to the mouth
of the Rio Grande. The coasts of Mexico and Yucatan were also embraced
in them. The steam sloop-of-war Hartford was selected for his flag-ship.
On the 20th of January final orders were issued to him. These were
somewhat discreetly worded, and, literally understood, must be conceded
to take from the department the credit of boldly adhering to, and
assuming the responsibility of, the original plan--a credit Mr. Welles
seems desirous to claim. "When you are completely ready," they read,
"you will collect such vessels as can be spared from the blockade, and
proceed up the Mississippi River _and reduce the defenses_ which guard
the approaches to New Orleans, _when_ you will appear off that city and
take possession of it under the guns of your squadron." Understood
according to the plain meaning of the words, these orders prescribed the
reduction of the works as a condition precedent to appearing off the
city, and so recur to the fears expressed by both Barnard and Porter as
to the consequences of leaving the forts unreduced. There is not in
them even "the latitude and discretion in the employment of the means
placed under his command" which Mr. Welles claimed.[F] Had Farragut,
after leaving the forts unreduced, as he did, met with serious disaster,
it can scarcely be doubted that the phrase quoted would have been used
to acquit the Government.

[Footnote F: Gideon Welles, in the _Galaxy_, December, 1871.]

The steam-sloop Hartford, upon which Farragut now hoisted his flag, and
in which he continued throughout the war, was a nearly new vessel,
having sailed on her first cruise to China in the summer of 1859. She
belonged to the early period of the transition from sails to steam for
the motive power of vessels; the steam being regarded as auxiliary only,
and giving her a speed of but eight knots per hour, while the spars and
sail area were those of a full-rigged ship. The deficiency of
horse-power was a serious drawback in such an operation as passing
forts, especially when, as in the Mississippi, the current was strong
and always adverse to vessels ascending the river. The Hartford had, on
the other hand, a powerful battery of the best existent type. She
carried twenty-two Dahlgren nine-inch shell guns, eleven on each side;
and, owing to the lowness of the river banks, these guns would be on a
level with or even above those in the lower tier of the batteries
opposed to her. The Pensacola, Brooklyn, and Richmo