Howitzers were placed in the tops (_i.e._, on platforms at the tops of the lower masts), and there protected by boiler iron from musket fire. Each ship was made to draw more water forward than aft so that she would have a better chance to get off in case of grounding. As the ships were to fight at point-blank range care was taken to secure the guns so their elevation should not increase under the shock of firing. The rigging was stripped down to the topmasts, and the spars, etc., sent ashore, while some of the gunboats took their masts out altogether. Chain cables were secured up and down the sides of the ship to ward off shot, and “bags of coal or sand or ashes, or whatever else came to hand,” were piled to keep the shot from the boilers and engines. Nets were hung inside to stop the flying splinters in case of shot piercing the wooden walls. Decks and gun carriages were whitewashed to help the light for the night battle, and the outsides of the ships were smeared with mud to make them less easily visible. The mortar schooners were disguised by lashing tree limbs to the masts in such fashion that they could not be distinguished from the trees along the banks. In short, no precaution was omitted. As for the Confederates, they rested in perfect confidence behind the forts that had been erected to defend the river. As a glance at the map will show, there was some reason in the location, if not in the armament of these forts, for the confidence they felt. As will be seen, the river comes down in a southerly direction until within twenty miles of the head of the Passes. There it suddenly turns to the northeast for nearly two miles, when it makes a sharp bend to the south once more. It was right on this sharp, knee-like bend that the forts were built. Fort St. Philip stood on top of the knee-bend, so to speak, and from its walls a fair view was had for a long way down the river. On the under side of the knee lay Fort Jackson. By the compass it was about due south of Fort St. Philip and but 800 yards away. Its guns pointed all over the bend of the river and away to the south, the timber on the west side of the river having been cut away to allow an unobstructed view of the stream almost to the uttermost range of the guns. But when the guns of these forts are considered, one must say they were very poor. The Confederates made a mistake there. In all there were 109 cannon that might be used on passing ships at one point or another, but of these, fifty-six were twenty-four-pounders--excellent guns in 1812, but very small fifty years later. More than half of the others were thirty-twos and forty-twos--in fact, but fifteen of them were really guns of the day, and but two--the seven-inch rifles--could be called first-class. [Illustration: New Orleans, La., and its Vicinity.