[414] tiller-ropes of the Louisville were disabled. Both vessels became unmanageable and began floating down the current. The eddies turned them round like logs. The Pittsburg and Carondelet closed in and covered them with their hulls. seeing this turn in the fight, the captains of the batteries rallied their men, who cheered in their turn, and renewed the contest with increased will and energy. A ball got lodged in their best rifle. A corporal and some of his men took a log fitting the bore, leaped out on the parapet, and rammed the missile home. “now, boys,” said a gunner in Bidwell's battery, “see me take a chimney!” the flag of the boat and the chimney fell with the shot. when the vessels were out of range, the victors looked about them. The fine form of their embrasures was gone; heaps of earth had been cast over their platforms. In a space of twenty-four feet they had picked up as many shot and shells. The air had been full of flying missiles. For an hour and a half the brave fellows had been rained upon; yet their losses had been trifling in numbers. Each gunner had selected a ship and followed her faithfully throughout the action, now and then uniting fire on the Carondelet. the Confederates had behaved with astonishing valor. Their victory sent a thrill of joy through the army. The assault on the outworks, the day before, had been a failure. With the repulse of the gun-boats the Confederates scored success number two, and the communication by the river remained open to Nashville. The winds that blew sleet and snow over Donelson that night were not so unendurable as they might have been. the night of the 14th of February fell cold and dark, and under the pitiless sky the armies remained in position so near to each other that neither dared light fires. Overpowered with watching,
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| The position of the gun-boats and the West bank. From a photograph taken in 1884. Fort Donelson is in the farther distance on the extreme left — Hickman's Creek empties into the Cumberland in the middle distance — midway are the remains of the obstructions placed in the river by the Confederates. The upper picture, showing Isaac Williams's house, is a continuation of the right of the lower view. |
