteers, in charge of most of the batteries at the time, and Lieutenant E. J. M. Padgett, in immediate command of Perote battery, to which I belonged Colonel Steedman's ad- dress is St. Louis Mo-; Lieutenant Padg- ett's, Leesburg, Fla:
 "Reminescences of the Perote Squads, Port
 Hudson.
 By E. J. McMorris.
 PART TIT.
 "The next event of importance at Port Hudson was on the night of March -, 1863. About 10 o'clock that night the rapid discharge of several cannon at our lowest battery aroused us from our hunks. Farra- gut's fleet was coming up. The long roll of the drum and the officers stirring shouts, Fall in, meni Fall n,' dnned into our ears as we hurried to our places in line. As soon as formed we double quicked' into our battery, only a few yards distant, and except one, the uppermost battery in the line By this time batteries below were fir ing tremendously. On marched the squad ron making no reply. When the fleet, ad- vancing in tiers of three ships, reached a position broadside our batteries it opened fire. Then came scene which for sublim- ity no pen can portray. Our line of forti- fcations, extending a mile and a half and two miles, was ablaze; the broad expanse of the river seemed wrapt In flame; shot and shell screamed hideously overhead and about us, and the terrific thunder of so | much heavy artillery in such close proxim- | ity was appalling. At this stage of the en- gagement, a large man-of-war cruised di- rectly under the guns of the Perote bat | tery as if to land at the wharf. Our bat | tery had an elevation of fully fifty feet | above the surface of the river The guns of the Perote battery were instantly di- rcted to the one ship, for we thought that
 
 onds she threw out a signal light of dis tress We ceased firing, and her crew, after l firing her, made good their escape to the l opposite bank, where we had no fortifica- 1 tions. The crew, before leaving the ship, l carried it in it's disabled condition across 1 the current of the river to the eddy waters | on the opposite side; but soon drifting back | into the current was borne down the river. | All the firing ceased and we sat upon our | batteries, intently viewing the vast volume | of flames floating down the river alternate | ly bending before the breeze that swept l the rivers broad surface, and when there | was a lull, shooting vertically upwards. | The fire soon reached some of the loaded bombs in the ship, and the rapid explosion | of these sounded like a rapid cannonade. l The Yankee fleet below retrd prcipltately before this floating mass of flames. We re- mained at our batteries until she rounded | the point below, and then when the flames 1 disappeared gazed with intense concern on l the red-panted horizon beyond She blew | up about daybreak about ten miles below | us and almost upon the very spot where | the famous Arkansas ram cooperating | with General John c. Breckinridge in an at- tempt to capture Baton Rouge, had blown up about one year previous The Mlssis- sippi carried twenty-six guns. Daylight re- | vealed to us that two of the Federal fleet l (Albatross and HartforD had effected their passage by our batteries, but that the rest
 had been forced to retreat down the river. | By the two above we were cut off from
 the section drained by Red river, where we had obtained all our supplies"
 Clanton, Ala.