k where it commonly flies, but at every mast-head as
well.

It had been the intention of the admiral to lead the column of wooden
vessels with his own ship; but at the earnest request of many officers,
who thought the fleet should not incur the greater risk consequent upon
having its commander in so exposed a position, he reluctantly consented
to waive his purpose, and the Brooklyn was appointed to this post of
honor. To this selection contributed also the fact that the Brooklyn had
more than the usual number of chase guns, the advantage of which has
been explained, and also an arrangement for picking up torpedoes.
Bitterly afterward did Farragut regret his yielding on this occasion. "I
believe this to be an error," he wrote in his official report of the
battle; "for, apart from the fact that exposure is one of the penalties
of rank in the navy, it will _always_ be the aim of the enemy to destroy
the flag-ship, and, as will appear in the sequel, such attempt was very
persistently made." "The fact is," he said in one of his letters home,
"had I been the obstinate man you sometimes think me, I would have led
in the fleet and saved the Tecumseh"--meaning, doubtless, that, by
interposing between that important vessel and the buoy which marked the
torpedo line, he would have prevented the error which caused her loss.
Some notes upon the action found afterward among his papers contain the
same opinion, more fully and deliberately expressed. "Allowing the
Brooklyn to go ahead was a great error. It lost not only the Tecumseh,
but many valuable lives, by keeping us under the fire of the forts for
thirty minutes; whereas, had I led, as I intended to do, I would have
gone inside the buoys, and all would have followed me." The Hartford
took the second place in the column, having secured on her port or off
side the side-wheel gunboat Metacomet, Lieutenant-Commander James E.
Jouett.

While the monitors were taking their stations, the Tecumseh, which led
their column, fired two shots at the fort. At five minutes before seven,
the order of battle now being fully formed, the fleet went ahead. Ten
minutes later Fort Morgan opened fire upon the Brooklyn, which at once
replied with her bow guns, followed very soon by those of the fighting
column of wooden ships; a brisk cannonade ensuing between them, the
monitors, and the fort. In order to see more clearly, and at the same
time to have immediately by him the persons upon whom he most dep