opelling power consisted of huge wheels, boxed up in the centre of
the vessel; and a propeller on each quarter. A more powerful and
efficient iron-clad called the Mississippi had just been launched from
the stocks, but the passage of the forts was effected before her battery
could be put on board.

After a few days' service on board the Jackson, I was ordered on board
the Louisiana (as executive officer) then lying alongside the "levee" at
New Orleans. Her battery was not mounted; and the mechanics were at work
upon her unfinished armor and machinery. Much was to be done, and with
the most limited facilities; but many obstacles had been surmounted and
affairs were progressing favorably, when we received orders from
Commodore Whittle to proceed down the river as far as the forts. Our
wheels were in working order; but a great deal was to be done to the
propellers, and the crew were still engaged in mounting the guns. But
Commodore Whittle, though cognizant of our condition, was compelled
against his judgment, to yield to the urgent telegrams of General Duncan
to send the Louisiana down the river. We had been unable to man the ship
with sailors; for although many of this class belonged to the various
volunteer companies around New Orleans, their commanding officers were
not disposed to part with them; nor were the "jack tars" themselves
willing to exchange camp life for the discipline and subordination of
the naval service. Our regular crew being too small to man the battery,
we gladly accepted the services of the "Crescent Artillery," a fine
volunteer company raised in New Orleans. Two river steamboats were
assigned to the Louisiana for the purpose of towage, if necessary, and
for the accommodation of the mechanics who were still at work on board.

We cast off from the "levee" on Sunday, April the 20th. It was a bright
day, and a large concourse was assembled to witness our departure. Steam
had been got up, and as our big wheels were set in motion in the rapid
current of the Mississippi, torrents of water rushed through the
crevices in the bulkheads and deluged the gun deck, while the Louisiana
drifted helplessly down the river, feeling the effect of the wheels no
more sensibly than if they were a pair of sculling oars. "Facilis
descensus Averno; sed revocare gradum, hoc opus, hic labor est." The
aptness of the quotation will be appreciated by the reader who is in at
the death of the Louisiana. We accomplished our object