Two gallant gun-boats.
With the shots from the Confederate batteries ringing and bounding off her iron plates, this gallant gunboat that
Foote had chosen for his flagship, entered the zone of fire at
Fort Donelson.
In the confined space of her smoke-filled gun-deck, the river sailors were loading and firing the heavy broadsides as fast as the great guns could be run out and aimed at the frowning line of entrenchments on the river bank.
From them the concentrated hail of iron was poured upon her and the marksman-ship was good.
Fifty-nine times was this brave vessel struck.
But her armored sides withstood the heavy shocks although the plating, dented and bent, bore record of each impact.
Nearer and nearer grew the forts as up the narrow channel the flag-ship led the way, the
Louisville, the
Carondelet, and the
Pittsburgh belching their fire at the wooded heights, as though endeavoring to attract the attention of the
Confederate gunners to themselves and save the flag-ship from receiving more than her share.
Up in the pilot-house the brave man who knew the channel stood at the wheel, his eyes firmly fixed ahead; and on the “texas,” as the upper deck was called, within speaking distance of him, stood
Foote himself.
A great shot, aimed accurately as a minie ball, struck the frail pilot-house.
It was as if the vessel's heart was pierced.
The wheel was swept away from the pilot's hand and the brave river guide was hurled into the corner, mangled, bleeding and soon to die.
Flag Officer Foote did not escape.
He fell badly wounded in the leg by a fragment of the shell — a wound from which he never fully recovered.
Helpless now, the current swept the
St. Louis' bow around, and past her consorts that were still fighting, she drifted down the stream and out of action; later, in convoy of the
Louisville, she returned to
Cairo, leaving the
Carondelet and
Pittsburgh to escort the transports.
Meanwhile on shore,
Grant was earning his first laurels as a soldier in a big battle.
The disabling of the gunboats caused the
Confederates to make the fatal attack that resulted so disastrously for them.
Assailing
Grant's right wing that held a strong position, on the 15th of February, 19,000 men were hurled against a force 8,000 greater in number.
But the repulse was complete.
Shattered they retreated to their works, and in the morning of the 16th, the
Confederate general,
Buckner, surrendered.
About 14,000 prisoners were taken.
The Federal loss was nearly 3,000, and that of the
Southern cause about 1,000 less.
For the capture of Fort Donelson Grant was made major-general.
The first step to the conquest of the
Mississippi had been achieved.
In October, 1862, the river fleet was transferred from the Army to the Navy Department, and as there was another vessel in the service, bearing the same name the
St. Louis was renamed the
Baron de Kalb. At
Fort Henry, she went into action lashed to the
Carondelet on account of the narrowness of the stream; and later again, the gallant gunboat won laurels at
Island No.10,
Fort Pillow,
Memphis, and
Vicksburg.
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The Flag-ship St. Louis viewed from astern |
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The Louisville — a fighter at port. |
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