The rebel forts were garrisoned by 1,500 men commanded by General J. K. Duncan. A short distance above the forts lay fifteen rebel vessels. This fleet included the iron ram “Manassas” and a great floating battery clad with railroad iron. Below the forts a heavy chain supported by the hulks of eight dismasted ships obstructed the river. Farragut was to break through the chain, fight his way by the forts, destroy or capture the rebel fleet and then steam up to New Orleans and place that city under his guns. The attack was commenced by the mortar fleet. For six days the mortars poured a ceaseless fire of shells into the fort. The shells were flying through the air at all times; nearly six thousand were thrown, but the forts were damaged very little and the Confederate loss was only fourteen killed and thirty-nine wounded. It was determined to pass the forts on April 24th. At sunset on the 23d there were indications of the approaching conflict on every ship in Farragut’s fleet. The attack was to be made under cover of darkness. At eleven o’clock that night an officer signaled that an opening which had been made in the chain was still clear. Five minutes before two o’clock in the morning two red lights were displayed from the peak of the flag ship. It was the signal to steam up the river. In about one hour the fleet of seventeen vessels, in three divisions, was moving. The moon was rising, but its light was lost in the fierce flames from bonfires and fire rafts. Both forts opened fire upon the first ship as she passed through the row of hulks. Five minutes later the little “Cayuga” was pouring grape and canister into Fort St. Philip, and in ten minutes more she had passed from the range of its guns and was in the arms of the rebel fleet. It was a lively moment for the brave little boat. Eleven rebel gunboats tried to demolish her at once. She could not go forward, she would not go backward. There was nothing to do but to close with the enemy. She drove an “eleven inch” shot through one of her antagonists and it ran aground and burned up. Another one was crippled by a well directed shot, and the “Cayuga” was about to grapple with the third when two ships of the Union fleet came to her aid, the “Oneida” and the “Varuna.”