on duty reported one of the ships of the fleet
below steaming up the river towards us, with a white flag flying at the
mast-head. General Duncan, it is said, stated to the citizens of New
Orleans a few days afterward, that a large number of his guns had been
spiked by the mutineers of the garrison; and that he had no alternative
but to surrender.

A hasty council of war was held on board the Louisiana, during which it
was decided to transfer the officers and crew to our two tenders and to
burn the ship. This was speedily carried into effect, and the two
transports steamed across the river as the flames burst through the
Louisiana's hatchway.[6] Those who wished to make the attempt to escape
through the bayous, received permission to do so; and a few of the
number, familiar with the locality, succeeded in evading the Federal
pickets, and getting within the Confederate lines. The rest of us were
entrapped; passing several hours of very unpleasant suspense, while the
forts were being surrendered. It was a grand spectacle when the flames
reached the Louisiana's magazine. The hawsers, securing her to the
river-bank, having been burnt in two, she floated out into the stream a
few minutes before the explosion; and at the moment of its occurrence, a
column of pure white smoke shot rapidly high into the air from the
blazing hull, wreathing itself at the top into the shape of a snow-white
"cumulus" cloud; and in a few seconds afterwards, huge fragments of the
wreck showered down, far and wide, upon the river and the adjacent
shore. The Louisiana had disappeared before the deafening report
attending the catastrophe reached our ears.

Immediately after the United States flag was hoisted upon the forts, the
steamer "Harriet Lane" steamed slowly toward us, and sent a shot over
our heads as a summons to haul down the Confederate flag which was then
flying at our peak. The demand was promptly complied with, and we were
prisoners of war.

Upon the pretext that we had violated the usages of war by burning the
Louisiana while a flag of truce was flying, we were for a time subjected
to unusual humiliations; learning afterwards, indeed, that Commodore
Porter had recommended to the Secretary of the Navy a continuance of
harsh treatment toward us upon our arrival at Fort Warren, where we were
destined. The reply to the charge brought against us is obvious, viz.,
we were no parties to the flag of truce; nor were we included in the
terms of