The Civil War Through the CameraElson, Henry W. (Henry William)
History
The Civil War Through the Camera
Elson, Henry W. (Henry William)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Pictorial works
This vivid photograph, taken in Mobile Bay by a war-time photographer from
New Orleans, was presented by Captain Drayton of the "Hartford" to T. W.
Eastman, U. S. N., whose family has courteously allowed its reproduction
here. Never was exhibited a more superb morale than on the "Hartford" as
she steamed in line to the attack of Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay on the
morning of August 5, 1864. Every man was at his station thinking his own
thoughts in the suspense of that moment. On the quarterdeck stood Captain
Percival Drayton and his staff. Near them was the chief-quartermaster,
John H. Knowles, ready to hoist the signals that would convey Farragut's
orders to the fleet. The admiral himself was in the port main shrouds
twenty-five feet above the deck. All was silence aboard till the
"Hartford" was in easy range of the fort. Then the great broadsides of the
old ship began to take their part in the awful cannonade. During the early
part of the action Captain Drayton, fearing that some damage to the
rigging might pitch Farragut overboard, sent Knowles on his famous
mission. "I went up," said the old sailor, "with a piece of lead line and
made it fast to one of the forward shrouds, and then took it around the
admiral to the after shroud, making it fast there. The admiral said,
'Never mind, I'm all right,' but I went ahead and obeyed orders." Later
Farragut, undoing the lashing with his own hands, climbed higher still.
[Illustration: QUARTERMASTER KNOWLES]
[Illustration: FORT MORGAN--A BOMBARDMENT BRAVELY ANSWERED
COPYRIGHT, 1911, REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO.]
The battered walls of Fort Morgan, in 1864, tell of a terrific smashing by
the Federal navy. But the gallant Confederates returned the blows with
amazing courage and skill; the rapidity and accuracy of their fire was
rarely equalled in the war. In the terrible conflict the "Hartford" was
struck twenty times, the "Brooklyn" thirty, the "Octorora" seventeen, the
"Metacomet" eleven, the "Lackawanna" five, the "Ossipee" four, the
"Monongahela" five, the "Kennebec" two, and the "Galena" seven. Of the
monitors the "Chickasaw" was struck three times, the "Manhattan" nine, and
the "Winnebago" nineteen. The total loss in the Federal fleet was 52
killed and 170 wounded, while on the Confederate gunboats 12 were killed
and 20 wounded. The night after the battle the "Metacomet" was turned into
a hospital ship and the wounded of both sides were taken to Pensacola. The
pilot of the captured "Tennessee" guided the Federal ship through the
torpedoes, and as she was leaving Pensacola on her return trip Midshipman
Carter of the "Tennessee," who also was on the "Metacomet," called out
from the wharf: "Don't attempt to fire No. 2 gun (of the "Tennessee"), as
there is a shell jammed in the bore, and the gun will burst and kill some
one." All felt there had been enough bloodshed.
[Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1911, REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO.]
[Illustration: THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE--THE CONFEDERATE IRONCLAD RAM
"TENNESSEE"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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