ails, probably, at the North, that extensive
preparations had been made by the South for the war. But General Joseph
E. Johnston who was assigned to the service of organizing and
instructing the Virginia volunteers called out by Governor Letcher
states the contrary. He asserts that all the arms to be depended upon at
that time, were those found in the Southern arsenals, U. S. muskets, and
rifles of discarded patterns to the number of about 75,000; 40,000 flint
muskets belonging to the State of Virginia, and 20,000 procured for the
State of Georgia by Governor Brown.

It was charged that Mr. Floyd of Virginia while Secretary of War under
President Buchanan had caused the removal of public arms to the Southern
arsenals; but a Committee of the House of Representatives, in 1861,
exonerated Mr. Floyd from the charge, and the chairman of that Committee
was the Hon. Mr. Stanton, a prominent and zealous member of the
Republican party.

General Johnston, who was in a position to know the facts, states in his
"Narrative, etc.," that the "Confederate States began the war with one
hundred and twenty thousand arms of obsolete models, and seven hundred
of the recently adopted weapons rifled-muskets, and the United States
with about four hundred and fifty thousand of the old, and all of the
modern arms that had been made since the adoption of the new models."

When in August, 1861, it was in contemplation to send the Army of
Northern Virginia into Maryland, want of ammunition, according to the
distinguished authority just quoted, was one of the chief obstacles to
the project.

[2] The allusion is made to Genl. Mears, who commanded at Acquia Creek
and to the Baltimore "Tigers", at the time commanded by Captain Thomas.

CHAPTER II.

Ordered to New Orleans.--The Naval Fleet there.--The "River
Defence" Squadron.--The iron clad "Louisiana."--Difficulty in
managing the Fleet.--Going down the River.--Want of
concert.--Admiral Farragut.--Our crew.

I was ordered to report to Commodore Whittle, commanding the naval
station at New Orleans, for duty afloat. A powerful fleet of ships of
war and bomb vessels, under the command of Commodore (afterwards
Admiral) Farragut, was then assembling at the mouth of the Mississippi,
for an attack upon New Orleans, in which a large land force under Gen.
Butler (afterwards called the Beast) was to cooperate. The citizens were
under the impression that the place was impregnab