The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 4, April, 1884Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 4, April, 1884
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
Said Captain Johnston, in the same vein: "If it had not been for that
d----d black hulk hanging on our stern we would have got along well
enough; she did us more damage than all the rest of the Federal fleet."
"The praise of Commander Perkins," wrote a son of Concord, himself an
active participant in the fight, "on the superb management of his
command, and the most admirable and efficient working of his ship, was
upon the lips of all."
Pages of similar commendation might be quoted, but what need multiply
testimony so direct and conclusive as to Perkins's gallantry and
achievement, questioned only in quarters where the discretion of silence
and suggestion of modesty had best been observed!
It only remains to add, in this connection, that so long as the
Tennessee continued to flaunt her flag in face of the fleet, so long the
work of that glorious day was of naught; that her capture, due in
greatest part to the efforts of the Chickasaw, completed the work and
ensured, without embarrassment, the continued operations against Fort
Morgan and other defences in the bay.
Perkins, not content with laurels already won, got under weigh after
dinner, and steamed up to Fort Powell, taking that work in rear. The
shots from the Chickasaw destroyed the water-tanks, and Captain Anderson
reported that, believing it to be impossible to drive the ironclad from
its position, and fearing that a shell from the Chickasaw would explode
the magazine, he decided to save his command and blow up the fort, which
was done that night at 10.30. In the afternoon, the Chickasaw had seized
a barge loaded with stores, from under the guns of Fort Powell, and
towed it to the fleet.
The next afternoon, the ever-ready and alert Chickasaw, under her
indefatigable commander, went down to Fort Gaines and shelled that work
until dusk with such telling effect, that, coupled with the fact that
the landforce under General Granger, investing its rear, was now ready
to open fire in conjunction with the fleet, the rebel commander
capitulated the next morning.
Morgan was now the only remaining work of the outer line of Mobile's
defences to be "possessed and occupied," and General Granger, after
throwing a sufficient garrison into Gaines, transferred his army and
siege-train to the other side of the bay, and landing at Navy Cove, some
four miles from Morgan, began its investment.
While this was going on, the Chickasaw was not idle, but continually
using her guns at one point and another, with occasional exchanges of
shotted compliments with the rams and batteries across the obstructions
in Dog River, forming the inner line of defence of the city, some four
miles distant.
On the twenty-second of August, the approaches having been completed,
the land and naval forces opened a terrific fire on devoted Morgan, and
continued it throughout the day with such effect that General Page,
commanding the garrison, struck his colors and surrendered the next day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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