the
captain, "and just as Butler had ordered his vessel away from that
dangerous spot, the rebel monitor _Manassas_ came moving down into the
midst of his fleet. She had just been terribly pounded by the
_Mississippi_ and was a helpless wreck, but that was not perceived at
first, and some of the mortars opened fire upon her, but stopped when
they saw what was her condition: her hull battered and pierced, her
pipes twisted and riddled by shot, smoke pouring from every opening. In
a few minutes her only gun went off, flames burst out from stern,
trap-door, and bow port, and she went hissing to the bottom of the
river.

"Butler now hurried to his transports and took them to Sable Island,
twelve miles in the rear of Fort St. Philip. From there they went in
small boats, through the narrow and shallow bayous, piloted by
Lieutenant Weitzel. It was a most fatiguing journey, the men sometimes
having to drag their boats through cold, muddy water waist deep. But the
brave, patriotic fellows worked on with a will, and by the night of the
27th they were at the Quarantine, ready to begin the assault on Fort St.
Philip the next day, when they were landed under cover of the guns of
the _Mississippi_ and the _Kineo_. Butler sent a small force to the
other side of the river above Fort Jackson, which Porter had been
pounding terribly with the shells from his mortars. On the 26th, Porter
sent a flag of truce with a demand for the surrender of the fort, saying
that Farragut had reached New Orleans and taken possession.

"Colonel Higginson, the commander of the fort, replied that he had no
official report of that surrender, and that until he should receive such
he would not surrender the fort; he could not entertain such a
proposition for a moment.

"On the same day, General Duncan, commander of the coast defences, but
at that time in Fort Jackson, sent out an address to the soldiers,
saying, 'The safety of New Orleans and the cause of the Southern
Confederacy, our homes, families, and everything dear to man yet depend
upon our exertions. We are just as capable of repelling the enemy to-day
as we were before the bombardment.'

"Thus he urged them to fight on. But they did not all agree with the
views he expressed. They could see the blackened fragments of vessels
and other property strewing the waters of the river as it flowed swiftly
by, and the sight convinced them of the truth of the report which had
reached them of the fall of New O