[Illustration: Bombardment and Capture of the Forts at Hatteras Inlet, N. C. _From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives._] However, the Confederates having abandoned Fort Clark, the Federal troops were marched to it, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon the Union flag was hoisted above it. Meantime the fire of Fort Hatteras had been “smothered by the fire of the frigates,” and the Confederate flag had disappeared. Seeing this, the frigates ceased firing at 12.30 o’clock, on the supposition that the Confederates were willing to surrender. But when, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the _Monticello_ was ordered to go in through the inlet and take a look at the small fleet of Confederate vessels inside the inner bar, the Confederate fort opened fire on her. The _Wabash_ was at this time towing the _Cumberland_ to a safe anchorage off shore, but the _Minnesota_, _Susquehanna_, _Pawnee_, and _Harriet Lane_ returned the fire with vigor until sunset. But the fire was, “for the most part, ineffective, from too great a distance,” as Ammen says. The fact is, there was nothing reckless in the attack. At sundown the Union troops abandoned Fort Clark and camped up the beach, where the smaller steamers could protect them. They had had a hungry day of it, but food was sent ashore at night. Then, as the night wore away, the troops threw up a sand battery facing the sound, and from this threw some shells at the Confederate vessels, “which seems to have materially disconcerted the enemy,” and prevented the landing of reinforcements for the fort. The next morning the _Susquehanna_ led the way in to attack Fort Hatteras, and the _Minnesota_, the _Wabash_, and the _Cumberland_ followed, and all came to anchor “in excellent position and commenced firing with effect.” That is to say, the position was excellent because the ships were entirely beyond the range of the fort, while their pivot guns, fifteen in number, were throwing every shell fired into the Confederate works. The fire began at 8 o’clock in the morning. The bomb-proof in the fort was seriously damaged, and at 11 o’clock it was set on fire by a shell that dropped through a ventilator. The magazine being in great peril, the Confederates hoisted a white flag at 11.10 o’clock. This was on August 28, 1861; and that was not only the first victory that the navy of the nation had gained, but it was the first victory that any Union force had gained in this war for the defence of the nation’s life. The Union force did not lose a man. The Confederates lost two killed and thirteen wounded of which we are certain. It is asserted that the losses were greater.