United States flag hoisted, not only at the
peak, but also at every masthead. The four monitors, trusting in their
iron sides, steamed in between the wooden ships and the fort. Every man
in every craft was thrilling with the fierce excitement of battle; but
in the minds of most there lurked a vague feeling of unrest over one
danger. For their foes who fought in sight, for the forts, the gunboats,
and, the great ironclad ram, they cared nothing; but all, save the very
boldest, were at times awed, and rendered uneasy by the fear of the
hidden and the unknown. Danger which is great and real, but which
is shrouded in mystery, is always very awful; and the ocean veterans
dreaded the torpedoes--the mines of death--which lay, they knew not
where, thickly scattered through the channels along which they were to
thread their way.

The tall ships were in fighting trim, with spars housed, and canvas
furled. The decks were strewn with sawdust; every man was in his place;
the guns were ready, and except for the song of the sounding-lead there
was silence in the ships as they moved forward through the glorious
morning. It was seven o'clock when the battle began, as the Tecumseh,
the leading monitor, fired two shots at the fort. In a few minutes Fort
Morgan was ablaze with the flash of her guns, and the leading wooden
vessels were sending back broadside after broadside. Farragut stood in
the port main-rigging, and as the smoke increased he gradually climbed
higher, until he was close by the maintop, where the pilot was stationed
for the sake of clearer vision. The captain, fearing lest by one of
the accidents of battle the great admiral should lose his footing, sent
aloft a man with a lasher, and had a turn or two taken around his body
in the shrouds, so that he might not fall if wounded; for the shots
were flying thick.

At first the ships used only their bow guns, and the Confederate ram,
with her great steel rifles, and her three consorts, taking station
where they could rake the advancing fleet, caused much loss. In twenty
minutes after the opening of the fight the ships of the van were fairly
abreast of the fort, their guns leaping and thundering; and under the
weight of their terrific fire that of the fort visibly slackened. All
was now uproar and slaughter, the smoke drifting off in clouds. The
decks were reddened and ghastly with blood, and the wreck of flying
splinters drove across them at each discharge. The monitor Tecumseh