er vessels over the bar at the southwest pass was a work
of time and great labor. They had to be made as light as possible and
then dragged through a foot of mud. Two weeks of such labor was required
to get the _Pensacola_ over, and the _Colorado_ could not be taken over
at all.

"The mortar vessels were towed up stream and began to take their places.
Porter disguised them with mud and the branches of trees, so that they
could not be readily distinguished from the river banks, being moored
under cover of the woods on the bank just below Fort Jackson. The
stratagem was successful; his vessels were moored where he wished to
have them, the nearest being two thousand eight hundred and fifty yards
from Fort Jackson, and three thousand six hundred and eighty from Fort
St. Philip.

"On the opposite side of the river, and a little farther from the forts,
Porter had his six remaining vessels stationed, screening them also with
willows and reeds, and mooring them under cover of the woods to conceal
their true character.

"On the 18th of April, before nine o'clock in the morning, the attack
was begun by a shot from Fort Jackson, then, as soon as Porter was
ready, the _Owasco_ opened fire, and the fourteen mortar boats concealed
by the woods, also the six in full sight of the forts, began their
bombardment.

"The gun-boats took part in the conflict by running up and firing heavy
shells when the mortars needed relief. Porter was on the _Harriet Lane_,
in a position to see what was the effect of the shells, and direct their
aim accordingly.

"The fight went on for several days, then Farragut, deeming there was
small prospect of reducing the forts, prepared to carry out another part
of his instructions by running past them. He called a council of the
captains in the cabin of the _Hartford_, and it was then and there
decided that the attempt should be made.

"It was an intensely dark night, the wind blowing fiercely from the
north, but Commander Bell with the _Winona_, the _Itasca_, _Kennebec_,
_Iroquois_, and the _Pinola_ ran up to the boom. The _Pinola_ ran to the
hulk under the guns of Fort Jackson, and an effort was made to destroy
it with a petard, but failed. The _Itasca_ was lashed to the next hulk,
but a rocket sent up from the fort showed her to the foe, who
immediately opened a heavy fire upon her. But half an hour of active
work with chisels, saws, and sledges parted the boom of chains and logs,
and the hulk to which