The Gulf and Inland Waters: The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3.Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
History
The Gulf and Inland Waters: The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3.
Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Naval operations; United States. Navy -- History
Captain Bailey was sent ashore to demand the surrender, and that the
United States flag should be hoisted upon the public buildings. The
rage and mortification of the excitable Creoles was openly manifested
by insult and abuse, and the service was not unattended with danger.
The troops, however, being withdrawn by the military commander, the
mayor, with some natural grandiloquence, announced his submission to
the inevitable, and Captain Bailey hoisted the flag on the mint. The
next day it was hauled down by a party of four citizens; in
consequence of which act, the flag-officer, on the 29th, sent ashore a
battalion of 250 marines, accompanied by a howitzer battery in charge
of two midshipmen, the whole under command of the fleet-captain. By
them the flags were rehoisted and the buildings guarded, until General
Butler arrived on the evening of May 1st, when the city was turned
over to his care.
Meanwhile Commander Porter remained in command below the forts. The
morning after the passage of the fleet he sent a demand for their
surrender, which was refused. Learning that the Louisiana and some
other boats had escaped the general destruction, and not aware of
their real condition, he began to take measures for the safety of his
mortar-schooners. They were sent down the river to Pilot Town, with
the Portsmouth as convoy, and with orders to fit for sea. Six were
sent off at once to the rear of Fort Jackson, to blockade the bayous
that ramify through that low land; while the Miami and Sachem were
sent in the other direction, behind St. Philip, to assist the troops
to land.
On the 27th, Porter, having received official information of the fall
of the city, notified Colonel Higgins of the fact, and again demanded
the surrender, offering favorable conditions. Meanwhile
insubordination was rife in the garrison, which found itself hemmed in
on all sides. At midnight of the 27th, the troops rose, seized the
guard and posterns, reversed the field pieces commanding the gates,
and began to spike the guns. Many of them left the fort with their
arms; and the rest, except one company of planters, firmly refused to
fight any longer. The men were largely foreigners, and with little
interest in the Secession cause; but they also probably saw that
continued resistance and hardship could not result in ultimate
success. The water-way above and below being in the hands of the
hostile navy, all communication was cut off by the nature of the
country and the state of the river; there could therefore be but one
issue to a prolonged contest. The crime of the men was heinous, but it
only hastened the end. To avoid a humiliating disaster, General Duncan
accepted the offered terms on the 28th. The officers were permitted to
retain their side arms, and the troops composing the garrison to
depart, on parole not to serve till exchanged. At 2.30 P.M. the forts
were formally delivered to the navy, and the United States flag once
more hoisted over them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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