In a minute more the _Hartford_ was among them. They could be heard striking against her bottom. Their percussion caps snapped, but not one went off. Their tin cases had rusted and they were spoiled. Only one of them all went off that dreadful day of battle. That saved many of the ships. The fort and the torpedoes were passed, but the Confederate ships remained. It did not take long to settle for the gunboats, but the iron-clad _Tennessee_ remained. Putting on all steam, this great ship ran down on the Union fleet. Through the whole line it went and on to the fort. But it was as slow as a tub and the ships were easily kept out of its way. Then, when the men were at breakfast, back again came the _Tennessee_. They left their coffee and ran to their guns. It was like the old story of the _Merrimac_ and the wooden ships in Hampton Roads. But Farragut did not wait to be rammed by the _Tennessee_. If ramming was to be done he wanted to do it himself. So all the large vessels steamed head on for the iron-clad, butting her right and left. They hit one another, too, and the _Hartford_ came near being sunk. Then came the monitors, as the first _Monitor_ had come against the _Merrimac_. There were three of these left, but one did the work, the _Chickasaw_. She clung like a burr to the _Tennessee_, pouring in her great iron balls, and doing so much damage that soon the great ship was like a floating hulk. It could not be steered nor its guns fired. For twenty minutes it stood this dreadful hammering, and then its flag came down. The battle was won. "It was the most desperate battle I ever fought since the days of the old _Essex_," said Farragut. The figure of the brave admiral in the rigging, fighting his ship amid a cyclone of shot and shell, made him the hero of the American people. It was like Dewey on the bridge in Manila Bay in a later war. There was no rank high enough in the navy to fit the glory he had won, so one was made for him, the rank of admiral. There was rear-admiral and vice-admiral, but admiral was new and higher still. Only two men have held this rank since his day, his good friend and comrade, David D. Porter, and the brave George Dewey. CHAPTER XXIV A RIVER FLEET IN A HAIL OF FIRE ADMIRAL PORTER RUNS BY THE FORTS IN A NOVEL WAY OF course you know what a tremendous task the North had before it in the Civil War. The war between the North and the South was like a battle of giants. And in this vast contest the navy had to do its share, both out at sea and on the rivers of the country. One of its big bits of work was to cut off the left arm of the Confederacy, and leave it only its right arm to fight with. By the left arm I mean the three states west of the Mississippi River, and by the right arm, the eight states east of that great river. To cut off this left arm the government had to get control of the whole river, from St. Louis to the Gulf, so that no Confederate troops could cross the great stream.