Conestoga," and her woodwork seriously
damaged.

The two gunboats leisurely continued their excursion into the heart of
the enemy's country. Little or no danger was to be feared. At that
time, the Confederates had not learned to plant torpedoes in their
rivers, to blow the enemy's vessels into fragments. There was no
artillery stationed in that section to check their progress, and the
only resistance found was an occasional rifle-shot from some concealed
sharp-shooter in the bushes on the shore. On the 7th of February the
gunboats reached Cerro Gordo, Tenn.; and here they made a valuable
capture. The Confederates had been at work for weeks converting the
steamer "Eastport" into an iron-clad ram; and, as the Union vessels
came up, they found her almost completed, and absolutely without
defence. Besides the new vessel, there was in the shipyard a large
quantity of lumber and ship-timber, which was of the greatest value to
the builders of the river navy. The two gunboats promptly captured all
this property; and waiting until the "Tyler," which had been detained
at the drawbridge, came up, they left her in charge, and continued
their raid into the enemy's country. Little incident occurred until
they reached the head of navigation of the river, where they found all
the Confederate vessels which had been flying before them for two
days. These were burned, and the two gunboats started back down the
river, stopping for the "Eastport" on the way. The captured vessel was
afterwards completed, and served the cause of the Union for two years,
when she was blown up on the Red River.

When the raiding expedition reached Cairo, the officers found Foote
getting his squadron together for the attack on Fort Donelson. This
fortification was one strongly relied upon by the Confederates for the
maintenance of their northern line of battle. It was on the bank of
the Cumberland River, nearly opposite the site of Fort Henry on the
Tennessee. A garrison of at least fifteen thousand men manned the
works, and were commanded by no less than three generals; and the fact
that there were _three_ generals in command had much to do with the
fall of the fort. Its strength was rather on its river-front. Here the
river winds about between abrupt hillsides, and on the front of one of
these hills stood Fort Donelson. The water-batteries were made up of
heavy guns, so mounted as to command the river for miles. On the
landward side were heavy earthworks, ab