Additional from Mobile.
narrative of the passage of the forts — account from on board our fleet, &c.
Mobile papers of the 9th instant are received.
They contain additional particulars of the entrance of the enemy into
Mobile Bay.
The
Tribune has a very interesting narrative, written in
Fort Morgan, from which we make the following extracts:
The opening of the fight.
As the sun rose on the following day, we discovered that the fleet had, during the night, hauled off to the eastward and contracted their line into a semi-circle, nearly due south of the fort and within not more than three miles from the main inlet into the channel.
Their appearance was quite martial; the broad pennons that floated to the breeze from the top of their dark turrets seemed to bid defiance to the diminutive forces that were manning the ramparts of
Fort Morgan, and called up a sneering comparison between their bulky forms and the almost puny size of our own little fleet, which was coolly expecting the advance of their adversaries.
At thirty minutes past six a signal shot was fired from the extreme right wing of the
Federals; that shot falling short south-east of the fort, was soon after followed by a shell, which burst over the fort, sending its death-dealing fragments over the officers' quarters outside.
By that time, all was movement and activity within the walls; the officers, rushing to their several posts, were leading their detachments to the-southern bastions, and the firm, steady tramp of their brave followers was the only sound heard through the stillness of the morning.
The fleet then commenced their forward movement, and closing up on their centre, so as to bring the leading ships of the extreme right and left wings abreast, soon formed themselves into
echelons and made their way towards the head of the pass.
In front, westward, rode the
Tecumseh, a doubleturretted monster, vomiting fire through eight apertures constantly revolving.
On her left a large-sized frigate, and in their wake the balance of the fleet, each succeeding file covering in part that which preceded it. To those who look only to the outward appearance of things, this array looked quite martial; but for those to whom the respective forces of the contending parties were known, it lost all its prestige, and derived no other interest but that resulting from the really beautiful architecture of the
Federal navy, sailing up with a force of over three hundred guns of the largest calibre to overpower a fort and fleet mounting not more than forty of vastly inferior weight.
It was then 7:30 A. M., and as their line advanced they discharged their broadsides at the fort and kept moving on until the headmost vessels were within not more than a half mile from our batteries.
Then a calm deep voice is heard, and the command, "Commence firing," rings along our bastions.
It is answered with a cheer — a soul-stirring cheer — that comes from the willing and devoted breasts of the brave men who have for over twenty minutes stood like statues by the side of their guns.
Soon the pieces are sighted, the lanyards pulled, and soon the sharp, shrill sound of our heavy Parrott guns is heard whistling through the air as their square headed bolts are tearing their way towards the invader's ships.
As to each broadside, we answer in defiance of their superior numbers — to every shot fired by us a hundred shots reply.
Soon the heavy sands of the southern glacis and the turf of the parapets are seen bursting up in every direction, burying under their flying masses the heavy chases of our cannons, and covering up with their rubbish the gallant fellows serving the pieces.
As
General Page paces up and down the parapets, hailed with cheers by the men who so dearly love him, he hardly seems to notice the hail of fire, iron and lead that rushes over and past him. He seems to find in them an old familiar voice, which merely recalls to him that sentiment, that idol of his life, "duty."
The sinking of the iron-clad Tecumseh.
As he slowly passes each battery, he stops and, in a few simple words, encourages the men and advices the officers, often sighting the piece which, under his experienced eye, sends, lightning-like, its steeled bolts into the enemy's quaking flanks.
Yet, the long line still slowly advances, and as the first file is entering the channel our fire concentrates on the monster monitor
Tecumseh, who, steering off westward, seems bravely to stand the shock, till suddenly, and just as
Captain Hughes has sent her amidships one of his heaviest shots, she disappears as by magic from the broad bosom of the waters, engulfed in a whirlpool which so rapidly closes upon her, that before the astonished gaze of the spectator has commenced searching for her, nothing more than a ripple is seen settling on the surface of those waves which a moment before she was so proudly riding.
Sunk, sunk in the deepest depths of the
Gulf — sunk with one hundred and fifty living souls, six of whom only escaped — the captain and pilot to the ships, and four men to the shore.
A cheer: the cheer of five hundred men is raised over what is now the grave of the insolent invaders — a grave from which none will rise till a just and avenging God shall call them up to be doomed to the still more frightful and everlasting punishment reserved for the murderers of public peace and domestic happiness.
Yet, the frightful example before them deters them not, and, rushing on under increased steam, they advance, coming through the pass, till the foremost ones have already presented their broadsides to the western flank of the fort.
But there, instead of being able to concentrate our whole fire on them, the traverses are so awkwardly disposed that the guns of the southern bastions cannot be brought to bear on the channel, there being no room to swing them to the right; and thus comes the illustration of their off-repeated prophecies, as to the folly to provide the fort with defences calculated only to repel the enemy whilst off in the
Gulf, instead of tempting him to come right abreast of the fort, and there pouring in our deadly volleys.
Thus, as each succeeding file passes out of the range of our heaviest metal, the brave cannoniers are compelled to turn their muzzles away from it and direct their fire on the succeeding file; so that at no time more than five, and sometimes less than three guns are engaged in impeding the progress of the fleet.
But even under such disadvantages the brave defenders of the fort give not up the contest; and after having received the fire of the ramparts, the enemy still have to run the gauntlet at the water battery, which frowns at the foot of the southwest and western bastions.
Another peal of guns is heard.
It is the
Tennessee, with
Admiral Buchanan standing outside her shield, as in the fight of the
Merrimac.
There again he confronts them, and as each passes and, fearful of his blows, gives him a wide berth to the eastward, he pours into them his steady and regular fire; first the monitors, shying off to the west at least twelve hundred yards, then the cautious
Brooklyn and
Hartford, then the whole fleet running past him in terror as much of his name as of his deeds.
One, two, three, then six, then ten, twelve, seventeen pass him afar off, and seventeen receive his salute; and then, with the wings that fear lends to the pale- faced poltroon, they rush down towards the western shore, far beyond his range.
Of those who lag behind, two engage the
Selma, each of which could haul her up on her deck as a fancy jolly- boat; three make for the
Gaines, which, in still greater disproportion, fashes in their midst and boldly attempts to grapple the most powerful of her adversaries.
Foiled in this foolhardy enterprise, receiving in a few minutes fifteen shots through her hull and machinery, crippled and almost sinking, she seems, under the vivifying touch of the gallant
Bennett, to recover for one moment the spasmodic energies of a dying man, and extricating herself by a supreme effort from the grasp of her powerful enemy, she frantically rushes towards shore, where, as she beaches high and dry on the solid sand, her whole frame, shattered and exhausted by the effort, renders a low rumbling sound, as the death-rattle of a giant.
But yonder, yonder, near the western shore, the
Selma, raked fore and aft by the broadsides of her antagonists, is swept by their shot, and her decks covered with the dead and dying.
She strikes that flag what she so valiantly defended — thus, the gallant
Pat Murphy falls in the hands of the enemy, who triumphantly raises their infamous stars and stripes over the immaculate standard of the
South.
Meantime, the
Morgan has hugged in the eastern shore, and exchanging rapid shots with two of the
Federal ships, she adroitly manages to draw off from the unequal contest, and thus save at least one of our gallant ships, after receiving only slight injuries; and well did she act, the brave ship; for as the
Gaines and
Selma were already disposed of, she would have been beset by not less than seven of the most powerful gunboats.
With the gallant deed of
Captain Harrison, who, on the same night, took up his vessel to
Mobile, keeping up a running fight with three of the enemy, the world is already acquainted, but what they know not, is that when she started, he and his noble crew had pledged themselves, on their sacred lives and honor, to blow her up sooner than let her fall in the enemy's hands.
And now, all anxious eyes are turned towards the
Tennessee, which still, in the middle of the channel, seems proudly and defiantly to expect the combined efforts of the seventeen heavy crafts now hovering on her flank and rear; but she soon realizes the fact that, afraid of her, even in the proportion of seventeen to one, they intend to drive her under the cannons of the fort, and leave her there until eaten up by the worms; starved out of coal and provisions, she will full an easy prey into their hands.
Then the noble ship, like a thing of life, seemed to awake from a deep slumber, and her whole frame shaking with anger, vibrates through the iron of her powerful machinery; she a hissing sound as the explosion of her long-restrained fury, and suddenly wheeling round, she dares with her utmost speed after the miscreants.
As she steams up westward in quest of the arrant crew, her broad plumes of black smoke and snow-white steam rolling back in heavy clouds in her wake, her pointed rams cleaving the waves in twain, she realizes the very image of courage and power combined, and appears to our eyes like the
Leviathan of biblical mythology.
On, on she rushes; and as she nears the western shore the enemy's fleet scatter in every direction--four towards town, and eleven, with the two monitors, north and south of her. Still she keeps on her frantic race, driving them before her under the ice shore of
Cedar Point, when, sooner than be beached, they finally turn and accept the challenge.
There, in the midst of thirteen vessels, two of which more powerful than herself, with eight guns against two hundred, she engages the fight, gives the first signal and makes the first charge.
The last Struggle of the Tennessee.
Thus, like an infuriated bear worried by a pack of hounds, now rushes and tears up one, rips another open, knocks down and smashes up a third under his powerful claws, then falls back to take a fresh spring and make for the vital parts of the yelping curs; thus brave
Buchanan darts right and left, forward and rear, at each vessel in turn; and though his speed is not equal to the prompting of his lion's heart, yet each time he rushes towards one of them, the letter hastily backs without his reach.
At last, gathering courage, they form around him, at more than a mile distance, a complete semi-circle, with the
Tennessee at the centre of the cord, and, concentrating their fire on her, send broadside after broadside into her flanks.
Yet she moves not, but gives back shot for shot, blow for blow, steel for steel, emitting fire at once from each of her portholes, and so severely punching three of her nearest adversaries as to compel them to draw back from the conflict and careen over on shore — she keeps up the unequal contest in spite of the fearful odds against her.
While the fighting was progressing, a little low-pressure steamer, called the
Philippi, attempted to take advantage of the excitement and pass the fort; but a shot disabled her and killed one man. The
Morgan then went out and burnt her. The crew of the
Gaines made their way to the city last night in small boats.
In the midst of one of the groups stood our General, who alone had a spy-glass, and in whose intelligent and impressible features we were reading the progress of the fight far better than with our naked eyes.
Suddenly he drops the glass from his eye, raises it again, and in a low voice mutters to himself, "She has ceased firing." We strain every optic nerve, stretch every sense to watch, when suddenly the old veteran again drops the glass, and, sighing out,. "She flies the white flag," retires from our midst with the sad, slow, solemn step of one who has just closed the grave over his last cherished hope.
And true it was; the noble ship had struck her colors, not that she was tired, not that she was conquered, but, as we learned soon afterwards, because her rudder chains had parted and she had become an inert and unmanageable mass, unable any longer to confront the foe. Soon the base vultures, who had stood afar from her, gathered around like all beasts of prey which come to the carrion, but run from the living flesh, and the
Tennessee was lost to our view.
Brave
Buchanan had lost a leg, and two of his men killed during the action; but, as informed by the flag-of-truce boat, the vessel herself was as sound as when first launched, and had she not met with that apparently trifling accident, she might yet be the proud mistress of the bay. As it is, she soon will be one of the most, if not the most, redoubtable of the enemies we may have shortly to combat.
Thus closed, at forty minutes past nine A. M., the contest for the possession of
Mobile Bay, having lasted two and a half hours, and resulted disastrously, but not ingloriously, to our arms.
After the fight.
About eight o'clock last evening a flag-of-truce boat was sent from the enemy to
Fort Morgan, asking permission to bury their dead at
Fort Morgan and to send their wounded to
Pensacola.
Not being in proper form, it was not assented to. Others say that
Admiral Farragut sent a message to
General Page stating that he had
Admiral Buchanan on board, with his leg amputated, and that he wanted permission to pass the forts to take him to
Pensacola, where his wound would be better cared for than on board of the ship.
General Page replied that if he would send
Admiral Buchanan to the fort, under parole, he would transport him to
Mobile, where he would receive all the attention required.
The Evacuation of Fort Powell.
On Friday afternoon, one of the enemy's rams, carrying four guns, began to reconnoitre in the vicinity of the fort on the bay side, and in a short time opened fire on it. That part of the fort was not completed, though two guns were mounted there, but they were so exposed that they could be of little service, and one of them was dismounted on the third or fourth shot from the ram. The fort, however, exchanged some few shots, with what effect is not known.
The ram neared the fort to within a few hundred yards, doing great damage to the works.
One shot is said to have penetrated the bomb-proof; two of its water-tanks were destroyed, and other damage was done.
The untenable condition of the place was obvious.
Colonel Williams determined, before his communication with the shore was cut off, to evacuate it, so he arranged a time fuse to the magazine, and then collecting the men together, quietly withdrew to
Cedar Point.
The explosion of the magazine took place shortly after.
The enemy's movements.
They are within the bay, and now what is to follow?
Conjectures here may not be at fault.
Fort Powell being evacuated, a few hours' work will remove the obstructions in
Grant's Pass, and then there will be uninterrupted communication with New Orleans.
Thence the enemy can supply his vessels with all that they need.
The forts are of no use at all to prevent this; and thence, also, he can bring as many men as he has at command for a land attack on this city.
The probability is — if this be his programme — that he will attempt a landing somewhere near
Dog river, and march from that
point d'apui. Then we shall get him to a position where his vessels cannot help him, provided he be not able to come with them to the city's front — and thus we shall have him where the courage and skill of our troops will be of some avail.
We can meet him there with some advantage of position, and, we trust, great advantage of courage and determination.
It is impossible to imagine how he will get the forces necessary to make this kind of approach prudent.
But, as we have been often disappointed in our estimates of his resources, he may gather troops sufficient to justify him in making the attempt.
It is by this means, then, that he expects to subjugate
Mobile; and the fact — for it looks like a fact — will show what our policy is, and what is needed of us on land.
We hold it to be totally impossible for this city to be taken by this process, if behind its defences there be men of valor and determination.
