Chapter XXXVIII: Preface (7)

Captain Wilkinson, who was in this battle as executive officer of the Confederate iron-clad Louisiana, in his “Narrative of a Blockade Runner,” says: “Most of us belonging to that little naval fleet knew that Admiral Farragut would dare to attempt what any man would; and, for my part, I had not forgotten that while I was under his command, during the Mexican war, he had proposed to Commodore Perry, then commanding the Gulf Squadron, and urged upon him, the enterprise of capturing the strong fort of San Juan de Ulloa, at Vera Cruz, by _boarding_. Ladders were to be constructed, and triced up along the attacking ships’ masts, and the ships to be towed alongside the walls by the steamers of the squadron. Here was a much grander prize to be fought for, and every day of delay was strengthening his adversaries.”

The magnitude of Farragut’s novel enterprise was scarcely realized at the North when the first news was received. It was simply announced that he “had run by the forts.” The Confederates knew too well what resistance and difficulties he had overcome, and what a loss they sustained in New Orleans.

An officer who was in the engagement expressed an opinion that if the passage had been attempted by daylight the fleet would have sustained a fearful loss.

After the fleet had passed the forts Captain Bailey, in the Cayuga, preceded the flag-ship up the river, and at the quarantine station captured the Chalmette regiment, encamped upon the river bank.

On the morning of the 25th, the Cayuga, still leading, encountered the Chalmette batteries, three miles below New Orleans. The Hartford and Brooklyn, with several others, soon joined her, and silenced these batteries. New Orleans was now fairly under Farragut’s guns, and this had been effected at the cost of thirty-seven killed and one hundred and forty-seven wounded.

Farragut appointed eleven o’clock of the morning of the 26th as the hour “for all the officers and crews of the fleet to return thanks to Almighty God for His great goodness and mercy, in permitting us to pass through the events of the last two days with so little loss of life and blood.”

The ships passed up to the city, and anchored immediately in front of it, and Captain Bailey was sent on shore to demand the surrender of it, from the authorities, to which the Mayor replied that the city was under martial law, and that he had no authority. General Lovell, who was present, said he would deliver up nothing, but, in order to free the city from embarrassment, he would restore the city authorities, and retire with his troops, which he did.

Farragut then seized all the steamboats which had not been destroyed and sent them down to the quarantine station, for Butler’s troops. Among them was the Tennessee, which the blockaders had been so long watching for, but which never got out.

The levee at New Orleans was at this time a scene of perfect desolation, as ships, steamers, and huge piles of cotton and wool had been set on fire by the Confederates, and an immense amount of property was destroyed. A very powerful ironclad, called the Mississippi, was set on fire, and drifted down past the city, in flames. Another was sunk directly in front of the Custom House, and others which had been begun at Algiers were destroyed.

Several miles up the river, about Carrollton, were extensive fortifications--all taken possession of by Commander Lee--and an immense work, supporting chains, to prevent Foote’s gun-boats from descending the river.

Farragut had sent a party on shore to hoist the flag on the Custom House and Mint, belonging to the General Government. The party acted with great firmness and discretion, in spite of insults from a large and excited crowd. At noon on the 26th, during the performance of divine service referred to before, the officers and crews of the vessels were startled by the discharge of a howitzer in the main-top of the Pensacola. The lookout aloft had seen four men mount to the roof of the Mint and tear down the United States flag, and he had instantly fired the gun, which was trained upon the flag-staff, and loaded with grape.

The leader of these men, a desperado and gambler, who thus imperilled the lives and property of the whole of the citizens, was, by order of General Butler, tried for the offence afterwards, was found guilty, and hanged by a beam and rope thrust out of the highest window of the Mint.

When Admiral Farragut arrived at the quarantine station, after passing the forts, he had sent Captain Boggs (whose vessel, the Varuna, was lost) in a boat, through the bayous, to inform General Butler and Commander Porter of his success. The Captain was twenty-six hours in getting through. But General Butler, in the steamer Saxon, had followed the fleet up near the forts, and had witnessed the passage of the ships. He then hurried back to his troops, and they rendezvoused at Sable Island, twelve miles in the rear of Fort St. Philip, whence they were carried up in transports and landed at a point five miles above that work. At the same time Commander Porter had sent six of his mortar-boats to the bay behind Fort Jackson, where they arrived on the morning of April 27th, thus making a complete investment. That night two hundred and fifty of the garrison of Fort Jackson came out and surrendered themselves to the Union pickets.

While Farragut was passing the forts, Porter, with his mortar-boats, and their attendant steamers, continued the bombardment. On the 24th he demanded a surrender, but was refused, and for the three days following there was little or no firing. During these days the garrisons were occupied in re-mounting some of their dismounted guns, and transferred others to the floating battery Louisiana.

On the 28th, General Duncan, the commander of the forts, learning that Farragut had possession of New Orleans, accepted the terms offered by Porter. While the articles of capitulation were being drawn up and signed, on board the Harriet Lane, and flags of truce were flying, the Confederate naval officers, after destroying three of their four remaining vessels, set fire to the Louisiana, and cast her adrift.

Fortunately her magazine exploded before she reached Porter’s flotilla, or some of his vessels must have shared her fate; and, not improbably, all of them.

After the surrender had been consummated, he went up the river, and captured the naval officers who were supposed to have been guilty of this perfidious and most dishonorable, and murderous act, and put them in close confinement, to be sent North, and dealt with as the Government might see fit. John K. Mitchell, the Commodore of the Confederate flotilla, sent a letter to Farragut, justifying himself for destroying his vessels, and excusing his attempt to blow up Porter’s vessels, in this wise:--

“Lieutenant Whittle was sent in a boat with a flag of truce to inform Commander Porter that in firing the Louisiana, her magazine had not been effectually drowned and that, though efforts were made to drown the charges in the guns, they may not have succeeded. This information was given in consideration of the negotiations then pending under flag of truce between him and Fort Jackson; but while the message was on its way the explosion took place, a fact that does not affect the honorable purposes intended by it.”

This letter seems almost too childish and disingenuous to receive serious notice. It was almost the only instance during the war when naval officers did not act in good faith.

The Confederate naval officers claimed, in justification of their action, that they were no party to the flag of truce, nor were they included in the terms of surrender of the forts, General Duncan treating only for the garrisons under his command, and expressly disclaiming all connection with the navy. The whole was a pitiful commentary upon the jealousies and want of united conduct, which rendered Farragut’s task a little more easy. Mitchell had always been considered an “ill-conditioned” man, in the old navy, and the Government was disposed to treat him, and some of his officers, pretty rigorously; but matters were arranged, afterwards, in a correspondence which took place, upon their being sent North, between the Secretary of the Navy and Mitchell, that resulted in their treatment as ordinary prisoners.

In writing to his family, after his capture of New Orleans, Farragut said, “It is a strange thought, that I am here among my relatives, and yet not one has dared to say, ‘I am happy to see you.’ There is a reign of terror in this doomed city: but, although I am abused as one who wished to kill all the women and children, I still see a feeling of respect for me.”

ATLANTA AND WEEHAWKEN. JUNE 17TH, 1863

In the latter part of the year 1861 an English steamer, named the Fingal, ran past the blockading vessels, and got safely into Savannah.

That part was very well done, but the getting to sea again was another matter, for she was so closely watched that it was found impossible to do so. All sorts of stratagems were resorted to, and several starts made upon the darkest nights, but there was always found a Federal gun-boat, or perhaps more than one, ready to receive her, all the more that she was a valuable vessel, and would turn in plenty of prize-money to her captors.

At last, in despair of any more use of her as a blockade-runner, the Rebel authorities determined to convert her into an ironclad ship-of-war. She was cut down, so as to leave her deck not more than two feet above the water; and upon this deck was built a very heavy casemate, inclining at an angle of about thirty degrees, and mounting four heavy rifled guns. The battery-deck was built of great beams of timber, a foot and a half thick. Her iron armor was four inches thick, then considered quite formidable, and was secured to a backing of oak and pine, eighteen inches thick. Her sides about and below the water line were protected by heavy logs or timbers built upon her, so that from being a slim and graceful blockade-runner, she attained a breadth of forty-one feet, with a length of two hundred and four. The ports in her casemate were closed by iron shutters, of the same thickness as her armor. Her bow was formed into a ram, and also carried, at the end of a spar, a percussion torpedo.

In fact, she was a very formidable craft, of the general style of those built by the Confederates during the war. The Merrimac was nearly all casemate, but the later built ones had as small a casemate as was consistent with the working of the guns they were intended to carry.

Thicker armor than hers had not yet come into use, the English ironclad ships just then built, in consequence of the success of the Monitor and Merrimac, not being any more protected.

The first contest between a monitor and fifteen-inch guns, and an ironclad with stationary casemate or turret and rifled guns, was now to take place.

The Atlanta was commanded by an officer of energy and ability, named Webb, formerly a Lieutenant in the United States Navy.

The Confederate authorities were certain that this latest production of their naval architects was to overcome the redoubtable monitors, and they fully believed that, while the Atlanta’s armor would resist their heavy round shot, her heavy rifled guns, at close quarters, would tear the monitor turret to pieces, while the ram and torpedo would finish the work begun by the guns.

The vessel, being ready, came down from Savannah, passed through the Wilmington, a mouth of the Savannah River, and so passed down into Wassaw Sound, improperly named, in many books and maps, Warsaw.

Admiral Du Pont had taken measures to keep himself informed as regarded this vessel’s state of preparation, and the monitors Weehawken and Nahant had been sent to meet her and some other armored vessels preparing at Savannah.

Both the Nahant and Weehawken were at anchor when the strange vessel was seen. It was at daylight, and she was then about three miles from the Nahant, and coming down very rapidly. The Weehawken was commanded by that capable and sterling officer, John Rogers, and he at once slipped his cable, and made rapidly off, seaward, as if in headlong flight, but, in the meantime, making preparations for action.

At about half-past four, on this bright summer morning, the Weehawken rounded to, and breasted the tide, approaching her enemy.

The Nahant had no pilot, and could only follow in the Weehawken’s wake, through the channels of the Sound.

The Atlanta fired the first shot, at about a quarter to five, being then distant about a mile and a half. This passed across the stern of the Weehawken, and struck the water near the Nahant. The Atlanta seemed to be lying across the channel, awaiting attack, and keeping up her fire.

The Weehawken steadily came up the channel, and at a little after 5 a. m., having approached within about three hundred yards, opened her fire. She fired five shots, which took her fifteen minutes, and at the end of that time the Atlanta hauled down the Confederate colors, and hoisted a white flag. Such a rapid threshing is seldom recorded in naval history, and is the more remarkable when we remember that the commander of the Atlanta was a cool and experienced officer, trained in the United States Navy, and an excellent seaman.

Two passenger steamers, loaded down with ladies and non-combatants, had followed the Atlanta down from Savannah, to witness the capture of the Yankee monitors. These now made the best of their way back to that city.

The Atlanta had a crew of twenty-one officers and one hundred and twenty-four men. Landsmen often wonder why ships have so many officers in proportion to men, but it is necessary.

The officers of the Confederate vessel stated her speed to be ten knots, and they confidently expected to capture both the monitors, after which, as it appeared from the instruments captured on board of her, she expected to proceed to sea, and try conclusions with the Charleston fleet. Her engines were first-rate, and her hull of a good model, and there is no reason why she should not have gone up to Charleston and broken the blockade there, except the one fact that she turned out not to be equal to the monitors.

The action was so brief that the Nahant did not share in it, and of the five shots fired by the Weehawken, four struck the Atlanta, and caused her surrender. The first was a fifteen-inch shot, which, though it struck the casemate of the Atlanta at a very acute angle, smashed through both the iron armor and the wooden backing, strewed the deck with splinters, prostrated some forty officers and men by the concussion, and wounded several by the splinters and fragments of armor driven in. We can imagine the consternation of a crew which had come down confident of an easy victory. In fact, this one shot virtually settled the battle. The Weehawken fired an eleven-inch shot next, but this did little damage. The third shot was from the fifteen-inch gun, and knocked off the top of the pilot-house, which projected slightly above the casemate, wounded the pilots, and stunned the men at the wheel. The fourth shot carried away one of the port-stoppers. Sixteen of her crew were wounded.

The Atlanta was valued by the appraisers, for prize-money, at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a sum, as Boynton remarks, easily won in fifteen minutes, with only five shots, and without a loss of a single man on the other side. More than this, it settled the value of that class of vessels, as compared with monitors.

“As the fight of the Merrimac with the Cumberland, Congress and Minnesota virtually set aside as worthless for war purposes the vast wooden navies of Europe,” so it showed that great changes and improvements were necessary in the broadside ironclads, if they were to be opposed to monitors armed with guns of great power. The result was a great increase in the thickness of armor, which went on, as the power of the guns increased, until now it is a question whether armor may not be abandoned, except for certain purposes.

KEARSARGE AND ALABAMA. JUNE 19TH, 1864.

During the summer of 1864, while Grant and his army were fighting the terrible battles which opened his way to the James, through Virginia; and the whole country was upon the very tenter-hooks of anxiety, a piece of news came across the water which gave more satisfaction to the country at large than many a hard-won battle has given, where a thousand times the numbers were engaged. It was the intelligence that the Alabama was at the bottom of the sea.

We may borrow the words of Boynton, in his “History of the Navy during the Rebellion,” to put the reader in possession of a part of the career of the notorious Alabama, previous to her meeting with the Kearsarge.

No event of the great civil war excited such deep indignation, such bitter resentment, as the career of the Alabama. It was not alone because she committed such havoc with our commerce--burning our merchantmen in great numbers; nor was it because she had sunk the Hatteras--a merchant steamer converted into a gun-boat; but it was because England had sent out a British ship, with British guns, and seamen trained in her own practice-ship, a vessel English in every essential but her flag, to lay waste the commerce of a country with which she professed to be at peace. To add to the provocation, this vessel was originally called the “290,” to show, by the large number who had contributed to fit her out, how widespread was English sympathy for the cause she was to support. The Alabama was not regarded as a Confederate vessel of war, but as an English man-of-war, sent forth under the thin veil of another flag, to sink and destroy our merchantmen. The short-lived triumph in which England indulged turned out to be about as costly a pleasure as she could well have taken; and deeply mortified as we were that the successful rover should escape our watchful cruisers, and so long pursue, unmolested, her work of destruction, in the end the pride of England was more deeply and bitterly wounded than our own, while at the same time she was held responsible for the destruction of our property. England will probably have reason to remember the Alabama quite as long as the Americans.

The successful movements of this vessel were such as to attract the attention of Europe as well as America. Semmes, her commander, seemed to have been adopted as a sort of English champion, and judging from the expressions of most of the English papers, and what Americans believed to be the effective though quiet support of the English Government, the governing class, at least, in Great Britain were as much pleased with the success of the Alabama as were the people of the South. There was enough of mystery connected with the operations to excite the imagination, and scarcely was any phantom ship ever invested with a more unreal character than was this modern highwayman of the sea.

She seemed to be everywhere, and yet nowhere to be found when sought for by our ships; and some were inclined to think that our naval officers were not very anxious to find her. The result showed how little reason there was for such an injurious suspicion. There could be no more difficult task than to overtake a single fast steamer to which all seas were open, and which constantly shifted her cruising ground. She seldom entered a port, getting coal and provisions from captured vessels, and so could not readily be traced. She burned or sunk the captured vessels, and then disappeared. The public naturally magnified her size, speed and power, but the Navy Department was well informed about her, and knew just what sort of vessel to send in pursuit of her.

Early in 1862 Captain John A. Winslow, of the United States Navy, was sent, in command of the steam-sloop Kearsarge, to cruise on the coast of Europe for the Alabama and her associate vessels.

He blockaded the Florida for some time, but was forced to give her a chance to escape, by the necessity of going for coal and stores. He lay two months off Calais, where the Rappahannock was found, and at last, in despair of getting to sea, the Rebel cruiser was dismantled and laid up.

Soon after this he learned that the Alabama was at Cherbourg, and he immediately sailed for that port, and took up a position off the famous breakwater.

Semmes was now, for the first time, placed in a position where he would either have to fight the Kearsarge, or submit to be blockaded by a ship in every way a fair match for him.

If he declined battle he would be disgraced in the eyes of all Europe. Should he succeed, his victory would have a great moral effect, especially from the scene of action attracting general attention. People of all nations would hear of it, and augur well for the Confederate cause, whose attention would never be drawn by such a combat, if it occurred on the other side of the Atlantic.

Putting a bold face upon his situation, he challenged Winslow. Considering that his ship was somewhat larger than the Kearsarge, that she carried one more gun, and that he had trained English gunners, of whom much was expected; more than that, that his men were confident, from success, and had the sympathies of most of those about them, he had good reason to hope for success.

Winslow and his crew well knew the consequences involved in the battle. They were indignant, as all Northerners were, at the manner in which the Alabama had been fitted out, quite as much as at her depredations upon our commerce, and death would have been preferable to them, to being towed, a prize, into Cherbourg harbor.

The news of the approaching battle soon spread, and was telegraphed in every direction. Crowds came down from Paris, yachts collected, and bets were freely made upon the result.

The writer was in Cherbourg some time after this fight, and photographs of the Kearsarge, her officers, her battery, and the state of her decks after the action, were in many of the shop windows still. The Cherburgeois seemed glad that the Alabama and her English crew had been conquered off their town. At any rate, it was their interest to appear so, after the event. It was rather curious that no photographs of Semmes or his officers appeared in the windows.

At length, on Sunday morning, June 19th, 1864, the Alabama, having made all her preparations, steamed out of Cherbourg, accompanied by the French ironclad frigate Couronne. The morning was a very fine one; the sea calm, and with a light haze upon the water, not sufficient to obscure the movements of the ships. The French frigate accompanied the Alabama only so far as to make it certain that she would not be attacked until beyond the marine league, or line of French jurisdiction. A small steamer bearing an English yacht flag came out at the same time, but attracted no particular attention.

The Alabama was first seen by the Kearsarge at about half-past ten, and the latter immediately headed seaward, not only to avoid all questions of jurisdiction, but to draw Semmes so far from shore that, in case his vessel was partially disabled in the coming fight, she could not escape by running into French waters.

The Kearsarge then cleared for action, with her guns pivoted to starboard. Having reached a point about seven miles from shore, the Kearsarge turned short on her heel, and steered straight for the Alabama.

The moment the Kearsarge came round the Alabama sheered, presenting her starboard battery, and slowed her engine.

Winslow’s intention was to run his adversary down, if opportunity presented, and he therefore kept on his course. When about a mile distant the Alabama fired a broadside, which did only very trifling damage to the Kearsarge’s rigging. Winslow now increased his speed, intending to strike his enemy with full force, and in the next ten minutes the Alabama fired two more broadsides. Not a shot struck the Kearsarge, and she made no reply; but, as the vessels were now not more than seven hundred yards apart, Captain Winslow did not deem it prudent to expose his ship to another raking fire, and the Kearsarge accordingly sheered and opened fire. The ships were thus brought broadside to broadside; but it soon became evident that Semmes did not intend to fight a close action, and Winslow began to fear that he would make for the shore and escape.

To prevent this, Winslow kept his vessel at full speed, intending to run under the stern of the Alabama and secure a raking position.

To avoid this the Alabama sheered, so as to keep her broadside to the Kearsarge, and as both vessels were under a full head of steam, they were forced into a circular movement, steaming in opposite directions round a common centre, with the current setting them to the westward. Had they fought on parallel lines, with the Alabama heading inshore, she would have reached the line of French jurisdiction, and thus escaped. But, being thus compelled to steam in a circle, she was about five miles from the shore when, at the close of the action, she attempted to run into Cherbourg.

The firing of the Alabama was, throughout the action, very rapid, but also very wild. During the first eighteen minutes not a man was injured on board the Kearsarge. Then a 68-pound Blakely shell passed through the starboard bulwarks, about the main rigging, and exploded on the quarter-deck, wounding three men at the after pivot-gun, one of whom afterwards died of his wounds. This was the only casualty among the crew of the Kearsarge during the whole engagement.

The firing of the Kearsarge was very deliberate, and especial pains were taken with the aiming of the two 11-inch pivot-guns. At the distance at which they were fired, about half a mile, they were terribly effective. One shell disabled a gun on board the Alabama, and killed and wounded eighteen men. Another exploded in her coal-bunker, and completely blocked the engine room. Other shells tore great gaps in the Alabama’s sides, and it was soon evident that her race was run. For an hour this fire was exchanged, the Kearsarge suffering little, while almost every shot of hers struck the Alabama. The vaunted English gunners, with their Blakely guns, did not seem to get the range. The Kearsarge’s shell came with due deliberation, but as certain as fate, crashing through her sides, exploding within her or upon her decks, and sweeping away her crew, many of whom were literally torn to pieces by the fearful missiles. She was rapidly reduced to a wreck; her decks were strewn with the dead and wounded, and the water was pouring in the gaps in her sides.

Semmes now made one desperate effort to escape, and suddenly bore up for the land, and made all sail that he could. But he was too late. The Alabama was sinking, and the water which poured into her soon put out her fires.

One or two more shot brought down her flag. For a moment it was uncertain whether it had been hauled down or shot away, but soon a white flag was exposed, and the Kearsarge’s fire ceased.

In a moment more another gun was fired from the Alabama, and this was at once returned. The Kearsarge now steamed ahead, and was laid across the Alabama’s bows, with the intention of sinking her, but as the white flag was still flying, the fire was reserved. Then it was seen that the Alabama’s boats were being lowered, and an officer came alongside, to inform Captain Winslow that the Alabama had surrendered, and was rapidly sinking. Only two boats were in a condition to be sent to the assistance of these people. These were promptly lowered and manned, but before they could reach her they saw the Alabama settle by the stern, raise her bows high in air, shake her mizzen-mast over the side, and plunge down to the bottom of the channel. The crew were left struggling in the water, and the boats of the Kearsarge picked up as many as they could, and hailed the small English yacht steamer, which had come out of Cherbourg in the morning, giving him permission, and requesting him to assist in saving the prisoners. Both parties saved such as they could reach, and when no more were to be seen floating, the Americans, to their surprise, found the yacht making off, instead of delivering the prisoners she had picked up.

Displacement, 11,525 tons. Speed, 16 knots. Horse-power, 10,000. Triple screw. Length on load water line, 368 feet. Extreme breadth, 72 feet, 5 inches. Mean draught, 23 feet, 6 inches. Thickness of armor on sides, 15 inches; turrets, 17 inches; barbettes, 15 inches. Main battery, 4 13-in. breech loading rifles, 20 6-pdr., 14 5-pdr., 6 1-pdr. rapid-fire guns, 4 Gatlings, 1 Field gun. 5 torpedo tubes. 40 officers, 480 men.]

Winslow was astonished that such a thing should be done, and, supposing some mistake, and that they were disturbed by the catastrophe which had just occurred, did not fire into them, as he should have done. Among the rest, this Englishman, whose name was Lancaster, had picked up the Captain of the Alabama.

The officer of the Alabama who came to surrender himself and the ship had permission to return, with his boat, to assist in saving life. He went to the English yacht and escaped in her. None of them seemed to feel any disgrace in making off in this way while the Kearsarge was engaged in saving life. The saddest sight of all was, that England was not ashamed of this man Lancaster, and associated him with Semmes, in the banquets and other recognition which the latter received in England.

It was afterwards understood that this Lancaster was a “_nouveau-riche_,” who had a yacht, and who was glad to be seen and identified with any notorious person. Many persons in England shared his feelings, and when the Alabama was sunk, she was much regretted by the rich men of Birmingham and Manchester, as well as by those of the higher nobility, who would not, on any account, speak on equal terms to those with whom they were in complete sympathy in the matter of our war. We must also consider that the man Lancaster had no experience in any kind of warfare, and that he probably knew no better, and even thought he was doing a clever thing.

In his letter acknowledging Captain Winslow’s despatch announcing the result of this action, Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, says: “The Alabama represented the best maritime effort of the best English workshops. Her battery was composed of the well-tried 32-pounders of fifty-seven hundred weight, of the famous 68-pounder of the British navy, and of the only successful rifled 100-pounder yet produced in England. The crew were generally recruited in Great Britain, and many of them received superior training on board her Majesty’s gunnery-ship, the Excellent. The Kearsarge is one of the first gun-boats built at our navy yards at the commencement of the Rebellion, and lacks the improvements of the vessels now under construction.

* * * “The President has signified his intention to recommend that you receive a vote of thanks, in order that you may be advanced to the grade of Commodore. Lieutenant-Commander James S. Thornton, the executive officer of the Kearsarge, will be recommended to the Senate for advancement ten numbers in his grade.” * *

Thornton was well known in the navy for his firmness, ability and courage.

In regard to the conduct of the English yacht, the Secretary says, “That the wretched commander * * * should have resorted to any dishonorable means to escape after his surrender; that he should have thrown overboard the sword that was no longer his; that before encountering an armed antagonist the mercenary rover should have removed the chronometers and other plunder stolen from peaceful commerce, are not matters of surprise, for each act is characteristic of one who has been false to his country and flag. You could not have expected, however, that gentlemen, or those claiming to be gentlemen, would, on such an occasion, act in bad faith, and that, having been called upon or permitted to assist in rescuing persons and property which had been surrendered to you, they would run away with either.” * * * *

“The Alabama was an English-built vessel, armed and manned by Englishmen; has never had any other than an English register; has never sailed under any recognized national flag since she left the shores of England; has never visited any port of North America; and her career of devastation since she went forth from England is one that does not entitle those of her crew who were captured to be paroled. This Department expressly disavows that act. Extreme caution must be exercised, so that we in no way change the character of this English-built and English-manned, if not English-owned, vessel, or relieve those who may be implicated in sending forth this robber upon the seas from any responsibility to which they may be liable for the outrages she has committed.”

The sagacity and far-sightedness of Mr. Welles in preventing the English Government from having any technical ground for escaping responsibility has since been triumphantly approved by the action of the Geneva Convention, in the damages brought in against England for the actions of this vessel. Unfortunately the English masses had to help to pay these damages, as well as the classes which had in every way fostered the Rebellion.

It was stated in the English newspapers that the Kearsarge was an ironclad in disguise; and much more powerful, in every way, than the Alabama. Let us look at the facts.

In the first place, the two vessels were much the same in size, the Alabama being a little longer, and about one hundred tons larger.

Captain Winslow covers the whole ground in the following statement: “The Kearsarge’s battery consists of seven guns, two 11-inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders, one light rifled 28-pounder.

“The battery of the Alabama consisted of one 100-pounder, rifled; six 32-pounders, that is, one more gun than the Kearsarge.

“In the wake of the engines on the outside the Kearsarge had stopped up and down her sheet chains.

“These were stopped by marline to eyebolts, which extended some twenty feet, and this was done by the hands of the Kearsarge; the whole was covered by light plank, to prevent dirt collecting. It was for the purpose of protecting the engines when there was no coal in the upper part of the bunkers, as was the case when the action took place. The Alabama had her bunkers full, and was equally protected. The Kearsarge went into action with a crew of one hundred and sixty-two officers and men. The Alabama, by report of the Deerhound’s officers, had one hundred and fifty. * * * * The action lasted one hour and two minutes, from the first to the last shot. The Kearsarge received twenty-eight shots above and below, thirteen about her hull; the best shots were abaft the mainmast, two shots, which cut the chain stops, the shell of which broke the casing of wood covering; they were too high to damage the boilers had they penetrated. The Kearsarge was only slightly damaged, and I supposed the action for hot work had just commenced when it ended.

“Such stuff as the Alabama firing when she was going down, and all such talk, is twaddle.

“The Alabama, toward the last, hoisted sail to get away, when the Kearsarge was laid across her bows, and would have raked her had she not surrendered, which she had done, and was trying to get her flags down, and showing a white flag over the stern.

“The officers of the Alabama on board the Kearsarge say that she was a complete slaughter-house, and was completely torn to pieces. This is all I know of the Alabama.

“Of the one hundred and sixty-three officers and men of the Kearsarge, one hundred and fifty-two were native Americans, and two of the remaining eleven were Englishmen.”

MOBILE BAY. AUGUST 5, 1864.

Farragut had returned to New York, after arduous service in the Mississippi, which cannot be told here, and had received the hearty congratulations and hospitalities of not only public bodies, but of all grateful citizens. He had been made Rear Admiral, a new rank in the United States, and had been thanked by Congress for his achievements.

But, after about four months of rest and relaxation he was called to duty again, and early in January, 1864, he once more hoisted his flag upon the Hartford and sailed for the Gulf. His flag-ship had received much needed repairs, and, on examination, it was found that she had been struck two hundred and forty times by shot and shell.

After a short stay at New Orleans, to settle naval matters there, he visited Ship Island and Pensacola, the established depots for supplies.

He was now preparing for the long desired attack on Mobile Bay and its defences, which he had long contemplated, and was only prevented from carrying out before by the necessity of carrying out joint operations on the Mississippi River.

It was impossible to prevent vessels from occasionally entering Mobile, no matter how vigilant the blockaders were. Forts Morgan, Powell and Gaines protected the principal channels, and the light blockade-runners would creep along the shore, under cover of the night, under charge of experienced pilots, and soon be under the protecting guns of the forts. Now and then some adventurous craft would suffer for her temerity, by being captured, or driven on shore and riddled with shot and shell; but, still, too many got in. Most of these vessels had clearances for Matamoros, a Mexican town on the Rio Grande.

A steamer was captured off Mobile which was evidently a blockade-runner. The Captain was sent on board the flag-ship, to be interrogated by the Admiral. Farragut recognized him as an old acquaintance, and one of the most experienced merchant captains in the Gulf trade. The Admiral asked him what in the world he was doing close in with Mobile, when he was three hundred miles out of his course for Matamoros. The Captain entered into a long story about having been swept in shore by a northeast gale. When he had finished, Farragut smiled and said, “How could you be blown to the northward and eastward by a northeast gale? I am very sorry for you, but we shall have to hold you for your thundering bad navigation.” Among the articles captured in this vessel were one thousand copies of a caricature of General Butler, who has certainly had notoriety conferred upon him in that way as often as any one who ever lived.

Personal reconnoissances and skirmishes with the different forts about Mobile occupied the Admiral for some time, and he recognized the importance of having light draft ironclads to fight those which the enemy were preparing.

He wrote, “I feel no apprehension about Buchanan’s raising the blockade at Mobile, but with such a force as he has in the Bay, it would be unwise to take in our wooden vessels, without the means of fighting the enemy on an equal footing. By reference to the chart you will see how small a space there is for the ships to manœuvre.”

On the 2d of March he wrote, “I saw the Mobile ram Tennessee yesterday. She is very long, and I thought moved very slowly.”

He was most anxious to make the attack upon Mobile, as every week’s delay rendered the work more dangerous. But he was delayed by the necessity of awaiting ships.

In the meantime stirring work was going on inland, and the armies grappling in the fight of giants. Farragut’s letters show that he was keenly alive to all that was going on, although the mental strain upon him in keeping up the blockade and in preparing for the undertaking he had in view, was very great.

In a letter written in May he says, “We have the Southern papers of the 17th, and yet they contain no news. All is dark with respect to Grant and Lee. Grant has done one thing. He has gone to work making war and doing his best, and kept newsmongers out of his army. The only comfort I have is, that the Confederates are more unhappy, if possible, than we are.”

“We started with few good officers of experience, but shall end with some of the best in the world. Our fellows are beginning to understand that war means fighting.”

To Admiral Bailey, at Key West, he writes, “I am watching Buchanan, in the ram Tennessee. She is a formidable looking thing, and there are four others, and three wooden gun-boats. They say he is waiting for the two others to come out and attack me, and then raid upon New Orleans. Let him come. I have a fine squadron to meet him, all ready and willing. I can see his boats very industriously laying down torpedoes, so I judge that he is quite as much afraid of our going in as we are of his coming out.”

On June 21st he writes, “I am tired of watching Buchanan and Page, and wish from the bottom of my heart that Buck would come out and try his hand upon us. This question has to be settled, iron _versus_ wood, and there never was a better chance to settle the question as to the sea-going qualities of ironclad ships. We are to-day ready to try anything that comes along, be it wood or iron, in reasonable quantities. Anything is preferable to lying on our oars. But I shall have patience until the army has finished its campaign in Virginia and Georgia. I hope it will be the close of the war.”

On the 6th of July, he writes, “My birth-day; sixty-three years old. I was a little down in the mouth, because I thought we had not done as well as we ought to, in destroying a blockade-runner that tried to force her way by us. But Dyer, in the Glasgow, ran her on shore under the guns of Fort Morgan, and I had been trying to get the gun-boats to destroy her, but they did bad work, and the Rebels were at it, night before last, trying to get her off. I determined to send a party to board and set her on fire. Watson volunteered for the work, and I sent him, with Tyson, Ensign Dana, Whiting, Glidden, and Pendleton, and Master’s Mate Herrick. Jouett and McCann covered the party. Well, as you may suppose, it was an anxious night for me; for I am almost as fond of Watson as yourself, and interested in the others. I thought it was to be a hand-to-hand fight, if any. I sat up till midnight, and then thought they had found the enemy in too great force, and had given it up; so I laid down to rest. About half an hour later the Rebel was reported to be on fire, and I was happy, because I had heard no firing, and I knew the surprise was perfect. And so it turned out. The Rebels scampered off as our fellows climbed on board. The boats returned about 2 o’clock A. M., all safe, no one hurt. I was anxious until their return. But no one knows what my feelings are; I am always calm and quiet.”

“I have never seen a crew come up like our’s. They are ahead of the old set in small arms, and fully equal to them at the great guns. They arrived here a new lot of boys and young men, and have now fattened up, and knock the nine-inch guns about like 24-pounders, to the astonishment of everybody.”

One more extract--for these show the man:--

On July 20th, he wrote, “The victory of the Kearsarge over the Alabama raised me up. I would sooner have fought that fight than any ever fought on the ocean. Only think! it was fought like a tournament, in full view of thousands of French and English, with a perfect confidence, on the part of all but the Union people, that we would be whipped. People came from Paris to witness the fight. Why, my poor little good-for-nothing Hatteras would have whipped her (the Alabama) in fifteen minutes, but for an unlucky shot in the boiler. She struck the Alabama two shots for one, while she floated. But the triumph of the Kearsarge was grand. Winslow had my old First Lieutenant of the Hartford, Thornton, in the Kearsarge. He is as brave as a lion, and as cool as a parson. I go for Winslow’s promotion!”

On the 31st of July all the monitors sent to Farragut had arrived, except the Tecumseh, and she was at Pensacola, to be ready in a day or two.

The preparations for the attack upon the Mobile defences were now about completed, and Farragut had apprised each of his Commanders of his plans for passing into the Bay.

Generals Canby and Granger had visited the Hartford, and in this interview it was agreed that all the troops that could be spared should be sent to co-operate with the fleet in the attack upon Forts Morgan and Gaines.

Subsequently Canby found he had not force sufficient to invest both forts; so, at Farragut’s suggestion, he sent a body of troops to land on Dauphin Island, near Fort Gaines. The Admiral appreciated the assistance of the army in this case, and the responsibility of his position. He was not the man to begin the attack without having taken every precaution to insure success. He said he was ready to take the offensive the moment the troops were ready to act with him; that there was no doing anything with these forts so long as their back doors were open. More than that, his communications had to be kept open for supplies, which required a force of troops to cut off all the enemy’s land communications with Mobile.

The 4th of August had been fixed as the day for the landing of the troops and the entrance into the Bay, but the Tecumseh was not ready. General Granger promptly landed his troops on Dauphin Island at that date. As it turned out, all was for the best, for the Confederates were busily engaged, during the 4th, in throwing troops and supplies into Fort Gaines, all of which were captured a few days afterward.

The attack was then postponed until the 5th, and Farragut wrote a letter to his wife that night, which is a model of its kind, and shows he fully appreciated the desperate work before him.

For it we must refer the reader to his Life, by his son, from which this account is principally taken.

The battle of Mobile Bay was, very properly, the crowning achievement of Farragut’s naval career, for it was the most brilliant action in which he ever took part.

The defences of the Bay, at the time of his attack, consisted mainly of three forts, Morgan, Gaines and Powell. Fort Morgan was one of the old brick forts, with a wall four feet eight inches thick. It is on the west end of a peninsula which encloses the Bay, called Mobile Point, and forms, with Gaines, the principal defence of the main ship channel to the Gulf. It was armed with eighty-six guns, of various calibre, some very heavy, and in exterior batteries were twenty-nine additional guns. The water battery had two rifled 32s, four 10-inch Columbiads, and one 8-inch Brookes rifle. The garrison, officers and men, numbered six hundred and forty.

Fort Gaines is three miles northwest from Fort Morgan, at the eastern extremity of Dauphin Island. This is also a brick fort, and mounted thirty guns, with a garrison of forty-six officers and eight hundred and eighteen men.

On the flats south and east of Fort Gaines innumerable piles were driven, to obstruct the passage of vessels, and from these, two lines of torpedoes extended towards Fort Morgan, terminating at a point a few hundred yards from that fort, marked by a red buoy. This portion of the passage was left open for the use of blockade-runners, and vessels using it had to pass within easy range of the guns of the fort.

Six miles northeast of Fort Gaines is another narrow channel, only fit for light draught vessels, called Grant’s pass. There was a redoubt there, mounted with four very heavy guns.

Auxiliary to this land defence the iron-clad steamer Tennessee lay about five hundred yards north of Fort Morgan. She was two hundred and nine feet long and forty feet wide, with an iron prow projecting two feet below the water line. Her sloping sides were covered with armor varying in thickness from five to six inches. She carried six rifled guns in casemate, two of which were pivot, and the others broadside guns, throwing solid projectiles of one hundred and ten and ninety-five pounds respectively. The ports, of which there were ten, were so arranged that the pivot guns could be fought in broadside, sharp on the bow, and in a direct line with her keel. Her great defect was in the steering-gear, which was badly arranged and much exposed. Near her were anchored three wooden gun-boats, the Morgan, Gaines and Selma. The first carried one 63 cwt. eight-inch gun, and five 57 cwt. 32-pounders; the Gaines, one eight-inch Brooke rifle and five 57 cwt. 32-pounders; the Selma, three eight-inch Paixhans and one old-fashioned heavy thirty-two, converted into a rifle and banded at the breech, throwing a solid shot of about sixty pounds.

Farragut had long before issued general orders in regard to the attack, and made no secret of his intention to attack. They were as follows:--

“Strip your vessels and prepare for the conflict. Send down all your
superfluous spars and spare rigging. Put up the splinter-nets on the
starboard side, and barricade the wheel and steers-men with sails and
hammocks. Lay chains or sand bags on the deck, over the machinery, to
resist a plunging fire. Hang the sheet chains over the side, or make
any other arrangement for security that your ingenuity may suggest.
Land your starboard boats, or lower and tow them on the port side,
and lower the port boats down to the water’s edge. Place a leadsman
and the pilot in the port quarter-boat, or the one most convenient to
the Commander.

“The vessels will run past the forts in couples, lashed side by side,
as hereinafter designated. The flag-ship will lead and steer from
Sand Island N. by E., by compass, until abreast of Fort Morgan, then
N.W., half N., until past the middle ground, then N. by W., and the
others, as designated in the drawing, will follow in due order, until
ordered to anchor; but the bow and quarter line must be preserved, to
give the chase guns a fair range, and each vessel must be kept astern
of the broadside of the next ahead; each vessel will keep a very
little on the starboard quarter of his next ahead, and when abreast
of the fort will keep directly astern, and as we pass the fort, will
take the same distance on the port quarter of the next ahead, to
enable the stern guns to fire clear of the next vessel astern.

“It will be the object of the Admiral to get as close to the fort
as possible before opening fire; the ships, however, will open fire
the moment the enemy opens upon us, with their chase and other guns,
as fast as they can be brought to bear. Use short fuses for the
shell and shrapnel, and as soon as within 300 or 400 yards, give
them grape. It is understood that heretofore we have fired too high,
but with grape-shot, it is necessary to elevate a little above the
object, as grape will dribble from the muzzle of the gun.

“If one or more of the vessels be disabled, their partners must carry
them through, if possible; but if they cannot, then the next astern
must render the required assistance; but as the Admiral contemplates
moving with the flood tide, it will only require sufficient power to
keep the crippled vessels in the channel.

“Vessels that can, must place guns upon the poop and top-gallant
forecastle, and in the tops on the starboard side. Should the enemy
fire grape, they will remove the men from the top-gallant forecastle
and the poop to the guns below, until out of grape range.