below the hamlet called
Sabine City, opposite the upper end of the oyster reef that for
nearly a mile divides the channel into two parts, each narrow and
neither straight. The _Sachem_, followed by the _Arizona_, took
the eastern or Louisiana channel, and was hardly under fire before
a shot struck her steampipe and completely disabled her. The
_Clifton_ moved at full speed up the western or Texas channel until,
when almost directly under the guns of the fort, she also received
a shot through her boilers, grounding at the same time; and thus,
nearly at the same instant, before the action had fairly begun,
the two leading gunboats were completely disabled and at the mercy
of the enemy. The Louisiana channel was too narrow for the _Arizona_
to pass the _Sachem_ or to turn about; so at the moment when the
_Clifton_ received her fatal injury, the _Arizona_ was backing down
the eastern channel to ascend the western to her assistance; but
in doing this she also took the ground. The _Sachem_ hauled down
her colors and hoisted the white flag at the fore, and after bravely
continuing the fight for twenty minutes longer the _Clifton_ followed
suit.

The place where the _Clifton_ grounded was fairly in range of the
beach where Weitzel was expected to land his troops. There may
have been a minute, or even ten, during which it might have been
possible for Weitzel, breaking away from the concerted plan, to
have thrown his picked men ashore while the attention of the
Confederates was fixed upon the _Clifton_; yet, although this
criticism has been suggested by high authority, the point would
have been a fine one at best; and under the actual circumstances,
with the _Granite City_ in the channel ahead, the _Arizona_ aground,
and the guns of the _Sachem_ and the _Clifton_ about to be added
to those with which the enemy had opened the action, the problem
becomes one of pure speculation. What is clear is that the landing
depended upon the gunboats; that these were cruelly beaten before
they had a chance to prove themselves; and that nothing really
remained to do but what was actually done: that is, to give up
the expedition and go home.

It is true that the orders under which Franklin was acting indicated
that if he found a landing impracticable at Sabine Pass he was to
attempt to land at some other place near by; and it is also true
that the infantry might have been set ashore almost anywhere in
the soft salt marsh that serves f