etail, we will give our
attention to the _Mississippi_. Within an hour and a quarter of the
time the leading vessel passed the forts, all had reached a safe point
above, where they engaged in a furious fight with the Confederate
flotilla, the smaller members of which were soon disabled or sunk.

[Illustration: THE "HARTFORD"--FARRAGUT'S FLAGSHIP.]

Meanwhile the ironclad _Manassas_ had been prowling at the heels of the
Union squadron, but being discovered by the _Mississippi_, the steamer
opened on her with so destructive a fire that the ram ran ashore and the
crew scrambled over the bows and escaped. The _Mississippi_ continued
pounding her until she was completely wrecked. The loss of the Union
fleet was thirty-seven killed and one hundred and forty-seven wounded,
while the Confederate land forces had twelve killed and forty wounded.
The Confederate flotilla must have lost as many men as the Unionists.
Having safely passed all obstructions, Captain Farragut steamed up to
the river to New Orleans, and the city surrendered April 25, formal
possession being taken on May 1.

It will be admitted that Lieutenant Dewey had received his "baptism of
fire."

It is the testimony of every one who saw him during the turmoil of
battle that he conducted himself with the coolness and courage of a
veteran. At no time during the passage of the forts and the desperate
fighting with the Confederate flotilla above did he display the first
evidence of nervousness or lack of self-possession.

[Illustration: IRONCLADS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.]

The next engagement in which Lieutenant Dewey took part was the attempt
by Farragut to pass the battery of nineteen guns, mounted on the
hundred-foot high bluff of Port Hudson, on a bend of the Mississippi,
below Vicksburg. The position was the most difficult conceivable to
carry from the river, because of the plunging shots from the enormous
guns on the bluff above.

Captain Farragut had no thought of reducing these batteries, which would
have been impossible with a fleet double the strength of his, but he
wished to get his vessels past in order to blockade the river above the
bend. The attempt was made on the night of March 14, 1863, with the
_Hartford_ in the lead, and followed by the _Richmond_, _Monongahela_
and _Mississippi_, with the smaller boats. The first three boats had as
consorts the _Albatross_, _Kineo_ and _Genessee_. Captain Mahan, in "The
Gulf and Inland Waters," gives the followin