About midnight on the 31st of December, the boats moved down the bay to a position above the town, where they quietly awaited General Magruder’s signal gun. Magruder had already crossed his troops to the island. They marched swiftly through the deserted streets of the city, and, by the light of a waning moon, planted their batteries. At five o’clock on New Year’s morning, 1863, the attack began. It was a complete surprise to the Federals. The ships of the blockading fleet, under the command of Commodore Renshaw, were nearly all within the bay. The _Harriet Lane_, commanded by Commodore Wainwright, was lying near the wharf. At a little distance was the iron-clad _Westfield_, Commodore Renshaw’s flag-ship, attended by the _Owasco_; still further out were the armed vessels, the _Clifton_ and the _Sachem_, and the barges the _Elias Park_ and the _Cavallo_. The war-ships answered the fire of Magruder’s batteries with a terrific hail of iron; once the Confederate gunners were driven from their guns. But the _Neptune_ and the _Bayou City_ steamed up to the _Harriet Lane_ and attacked her at close quarters, pouring a hot fire into her from behind the rampart of cotton bales. The _Neptune_ with a hole in her hull made by a cannon-ball soon sank in shallow water. The _Bayou City_ was also disabled. The Confederate sharp-shooters leaped on board the _Harriet Lane_, and, after a bloody fight on her deck, captured her.[40] Commodore Wainwright was killed early in the action. First Lieutenant Lea was mortally wounded. The Union infantry made a gallant resistance to the land attack, but they were finally obliged to surrender. The _Sachem_, the _Clifton_, and the _Owasco_ stood out to sea and escaped. The _Westfield_ ran aground and was blown up to prevent her capture. Commodore Renshaw and his officers had left the vessel, but their boats were too near when the explosion took place prematurely, and they perished with her. The _Harriet Lane_ and the barges, with several hundred prisoners, remained in the hands of the victors. The loss in this battle on the Confederate side was twelve killed and seventy wounded. The Federals lost one hundred and fifty killed and many wounded. Among the mortally wounded were two young soldiers, the story of whose death even yet stirs the heart to pity. One fell fighting under the starry cross of the Confederacy. The other dropped on the bloody deck of the _Harriet Lane_ under the shadow of the stars and stripes. The Confederate was Lieutenant Sidney Sherman, son of the gallant veteran, General Sidney Sherman, who led the infantry charge at San Jacinto. The lieutenant was hardly more than a boy. The blood oozed from his wounds as he lay dying, but the smile of victory parted his lips. Suddenly his blue eyes grew soft and tender; “Break this gently to my mother,” he whispered. These were his last words.