Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-04

gun and remained there until the close
of the fight
The carpenter and his men extinguished
the flames.
When within 400 yards of the fort
and while the Confederates were running
from their lower battery. our pilot house
was struck again and another pilot
wounded; our wheel was broken, and
shells from the rear boats were bursting
over us. All four of our boats were shot
away and dragging in the water.
On looking out to bring our broadside
guns to bear. we saw that the other
gunboats were rapidly falling back out
of line. The Pittsburgh, in her haste
to turn back. struck the stern of the
Carondelet, and broke our starboard rud-
der so that we were obliged to go ahead
to clear the Pittsburgh and the point Of
rocks below. The pilot Of the st. Louis
was killed and the pilot OF the Louis
vile was wounded. Both vessels had
their wheelropes shot away. and the men
vile with the tiller ropes at the stern by
the shells from the rear boats bursting
over them. The ST. Louis and Louis
vile. becoming unmanage able were COM
Pittsburgh followed: all had suffered Sc
verely from the enemy's fire. Flag Of
ficer Foote was wounded white standing
by the pilot of the ST. Louis when he was
killed. We were then about $50 yards
from the fort.
There was no alternative for the Ca
rondelet in that narrow stream but to
keep her head to the enemy and fire into
the fort with her two bow guns, to pre-
vent it, if possible. from returning her
fire effectively. The enemy saw that she
was in manner left to his mercy. and
concentrated the fire Of all his batteries
upon her.
In return, the Carondelet's guns were
well served to the last shot. Our new
acting gunner. John Hall, was just the
man for the occasion. He came forward
offered his services, and with my sane
ton took charge of the starboard bow
rified gun. He instructed the men to
obey his warnings and follow his mo-
tons. and he told them that when he saw
shot coming he would call out Down"
and stoop behind the breech of the gun
as he did SO; at the same instant the
men were to stand away from the bow
ports.
Nearly every shot from the fort struck
them were fired on the ricochet level and
could be plainly seen skipping on the
water before they struck. The enemy's
object was to sink the gunboat by strik-
ing her just below the water line. They
soon succeeded in planting two 32-pound
shots in her bow, between wind and
water, which made her leak badly, but
her compartments kept her from sink
ing until We could plug up the shotholes.
TIL. ee shots struck the starboard case
mating. Four struck the port case
mating forward of the rifle gun. One
struck on the starboard side between
the water line and plank sheer, cutting
through the planking. Six shots struck
into pieces and cutting through the iron
casing. The smokestacks We're riddled.
* X
Our gunners kept up a constant firing
while we were falling back; and the
warning words, Look out.' Down.
were often heard, and needed by nearly
all the gun crews. On one occasion, while
the men were at the muzzle of the middle
bow-gun. loading it, the warning came
just in time for them to jump aside as a
thirty-two FOUNDER struck the lower sill,
and, glancing up, struck the upper SILL
then, falling on the inner edge of the
lower sill, bounded on deck and spun
around like top, but hurt no one.
1t was evident that If the men who
were loading had not obeyed the order to
drop several of them would have been
killed. So 1 repeated the instructions and
warned the men at the guns and the crew
generally to bow or stand off from the
ports when a shot was seen coming. But
some of the young men, from a spirit of
ibravado or from belief in the doctrine
of fatalism, disregarded the instructions
saying it was useless to attempt to dodge
a cannon ball, and they would trust to
luck.
The warning words. Look OUT"
'DownY' were again soon heard; down
went the gunner and his men, as the
whizzing shot glanced on the gun. taking
off the gunner's cap and the heads of two
of the young men who trusted to luck
and in defiance of the order were stand
ing up or passing behind him. This shot
killed another man a so, who was at the
last gun of the starboard side, and dis
abled the gun. 1t came in with a kissing
sound; three sharp spats and a heavy
bang told the sad fate of three brave
comrades. Before the decks were well
sanded there was so much blood on them
that our men could not work the guns
without slipping.
We kept firing at the enemy so long as
he was within range, to prevent him
from seeing us through the smoke.
The Carondelet was the first in and the