and no time was lost in preparing the flotilla for the
attack on the fort. He intimated to General Grant that he must not
linger if he wished to cut off the retreat of the enemy. Grant assured
him he would be on time to put his army in motion.

Fort Henry stood on a bend in the river, which it commanded for a long
distance up and down stream. Foote placed his boats behind an island a
mile below the fort, with a view of avoiding the long range rifles of
the Confederates, which were liable to cripple the gunboats before they
could get into close action. The wooden vessels halted upon coming in
view of the fort, and the ironclads, as they were called, moved slowly
up stream abreast of one another, firing their bow guns in answer to the
shots of the rebels. The latter had had the time to practice to acquire
the exact range, while the boats had yet to find it. They fired slowly
and with such accuracy that the infantry stationed outside of the works
hastily fled, though the gunners bravely remained at their posts.

Foote opened fire when not quite a mile from the fort. His instructions
were to fire slowly and with care, the result of which was that guns
were continually dismounted and the earth and sandbags sent flying in
every direction. It was while the attack was being pressed in this
vigorous fashion that a shell pierced the boiler of the _Essex_,
commanded by Lieutenant Porter, and caused so many deaths, as has been
related in a preceding chapter.

This appalling accident was a serious loss to Captain Foote, for Porter
was doing inestimable service when thus driven out of action, but the
daring commander pressed forward in the face of the murderous fire,
encouraged by the visible results of his shots, which were playing
frightful havoc against the defences of the fort. Tilghman, the
Confederate commander, displayed great bravery, fighting until every one
of his guns was dismounted. Then, finding himself powerless to offer
further resistance, he hauled down his flag. Firing immediately ceased
on the part of the Union flotilla, and Foote sent a boat ashore to take
possession.

Despite General Grant's usual promptness, he did not arrive in time to
intercept the flight of the garrison. As a consequence the prisoners
surrendered, including General Tilghman and his staff, numbered less
than a hundred. The others fled overland to Fort Donelson, only to be
compelled to surrender shortly afterward to Grant in what proved to b