steam sloop-of-war “Hartford,” 1,900 tons, which from that time till the close of the war was his flag-ship. She had a speed, under steam alone, of eight knots, or with steam and sail combined, of eleven knots. She carried twenty-two nine-inch Dahlgren guns, two twenty-pounder Parrots, and a rifled Sawyer gun on the forecastle; and Farragut had her fore- and main-tops protected with boiler iron and armed with howitzers. His orders instructed him to “collect such vessels as can be spared from the blockade, and proceed up the Mississippi river and reduce the defences which guard the approaches to New Orleans, when you will appear off that city and take possession of it under the guns of your squadron. . . . As you have expressed yourself perfectly satisfied with the force given to you, and as many more powerful vessels will be added before you can commence operations, the department and the country require of you success.” A military force of 15,000 men, designed to co-operate with the fleet in capturing New Orleans, and to garrison the place after it should be taken, sailed in transports from Fort Monroe, on 20 Feb., commanded by Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. The place of rendezvous was Ship Island, which is about one hundred miles northeast of the mouths of the Mississippi.
At the last great bend in the river, about thirty miles above the mouth, stood Fort Jackson on the right bank and Fort St. Philip on the left. A single fort at this point had held the British forces in check for nine days in 1814-'15, though they threw a thousand shells into it. Fort Jackson was a bastioned fortification, built of brick, with casemates and glacis, rising twenty-five feet above the water. Fort St. Philip was smaller, and rose nineteen feet. The whole number of guns in the two works was about 115, which were of various kinds and sizes, but mostly smooth-bore thirty-two-pounders. Above the forts lay a Confederate fleet of fifteen vessels, including an iron-clad ram and a large, unfinished floating battery covered with railroad iron. Below the forts two iron chains were stretched across the river, supported on eight hulks anchored abreast. Two hundred Confederate sharp-shooters kept constant watch along the banks, and several fire-rafts were ready to be lighted and sent down against the fleet. To pass these obstructions and fight his way to the city, Farragut had six sloops-of-war, sixteen gun-boats, twenty-one mortar schooners, and five other vessels, carrying in all over 200 guns. This was the largest expedition that had ever sailed under the United States flag, but it did not include a single iron-clad, and while it was mainly built for sea-service, its task now was to operate in a river with many shoals and a shifting channel. To get the larger vessels over the bar at Southwest pass, it was necessary to lighten them as much as possible, and then drag them over through a foot of mud. With the “Pensacola” alone, this process occupied two weeks. The “Colorado” could not be taken over at all.
The mortar schooners were towed up the stream to a point within reach of the forts, and began to take their places and open fire on 18 April. There was a stretch of woods between them and the forts, and their masts were trimmed with bushes to prevent them from being distinguished. The gunners could not see the forts, but fired with a computed aim, the result of careful observation and triangulation by a coast-survey officer. They used shells weighing 285 pounds, and kept up a constant fire for six days and nights, throwing nearly (>,000 shells. This resulted in disabling fifty-three of the garrison and destroying some of the build- ings, but not in materially damaging the forts. Farragut was impatient with this operation, as it only served to give the enemy warning, and he found the greatest difficulty in preventing collisions in his fleet. Half a dozen fire-rafts were sent down, but boats'-crews tackled them, and either towed them ashore or sent them out to sea. Perhaps no commander was ever so completely master of every detail as Farragut. He could have taken the place and performed the duties of any man in the fleet. He issued orders in which minute directions were given for every contingency that he could anticipate, and in addition to this he bade his officers use their own ingenuity. They whitewashed the decks (for the attack was to be in the night) and took other precautions, the most important of which were those intended to protect the boilers and machinery. Not only was the coal so placed as to guard these, but all the spare chains were “stoppered” up and down the side amidships. In the night of 20 April, Capt. Henry H. Bell went silently up the river with a boat's-crew and unfastened the chains to make an opening for the fleet to pass through. In the night of the 23d, Lieut-Com. C. H. B. Caldwell was sent up to see if the way was still clear, and signaled that it was; but the enemy discovered him and opened fire, at the same time sending down fire-rafts and lighting two large piles of wood near the ends of the chain, so that the whole scene was made as bright as day. But the fleet was now ready for the attack, and at half past three o'clock in the morning it was under way. The first division, consisting of eight vessels, was commanded by Capt. Theodorus Bailey; the second, three vessels, was led by Farragut's flag-ship; the third, six vessels, commanded by Capt. Bell. As the line of battle passed through the opening in the chain, it came within reach of the guns of the forts, and each vessel in succession was subjected to a raking fire. One became entangled among the rafts and did not get free in time to make the passage, another received a shot in her boiler and was compelled to drop down-stream again, while a third, being delayed till daylight, attempted to pass up alone and was driven back by a destructive fire. With these exceptions, the whole line moved steadily up the river, sailing close to the forts and pouring in broadsides of shell and grape-shot that at times swept the bastions clear of the enemy and silenced the guns. After passing by the forts, the fleet was subjected to a raking fire similar to that which it had encountered in the approach, and no sooner had it gone beyond the range of this than it encountered the Confederate fleet. But of this it made short work; some of the enemy's vessels were driven ashore, some were run down, and others were riddled with shot. The flag-ship “Hartford” grounded on a shoal, and at the same time the ram “Manassas” pushed a fire-raft against her. But the flames were promptly extinguished and the vessel gotten off into deep water, when she was approached in the smoke and darkness by a steamer crowded with men, evidently intending to board her. She at once planted a heavy shell in the stranger, which exploded, and the vessel disappeared. The “Hartford” then passed on up-stream, firing right and left into the enemy's gun-boats. The “Brooklyn” encountered several of these, into one of which she sent eleven shells at a single discharge, all of which exploded, and the gun-boat ran ashore in flames. The “Mississippi,” a side-wheel steamer, encountered the ram “Manassas,” and received a blow that disabled her machinery; but she sent a broadside through the ram, and
