It was for Yankee ingenuity to make up, as far as possible, for the absence of those heavy iron plates, which subsequently rendered so harmless the concussion of shot and shell upon the sides of the Monitor. Mud became a substitute for iron. We clothe our soldiers in red, to present a brilliant target for the rifle of the foe. The banks of the Mississippi, near the mouths of the stream, for many leagues, present but a limitless expanse of mud. The stream itself is so turbid, that at a short distance it can scarcely be distinguished in color from the mud-banks through which it flows. From this mud a paint was made, with which the ships were thoroughly daubed, so that, at the distance of a mile, they could with difficulty be distinguished from the river, or the slimy banks.

But it must not be supposed that these operations, so diligently prosecuted for a month, were either unnoticed or undisturbed by the enemy. Every day some reconnoissance on the part of the rebel gun-boats, or of our own, furnished exciting incidents to the fleet, and kept the men always on the alert. The mortar fleet at length moved up the river, and took a position in advance of the other ships, at the head of the Passes. About five miles above this position, there was a bend in the river, which marked the dividing line between these unwearied and vigilant river pickets-the iron-clad gun-boats. Here, at night, were ever stationed five or six of our steamers, to guard against surprise. They fell back a little by day. But our steamers sometimes passed above it, in pursuit of the enemy, who always by his greatest speed avoided an engagement.

Through the forethought of Commander Porter, the expedition had been furnished with a coast survey steamer, the Sachem, by which, under Capt. F. W. Gerdes and Mr. J. G. Oltmanns, his topographical assistant, very important observations were made, preparatory to the bombardment. By a series of triangulations, the distance from the forts to all important points was ascertained, and the positions of the mortar boats determined. These surveys were attended with great danger, from exposure to the fire of the rebels, concealed in the rushes and almost impenetrable thickets of the banks, near the forts. But the party fearlessly performed their work in an open boat, and when fired upon from the shore, drove off the enemy by the well-directed fire of their own rifles. On one occasion, a party of about two hundred rebels, raised from the "roughs and readys" of New Orleans, and belonging to the garrison of Fort Jackson, made an excursion down the river, for the purpose of firing from the wooded banks upon our unsuspecting boats; but having been discerned, they were so terribly frightened by the shells of one of our gun-boats, that they hastily retreated, and refusing to return to duty in the forts, marched on toward the city.

To determine the range of his mortars, and to draw the fire of the enemy, so as to ascertain the position of his guns, and their weight of metal, a successful reconnoissance was made on the 15th of April, by Commander Porter, with three of his schooners. Some of our shells fell into the forts, and drove the rebels from their barbette guns to the casemates; but none of their shot had effect upon our vessels. After a trial of half an hour, the schooners were ordered to withdraw out of range.

The trying delays, incident to so great an undertaking, were now

nearly ended. The innumerable details and provisions for the attack had been arranged, and the three thousand impatient seamen were soon to enter the long-expected contest. On the 17th of April, the squadron was ordered to advance, and to anchor within half a mile of the point from which the bombardment was to take place. Early on the morning of the 18th, the vessels took their final position for the attack. Here let us hastily review the condition of the fleet.

From the forts, extending down the west bank of the river, for eight miles there is a dense line of woods, fifty yards wide, fringing the stream, and reaching back to the swamp. At the bend of the river, the rebels had cut an opening through this forest, that they might obtain a better range. for the guns of Fort Jackson, upon our advancing ships. The river is here about half a mile wide. A vast, unexplored swamp, lies beyond these woods. The castern bank is low, marshy ground, unrelieved by trees, or any other prominent objects. The forts were plainly visible from the mast-heads of the vessels, over the tops of the trees, behind which their hulls were concealed and sheltered from the rebel guns. To confuse the vision, and still more to protect the mortar boats, their masts and rigging had been decorated and entwined with the leafy branches of trees, as if for the festivities of some gala day, or as the barbaric warriors of olden time went into battle, their brows crowned with wreaths of laurel.

Six of these gun-boats, which were stationed near the eastern shore, to shell Fort St. Philip, were protected by another device. The men collected the reeds and other vegetation of the marshes, and sheathed the hulls of their vessels with a shaggy covering, so resembling the growth upon the shore, as to render their position uncertain to the distant enemy, as they were thus blended with the ever rank and waving reeds and rushes. Moored to the stumps of the trees, on the western bank of the river, were the remaining fourteen mortar boats, the first 'about three-quarters of a mile from Fort Jackson, and the rest in direct line astern, with bowsprits and taffrails touching each other.

The Hartford, Pensacola, Richmond, Brooklyn and Mississippi were in the rear of the mortars, just out of range of the forts, with steam up, maintaining their relative positions, against the current and surrounded by the gun-boats, some of which were to take an active part in the bombardment. The tremendous mortar-boats were, however, expected to do the principal work in reducing the forts so that the other ships could pass and destroy the rebel gun-boats, and then ascend and unfurl the National banner over New Orleans.

The force thus arrayed against the rebel fortifications was certainly very formidable, though the rebels in their fancied Gibraltar, bade them scornful defiance. The five sloops of war, which constituted one of the efficient arms of assault, carried a hundred and four guns of large calibre. The four first-class gun-boats, the Iroquois, Dacotah, Varuna and Oneida were iron-clad, and very heavily armed, with from six to twelve guns. Eight others, of the second class, carried each one 11-inch pivot gun, two 24-pounder howitzers, and one 20-pounder Parrot. Each of the twenty mortar-boats bore a huge 13-inch mortar, requiring at every discharge over

twenty pounds of powder. Attached to these are the steamers Harriet Lane, Westfield, Clifton and Miami, besides several transports and storeships and coal vessels, farther down the river. Such was the force which the National Government had sent to open the navigation of the Mississippi once more to the world, and to rescue New Orleans from the rebels who had seized it. A land force, under Gen. Butler, of eighteen thousand men, was waiting to coöperate with the fleet in holding the property of the National Government after it should have been regained. The brave seamen, who had been for months impatiently anticipating the contest, were roused to a generous enthusiam and rivalry, by recent accounts of glorious victories to the National arms in the Atlantic States and on the Western rivers. They were eager to strike another blow at the monstrous rebellion, and were confident that the speedy capture of New Orleans would fall like the knell of death upon the disheartened Confederacy, and would be a memorial, through all coming time, of their gallantry and patriotism.

On the evening of the 15th, an incident occurred, which inspired the men with still more intense zeal for the truly chivalrous enterprise, to which the dawn of the morning was to usher them. In the morning, an immense fire-raft piled with cords of blazing pine, had been sent down the swift current of the stream, upon our fleet. For a time the ships were in great peril, and it seemed impossible that all of them could escape the fiery flood. Fortunately, however, the raft grounded, and burned to the water's edge, inflicting no harm. The incident induced Commander Porter to issue an order, that every small boat of the mortar fleet should be in readiness, upon the appearance of another fire-raft, to push out from the several vessels and tow the raft either ashore, or to some part of the channel where it could drift harmlessly down the stream.

One hundred and fifty boats were accordingly thus put in readiness, with picked crews, and supplied with grapnel ropes, buckets and axes. At sun-down, Commander Porter, with his usual vigilance, reviewed this little fleet of row-boats. After the review they returned to their several vessels, and night came on a night moonless and of pitchy darkness. Suddenly the gleam of a fire was seen far in the distance. The alarm was instantly given by throwing up signal-lights from the ships, which, with their brilliant flame and varied colors, produced a beautiful effect upon the dark stream and the sombre foliage of the banks. As these gleaming meteors speedily burned out, the darkness of the night was rendered more intense by the contrast. Rapidly the flames of the fire-raft increased in volume and drew nearer, borne upon the swift current of the stream. Instantly one hundred and fifty boats were on the move, ascending to meet the floating furnace. The whole surrounding region, for miles, was now illumined by the gorgeous conflagration, while a dense black column of smoke arose, from the resinous wood, and blended with the clouds, which, by the reflec tion, seemed to be on fire. Two or three of the gun-boats also got under way, and steamed boldly towards the crackling, roaring, devouring thing of terror. One of these, the Westfield, Capt. Renshaw, under full head of steam, dashed furiously against the raft, crashing the timbers and filling the

sky with sparks from the tremendous blow; and then, from her hose-pipes, poured floods of water upon the blazing mass. The small boats were soon along side, advancing helter-skelter, wherever they could approach and grapple their formidable and insensible enemy.

The scene was now beautiful and sublime beyond description. The immediate arena of the conflict was brilliant as day, yet surrounded, at a short distance, with impenetrable blackness and gloom. Some mount the raft and plunge the flaming timbers into the river; some with axes endeavor to cut it into harmless fragments; some dash water upon it from their buckets; some grapple it and seek to drag it towards the banks. It is indeed a phantom scene, lurid and unearthly in its brilliance, its confusion and its surrounding gloom. But, finally, the object is accomplished. The raft, flaming, smouldering, broken, is drawn out of the range of the anchored vessels, and towed to the shore, where it is slowly consumed. As the boats return they are greeted by cheers, and soon again silence and darkness resume their reign. The sentinel, pacing the deck, in vain endeavors to penetrate the gloom, and no sound is heard but the cry of the tree-toad in the forest, and the plash of the turbid stream.

When Bonaparte thought of ceding Louisiana to the United States, to add to their territory, he pronounced the following words, which condense the policy of France for the preceding thirty years: "To free nations from the commercial tyranny of England we must counterbalance her by a maritime power which may become one day her rival-this power is the United States. The English aspire to the possession of all the riches of the world. I will be useful to the whole universe if I can prevent her from controlling. America, as she controls Asia." After the cession in 1803, Bonaparte again said: "This accession of territory establishes forever the power of the United States, and I have just given to England a maritime rival which sooner or later will lower her pride."

CHALLENGE GIVEN TO THE UNITED STATES GUN-BOATS BY FORT JACKSON.-TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT IN REPLY.-HEROIC ADVENTURES.-THE FLEET PASS THE FORTS.-FIRE-RAFTS.-GALLANT EXPLOITS.-SURRENDER AT QUARANTINE STATION.-CHALMETTE BATTERIES.-INSANE POLICY OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW ORLEANS.-FORTS AT CARROLTON.-SURRENDER OF NEW ORLEANS.-Demand for, and THE SURRENDER OF, FORT JACKSON.-RECAPITULATION.-LANDING OF BUTLER'S TROOPS.-APPEARANCE OF THE CITY.-BUTLER'S REIGN.-CHANGES IN NEW ORLEANS.-DEPARTURE OF THE FLEET.

EARLY in the morning of the 16th of April, 1862, all on board the mortar fleet and gun-boats were ready for action, and were impatiently awaiting the order to open fire. Concealed behind the hoary forests of the Mississippi swamps, these tremendous engines of destruction reposed for a time, as if gathering strength to deal forth, with all their might, their herculean blows. At nine o'clock in the morning, Fort Jackson threw down the gauntlet of defiance, in the form of a shell, pitched from one of her guns, the distance of a mile, into the midst of the flotilla. The gun-boat Owasco, which was a little in advance of the mortar boats, instantly, in behalf of the fleet, accepted the challenge by a return shot. Immediately the mortars commenced their terrific roar. The fleet had so obtained the range of the forts, that they could throw up their enormous shells, over the bend of the river, and its fringe of forest, and drop them, with almost unerring precision, within the ramparts of the foe. It was quite impossi ble for the enemy to determine the precise position of their invisible assailants. They could take no direct aim, and could only throw their shot to the spot from whence the appalling roar of the battle, and the volcanic storm of destruction, seemed to emerge. The thunder of these mortars, in continuous reverberation, was distinctly heard, day and night, during the long bombardment, in New Orleans, seventy-two miles distant. It is difficult to conceive what must have been the emotions of the rebels in the city, as they listened, day after day, for more than a week, to the ominous mutterings of this tempest, threatening soon to visit them with the vengeance of an insulted and outraged government.

The mortar fleet, consisting of twenty boats, was arranged in three divisions, each of which fired for two hours in succession, and then stopped for a short time, to cool. Thus a continuous bombardment was kept up. Each mortar was fired once in five minutes, so that it averaged a shell every minute; and sometimes three or four shells, with their unearthly screech, were sweeping in majestic curves through the air, at the same time. The shells weighed two hundred and fifteen pounds. About twenty