rleans. They had heard, too, of the
arrival of Butler's troops in the rear of Fort St. Philip.

"Doubtless they talked it all over among themselves that night, as a
large number of them mutinied, spiked the guns bearing up the river, and
the next day went out and surrendered themselves to Butler's pickets on
that side of the river, saying they had been impressed, and would not
fight the government any longer. Their loss made the surrender of the
fort a necessity, and Colonel Higginson accepted the generous terms
offered him by Porter. He and Duncan went on board the _Harriet Lane_
and the terms of surrender were reduced to writing.

"While that was going on in her cabin, a dastardly deed was done by the
Confederate officer Mitchell, who, as I have said, commanded the battery
called the _Louisiana_. It lay above the forts. He had it towed out into
the strong current, set on fire and abandoned, leaving the guns all
shotted, expecting she would float down and explode among Porter's
mortar fleet; but a good Providence caused the explosion to come before
she reached the fleet. It took place when she was abreast of Fort St.
Philip, and a soldier, one of its garrison, was killed by a flying
fragment. Then she went to the bottom, and the rest of the Confederate
steamers surrendered.

"Porter and his mortar fleet were still below the forts, but Farragut
had now thirteen of his vessels safely above them and was ready to move
upon New Orleans.

"Half an hour after he reached the Quarantine, he sent Captain Boggs to
Butler with despatches. Boggs went in a small boat through shallow
bayous in the rear of Fort St. Philip, and, as I have already said, the
next day Butler and his troops arrived at the Quarantine in readiness to
assault the forts.

"Fort St. Philip was as perfect when taken by the Union forces as before
the fight, and Fort Jackson was injured only in its interior works.

"The entire loss of the Nationals in all this fighting was 40 killed and
177 wounded. No reliable report was given of the Confederate losses in
killed and wounded. The number of prisoners amounted to nearly one
thousand.

"General Lovell, who had command of the Confederate troops at New
Orleans, had gone down the river in his steamer _Doubloon_, and arrived
just as the National fleet was passing the forts. He was near being
captured in the terrible fight that followed, but escaped to the shore
and hurried back to New Orleans as fast as courier h