Dewey and Other Naval Commanders | Page 5

one week later, having been
commissioned as lieutenant and assigned to the sloop of war
Mississippi, he hurried thither to help in defence of the Union.
The Mississippi was a sidewheel steamer, carrying seventeen guns, and
was destined to a thrilling career in the stirring operations of the West
Gulf squadron, under the command of Captain David Glasgow Farragut,
the greatest naval hero produced by the Civil War, and without a
superior in all history.
CHAPTER II.
DEWEY IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION.
No one needs to be reminded that the War for the Union was the
greatest struggle of modern times. The task of bringing back to their
allegiance those who had risen against the authority of the National
Government was a gigantic one, and taxed the courage and resources of
the country to the utmost. In order to make the war effective, it was
necessary to enforce a rigorous blockade over three thousand miles of
seacoast, open the Mississippi river, and overcome the large and
well-officered armies in the field. The last was committed to the land
forces, and it proved an exhausting and wearying struggle.
Among the most important steps was the second--that of opening the

Mississippi, which being accomplished, the Southwest, from which the
Confederacy drew its immense supplies of cattle, would be cut off and
a serious blow struck against the armed rebellion.
The river was sealed from Vicksburg to the Gulf of Mexico. At the
former place extensive batteries had been erected and were defended by
an army, while the river below bristled with batteries and guns in
charge of brave men and skilful officers.
While General Grant undertook the task of reducing Vicksburg,
Captain Farragut assumed the herculean work of forcing his way up the
Mississippi and capturing New Orleans, the greatest commercial city in
the South. Knowing that such an attack was certain to be made, the
Confederates had neglected no precaution in the way of defence.
Ninety miles below the city, and twenty miles above its mouth, at the
Plaquemine Bend, were the forts of St. Philip and Jackson. The former,
on the left bank, had forty-two heavy guns, including two mortars and a
battery of four seacoast mortars, placed below the water battery. Fort
Jackson, besides its water battery, mounted sixty-two guns, while
above the forts were fourteen vessels, including the ironclad ram
Manassas, and a partially completed floating battery, armored with
railroad iron and called the Louisiana. New Orleans was defended by
three thousand volunteers, most of the troops formerly there having
been sent to the Confederate army in Tennessee.
The expedition against New Orleans was prepared with great care, and
so many months were occupied that the enemy had all the notice they
could ask in which to complete their preparations for its defence. The
Union expedition consisted of six sloops of war, sixteen gunboats,
twenty mortar schooners and five other vessels. The Mississippi, upon
which young Dewey was serving as a lieutenant, was under the
command of Melanethon Smith. The land troops numbered 15,000, and
were in charge of General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts.
Farragut arrived in February, 1862, nearly two months after the
beginning of preparations to force the river. When everything was in
readiness the fleet moved cautiously up stream, on April 18, and a
bombardment of Forts St. Philip and Jackson was opened, which lasted

for three days, without accomplishing anything decisive. Farragut had
carefully studied the situation, and, confident that the passage could be
made, determined it should be done, no matter at what cost. On the
night of the 23d his vessels were stripped of every rope and spar that
could be spared, the masts and rigging of the gunboats and mortar
vessels being trimmed with the limbs of trees, to conceal their identity
from the Confederate watchers.
At two o'clock in the morning the signal was hoisted on the Hartford,
Captain Farragut's flagship, and the fleet started in single line to run the
fearful gauntlet. The Cayuga led, the Pensacola followed, and the
Mississippi was third. The rebels had huge bonfires burning on both
shores, and as the Pensacola came opposite the forts they opened their
furious fire upon her.
A good deal of uneasiness prevailed in the Union fleet regarding the
rebel rams. It was known they were formidable monsters, which the
Confederates believed could smash and sink the whole Union squadron.
While it was known that much was to be feared from the forts, it was
the ironclads that formed the uncertain factor and magnified the real
danger in many men's minds.
The Mississippi was hardly abreast of Fort St. Philip when the dreaded
Manassas came plunging down the river out of the gloom at full speed,
and headed directly for the _Mississippi._ She was not seen until so