The Republican journal., 1911-04-06

Fort Morgan, on the bay side. From
this point they gradually advanced until
the 21st, siege train having previously
arrived under Brigadier General Richard
Arnold The land forces had sixteen
mortars and twenty-five cannon in po-
sition within five hundred yards of the
fort. The naval battery was composed
of four 9-inch Dahlgrens, manned by
seamen taken from the Hartford, Brook
Ign, Richmond and Lackawanna, and COM
manded by Lieut. H. B. Tyson. At day
light on the morning of the 22nd the
monitors and other vessels of the fleet
took up the stations assigned them,
north, south and west of the fort, the
army and the naval battery being on the
east, so that it was completely invested.
Then began one of the most furious
commandments that sailor or soldier had
ever witnessed. 1t continued all day long
without intermission, but after sunset it
began to slacken, until by p. m. the
firing had become slow and irregular.
Just then a bright light shot up from the
center of the fort, and it was discovered
that the citadel was on fire. The be-
siegers then sprang with renewed vigor
to their guns, whose never ceasing flashes
fairly illumined the sky. Six or eight
mortar shells could be seen in the air at
once, while the roar of the artillery was
heard at Mobile, thirty miles away Yet
amid all the horrors of this disastrous
night, with their walls preached, every
piece of ordnance disabled and the maya
zines endangered, the garrison was
not dismayed and "they fought like
brave men long and well'' in a manner
worthy of better cause. Many of the
soldiers were commended by their Cen
eral for great courage and daring ex-
ploits. AS the day dawned the citadel
was again set on fire and burned until
consumed. To resist longer would have
been madness, and at 6 a. m. a white flag
was displayed upon the parapet of the
fort, when the firing of the Federals
ceased. At O'Clock in the afternoon the
ceremony of the surrender took place,
and the brave garrison, whose loss was
about sixty killed and as many more
wounded, were sent to New Orleans in
the steamers Tennessee and Bienville.
Thus the Confederate banner disappear
ed from view and the whole of Mobile
Bay was ours.
Thus ended one of the most brilliant
fights in the history of the world. We
fought as gallant foe as ever fought or
defended ship or fort. Both Admiral
Buchanan of the rebel ram Tennessee
and General Page in command of Fort
Morgan, and their gallant officers and
men, fought until they had nothing to
fight with, and surrendered because
longer resistance was useless. 1t was
fight between Americans and one side
fought as bravely as the other. But the
GOD of battles was on our side by reason
of greater numbers skill of the officers
and the justice of our cause.
One cannot conceive of the magnitude
of this great victory until they compare
it with other great battles. Sebastopol,
that Russian stronghold on the Black
Sea, is said not to have been as impreg-
nable as either Fort Morgan or Fort
Fisher, and yet it took the combined
forces of the armies and navies of Eng
land and France whole year to reduce
that stronghold, and it took our forces
but seventeen days to capture Fort Nor
gan and all its environments in the vicin-
ity of Mobile Bay.
Liberty, Me.