ksmen. The first shot was fired from the shore, and, missing the
"Essex" by but a few feet, plumped into the water, so near the next
ship in line as to throw water over her decks. Within five minutes,
the "Essex" and the "Cincinnati" were both hit. The armor of the
gunboats proved no match for the shots of the Confederates, and in
many cases it was penetrated. In some instances, shells, entering
through the portholes, did deadly damage.

On the shore, the shells from the gunboats were doing terrible work.
Banks of solid earth, eight feet thick, were blown away by the
terrible explosions. One, bursting in front of a ten-inch columbiad,
filled that powerful gun with mud almost to the muzzle, disabling it
for the remainder of the fight. A shot from the "Essex" struck the
muzzle of a great gun, ripped off a splinter of iron three feet long,
and crushed a gunner to pulp. The gun was just about to be fired, and
burst, killing or wounding every man of the crew. At the same moment a
shell crashed through the side of the "Essex," killing men right and
left: took off the head of a sailor standing by Capt. Porter, wounded
the captain, and plunged into the boiler. In an instant the ship was
filled with scalding steam. The men in the pilot-house were
suffocated. Twenty men and officers were killed or scalded. The ship
was disabled, and drifted out of the fight. While withdrawing, she
received two more shots, making twenty in all that had fallen to her
share in this hot engagement. But by this time the fort was very
thoroughly knocked to pieces. The big twenty-four pounder was
dismounted, and five of its crew killed. Gun after gun was keeled
over, and man after man carried bleeding to the bomb-proofs, until
Gen. Tilghman himself dropped coat and sword, and pulled away at a gun
by the side of his soldiers. Receiving ten shots while they could only
fire one, this little band held out for two long hours; and only when
the crew of the last remaining piece threw themselves exhausted on the
ground, did the flag come fluttering down. Gen. Tilghman went to the
fleet and surrendered the fort to Commodore Foote, and Grant's army
came up more than an hour after the battle was over. To the navy
belongs the honor of taking Fort Henry, while to Gen. Tilghman and his
plucky soldiers belongs the honor of making one of the most desperate
fights under the most unfavorable circumstances recorded in the
history of the civil war.

The fall of Fort Henr