Part 46 (1/2)
In this crisis, Colonel Joseph Bailey, of Wisconsin, submitted a plan for a series of wing dams above the falls, believing they would raise the water high enough to float all the vessels. The other engineers scoffed at the project, but Porter placed 3,000 men and all that Bailey needed at his command.
The task was a prodigious one, for the falls, as they were termed, were a mile in length and it was necessary to swell the current sufficiently to carry the vessels past the rocks for the whole distance. The large force of men worked incessantly for nearly two weeks, by which time the task was accomplished and the fleet plunged through unharmed to the deeper water below the falls. The genius of a single man had saved the Union fleet.
Banks, having retreated to Alexandria, paused only long enough to burn the town, when he kept on to New Orleans, where some time later he was relieved of his command. The Red River expedition was the crowning disgrace of the year.
THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE.
After the fall of New Orleans, in April, 1862, Mobile was the leading port of the Southern Confederacy. It was blockaded closely, but the Confederate cruisers succeeded now and then in slipping in and out, while a number of ironclads were in process of building, and threatened to break the blockade. Admiral Farragut, the greatest naval hero of modern times, after a careful reconnaissance of the defenses, told the government that if it would provide him with a single ironclad, he would capture Mobile. He was promised a strong land force under General Granger and several monitors, which were sent to him.
Farragut, fully appreciating the task before him, made his preparations with care and thoroughness. His fleet consisted of eighteen vessels, four of which--the _Tec.u.mseh_, _Winnebago_, _Manhattan_, and _Chickasaw_--were ironclads, while the others were of wood. Admiral Buchanan (commander of the _Merrimac_ in her first day's fight with the _Monitor_) had less vessels, three gunboats, and the formidable ram _Tennessee_. But he was a.s.sisted by three powerful forts, with large garrisons--Gaines, Morgan, and Powell--which commanded the entrance, while the _Tennessee_ was regarded by the Confederates as able to sink the whole Union fleet.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BAILEY'S DAMS ON THE RED RIVER.]
The wooden vessels were lashed in couples, so as to give mutual help, and with the _Brooklyn_ and _Hartford_ (Farragut's flags.h.i.+p) in the lead, the procession entered Mobile Bay on the morning of August 5, 1864. As they came opposite the forts they opened fire upon them, and in a few minutes the latter began their thunderous reply. The battle was tremendous, and the smoke was so dense that Farragut, who was closely watching and directing the action of the fleet, gradually climbed the rigging, so as to place himself above the obstructing vapor. His height was such that the captain of the vessel became anxious for his safety, since if he was struck, as looked probable, he was sure to fall to the deck or overboard. He, therefore, sent a man after him, with a rope in hand. Amid the gentle remonstrances of the admiral, this man lashed him fast to the rigging. When the increasing smoke made it necessary to climb higher, Farragut untied the fastenings, and, after he had taken several upward steps, tied himself again.
The harbor bristled with torpedoes, to which, however, Farragut and his officers paid little heed. The _Tec.u.mseh_, Commander T.A.M. Craven, was hurrying to attack the ram _Tennessee_, when a gigantic torpedo exploded beneath her, smas.h.i.+ng in the bottom and causing her to sink so suddenly that nearly a hundred men went down with her. The pilot and Craven were in the pilot house, and, feeling the boat dropping beneath them, both sprang to the narrow ladder leading out. They reached the foot together, when the commander bowed and, pausing, said to the pilot: ”You first, sir.” He had barely time to scramble out, when Captain Craven and the rest went down.
The Union vessels pressed forward with such vigor that, with the exception of the loss of the _Tec.u.mseh_, the forts were pa.s.sed without the s.h.i.+ps receiving serious injury. When, however, the battle seemed won, the _Tennessee_ came out from under the guns of Fort Powell and headed for the Union vessels. She believed herself invulnerable in her ma.s.sive iron hide, and selected the flags.h.i.+p as her special target. The _Hartford_ partly dodged her blow and rammed her in return. The ram was accompanied by three gunboats, which were soon driven out of action, but the _Tennessee_ plunged here and there like some enraged monster driven at bay, but which the guns and attacks of her a.s.sailants could not conquer.
Tons of metal were hurled with inconceivable force against her mailed sides, only to drop harmlessly into the water. She was b.u.t.ted and rammed, and in each case it was like the rat gnawing a file: the injury fell upon the a.s.sailant. She was so surrounded by her enemies that they got in one another's way and caused mutual hurt.
But as continual dropping wears away stones, this incessant hammering finally showed effect. Admiral Buchanan received a painful wound, and a number of his men were killed; the steering-chains were broken, the smoke-stack was carried away, the port shutters jammed, and finally the wallowing ”sea-hog” became unmanageable. Then the white flag was displayed and the battle was over. Farragut had won his most memorable battle, and the last important seaport of the Confederacy was gone.
Two days later Fort Gaines was captured, and Fort Morgan surrendered on the 23d of the same month. The land force rendered valuable a.s.sistance, and the blockade became more rigid. The coast line, however, was so extensive that it was impossible to seal every port, and the Confederacy obtained a good deal of sorely needed medical supplies through the daring blockade-runners, which often managed to elude the watchful fleets.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT TO ADMIRAL FARRAGUT AT WAs.h.i.+NGTON.]
The Confederate cruisers were still roaming the ocean and creating immense havoc among the Union s.h.i.+pping. Despite our protests to England, she helped to man these vessels, and laid up a fine bill for damages which she was compelled to pay after the close of the war.
THE CONFEDERATE CRUISERS.
During the year 1864, several new cruisers appeared on the ocean, one of which, the _Tallaha.s.see_, boldly steamed up and down off our northern coast, and, in the s.p.a.ce of ten days, destroyed thirty-three vessels.
The most famous of all these cruisers was the _Alabama_, which was built at Birkenhead, England, and launched May 15, 1862. She was a bark-rigged propeller of 1,016 tons register, with a length over all of 220 feet.
Her two horizontal engines were of 300 horse-power each. When completed, she was sent on a pretended trial trip. At the Azores she received her war material from a waiting transport, while her commander, Captain Raphael Semmes, and his officers, who had gone thither on a British steamer, went aboard. The _Alabama_ carried 8 guns and a crew of 149 men, most of whom were Englishmen. Thus fairly launched, she started on her career of destruction, which continued uninterruptedly for twenty-two months.
DESTRUCTION OF THE ALABAMA.
One of the many United States vessels that was engaged in a hunt for the _Alabama_ was the _Kearsarge_, Captain John Ancrum Winslow. She was of 1,030 tons, carried 7 guns, and had a crew of 163 men, nearly all of whom were Americans. On Sunday, July 12, 1864, while lying off the town of Flus.h.i.+ng, Holland, Captain Winslow received a dispatch from Minister W.L. Dayton, at Paris, notifying him that the _Alabama_ had arrived at Cherbourg, France. Winslow lost no time in steaming thither, and reached Cherbourg on Tuesday, where he saw the cruiser across the breakwater with the Confederate flag defiantly flying.
Winslow did not dare enter the harbor, for, had he done so, he would have been obliged, according to international law, to remain twenty-four hours after the departure of the _Alabama_, which would thereby gain all the opportunity she needed for escape. He, therefore, took station off the port, intending to wait until the cruiser came out.
This precaution, however, was unnecessary, for Semmes, grown bold by his long career of destroying unarmed merchantmen, had resolved to offer the _Kearsarge_ battle. He sent a challenge to Captain Winslow, couched in insulting language, and the Union officer promptly accepted it.
The news of the impending battle was telegraphed far and wide, and excursion trains were run from Paris and other points to Cherbourg. On Sunday, June 19th, fully 15,000 people lined the sh.o.r.es and wharves, and among them all it may be doubted whether there were more than a hundred whose sympathies were not keenly on the side of the _Alabama_. France was intensely in favor of the Southern Confederacy, and nothing would have pleased Louis Napoleon, the emperor, better than to see our country torn apart. He did his utmost to persuade England to join him in intervening against us.
With a faint haze resting on the town and sea, the _Alabama_ steamed slowly out of the harbor on Sunday morning, June 19th, and headed toward the waiting _Kearsarge_. The latter began moving seaward, as if afraid to meet her antagonist. The object of Captain Winslow, however, was to draw the _Alabama_ so far that no question about neutral waters could arise, and in case the _Alabama_ should be disabled, he did not intend to give her the chance to take refuge in Cherbourg.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SINKING OF THE ”ALABAMA,” THE MOST FAMOUS OF ALL CONFEDERATE CRUISERS.