Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 8.
Frank Moore, Ed.

Twenty twenty-pound charges of powder, twelve sixteen-pound charges of powder, twenty-eight fifteen-pound charges of powder, three thirteen-pound charges of powder, twenty-nine ten pound charges of powder, thirteen four-pound charges of powder, eight boarding pikes, four cutlass scabbards, three battle-axe scabbards, two division boxes, six waist-belts, four Enfield rifle bayonets, six Enfield rifles, two navy revolvers, four percussion primer boxes, (tin,) three battle-axes, four brass padlocks, three percussion-cap boxes, (tin,) two pistol frogs, forty musket-ball cartridges, eleven eleven-inch solid shot, one hundred and twenty percussion primers, nine nine-inch solid shot, thirty Enfield refle-ball cartridges, five one hundred and fifty pounder Parrott's solid shot, (long,) seventy revolver percussion-caps, thirty-seven eleven-inch shell, filled and fuzed five seconds; twenty friction primers, twenty-three nine-inch shell, filled and fuzed five seconds; sixty pistol-ball cartridges, seven one hundred and fifty pounder Parrott shell, filled and fuzed, five seconds; thirteen fifty-pounder Hotchkiss shell, filled and fuzed, five seconds; two cutlasses, (Ames,) two hundred musket percussion-caps, three cutlass scabbards, seven Parrott rings, for time fuzes; seven metal time fuzes, five seconds; six eleven-inch selvagee wads, eight nine-inch selvagee wads, two nine-inch passing-boxes.

Very respectfully, your obedient servants.

In accordance with your instructions and by signal, at fifteen minutes past five we got under way with the Octorara lashed on our port side, and proceeded toward the bar of Mobile entrance. After some little delay in waiting for the ships to form into line, and for the ironclads to precede us, we steamed ahead and passed up the channel toward Fort Morgan, being the leading ship, closely followed by the Admiral and the rest of the fleet in line of battle. At fifteen minutes past six, when about one and a half miles from the Fort, the enemy opened fire upon us, which was immediately returned with bow-chasers, (our two one hundred-pound Parrotts.) The action then commenced, the fire of the enemy being almost entirely directed at the wooden vessels; their ram Tennessee and gunboats soon joining in the fight.

The starboard battery was opened on the Fort, as soon as the guns could be brought to bear. Our progress up the channel was slow, owing to our carrying, as directed, low steam, and the very deliberate movements of our iron-clads which occupied the channel close ahead of us. When we had arrived abreast of the Fort, by a rapid and timely fire of grape, their several batteries were almost entirely silenced.

At this juncture I observed the ill-fated Tecumseh, which was then about three hundred yards ahead of us, and on our starboard bow, careen violently over, and sink almost instantaneously. Sunk by a torpedo! Assassination in its worst form! A glorious though terrible end for our noble friends, the intrepid pioneers of that death-strewed path! Immortal fame is theirs! Peace to their manes! We were now somewhat inside of the Fort, when shoal-water was reported, and at the same time, as the smoke cleared up a little, a row of suspicious-looking buoys was discovered directly under our bows. While we were in the act of backing to clear them, our gallant Admiral passed us and took the lead. Getting headway again as soon as possible, we pushed up the channel at full speed in his wake, when the rebel rain was discovered making for the flag-ship, and at the same time throwing shot and shell at us, which inflicted considerable damage at and above the water-line forward. The rebel gunboats having now taken shelter in shoal-water, I cast off the Octorara from alongside, and directed her to close in and assist the other gunboats in their attack upon them. The Hartford having steamed past the ram with her broadside playing vigorously upon him, continuing our course at full speed and exchanging broadsides as we could bring our guns to bear, she missed us, and just passed clear of our stern only a few yards distant; we then gave her some parting blows with our sixty-pounder Parrott from the poop. At fifty minutes past eight anchored near the flag-ship, about five miles above the Fort, the rebel gunboats firing a few shots at us at longrange as we passed up. At about nine A. M., the Tennessee was discovered standing for the fleet, and we, in company with the flag-ship and several other vessels, made toward him, firing solid shot from our bow-chasers. When within a short distance the Chickasaw crossed our bows and prevented our ramming him. As soon as the ram was clear of the last-named vessel, he made directly at us; put our helm a-port and made at him with full speed, but seeing our torpedo-catcher hanging under the bows, and thinking it was a real torpedo (as an officer belonging to her has since told me) he put his helm hard up and avoided us, giving us some heavy shots in passing. Our shot — solid nine-inch, with thirteen pounds of powder — struck him repeatedly, but without any material effect, except one, which, as it is believed, carried away his smokestack. We then turned to try it again, but the iron-clads had fairly engaged her, and shortly afterward she surrendered.

The fleet here came to near the former anchorage.

The surgeon's list of killed and wounded, together with the forward officers' report of injuries