Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

[341] that the water rose in the forward water-tight compartments just as high as the water on the outside; no officer to advise me; the captain under guard; the mate suspected, if not worse; no one on board who had any more nautical knowledge than myself, and with me more than fifteen hundred of my soldiers, whose lives depended upon what I might do — because it was certain that the ship could not lay there an hour after the sea rose, and her position was such that she would break up and we should all perish.

As I sat with my hand covering my face, I felt a light touch on my shoulder. I looked up and Mrs. Butler was standing beside me. “Cheer up,” she was saying; “do the best you can, resume your command, and perhaps all will be well.”

It may be thought very singular that it had never occurred to me that my wife was in the stateroom below. It was enough. I jumped to my feet and became again the general commanding. Almost the first thing I did was to call a sailor who seemed to be intelligent, and send him to the mast-head to look out for any passing vessel. Our masts were quite tall, as the steamer was brig-rigged. Then my attention was drawn to the shore. There lay Fort Macon within five miles of us; horsemen were riding up and down the beach, artillery was being exercised, and with my glass I could see that we were great objects of interest to those on shore, who could conceive of us only as an enemy there for the purpose of attack. I called two of the gentlemen of my staff and told them to keep watch of the movements of the people on shore, not knowing that they might not organize a boat expedition against us if they found out our condition. I thought, however, I would discourage that idea as much as I could; so I ran up the flag, and, clearing away my six-inch Sawyer rifle, I trained it in the direction of the fort and fired. The shot being the range of some three miles, I thought that would be sufficient information to the enemy that they had better not get within that distance.

I then directed my staff and the mate to have the hatches taken off and the ship lightened, although to raise her to fourteen feet from eighteen feet seemed substantially impossible, especially with our forward hold full of water.

The next thing done was to throw over from the medical stores all the alcohol of every kind that we had on board, except a very