, under the full fire of the fort; while of
Perkins, in the Chickasaw, the youngest commander in the fleet, and then
about twenty-seven years of age, an officer of high position in the
flag-ship says, "As he passed the Hartford he was on top of the turret,
waving his hat and dancing about with delight and excitement."

But as they went thus gallantly by, the position of these vessels,
combined with that of the Brooklyn relatively to the flag-ship, forbade
the latter's turning in that direction unless at the risk of adding to a
confusion already sufficiently perilous. A signal was made and repeated
to the Brooklyn to go ahead; but that vessel gave no sign of moving, her
commander being probably perplexed between his orders to pass east of
the buoy and the difficulty of doing so, owing to the position into
which his ship had now fallen and the situation of the monitors. But to
remain thus motionless and undecided, under the fire of the fort with
the other ships coming up to swell the size of the target offered to its
gunners and to increase the confusion, was out of the question. To
advance or to recede seemed alike dangerous. Ahead lay the dreaded line
of torpedoes; behind was the possibility of retreat, but beaten,
baffled, and disastrous. All depended upon the prompt decision of the
admiral. If he failed himself, or if fortune failed him now, his
brilliant career of success ended in the gloom of a defeat the degree of
which could not be foreseen. In later days, Farragut told that in the
confusion of these moments, feeling that all his plans had been
thwarted, he was at a loss whether to advance or retreat. In this
extremity the devout spirit that ruled his life, and so constantly
appears in his correspondence, impelled him to appeal to Heaven for
guidance, and he offered up this prayer: "O God, who created man and
gave him reason, direct me what to do. Shall I go on?" "And it seemed,"
said the admiral, "as if in answer a voice commanded, 'Go on!'"

To such a prompting his gallant temper and clear intuitions in all
matters relating to war were quick to respond. Personal danger could not
deter him; and if it was necessary that some one ship should set the
example and force a way through the torpedo line by the sacrifice of
herself, he was prepared by all his habits of thought to accept that
duty for the vessel bearing his flag. Describing the spirit in which he
began an arduous enterprise, after once deciding that it sho