o stand fire without
replying; but, fortunately for them, the fire was not very deadly, and
but few were injured. When, however, a shell did fall within the
works, it made work enough to repair damages, as by its explosion a
hole as large as a small house would be torn in the ground. But for
every one that fell within the batteries, twenty fell outside. Some
strange freaks are recorded of the shells. One fell on a cannon,
around which eight or ten men were lying. The gun-carriage was blown
to pieces, but not a man was hurt. Another fell full on the head of a
man who was walking about distributing rations, and not so much as a
button from his uniform was ever found.

But while the navy was thus playing at bowls with great guns, the army
had marched through the interior, captured New Madrid, and obtained a
foothold below Island No. 10. Thus the Confederates were surrounded;
and the very impassability of the land, that had been an advantage to
them, now told against them, for it cut off all hope of
re-enforcements. Gen. Pope's position was such that he could not get
at the island, nor secure a commanding position, without aid from the
navy. He begged Foote to try to run the batteries; but the commodore
replied, that the risk was greater than the prospective gain, and
continued his cannonade. Then a new idea was broached. By cutting a
canal through the bayous, swamps, and woods of the peninsula, the
lighter vessels could be taken by the fort without risk, and Foote
would then dare the dangers of a dash by in the gunboats. Every one
said that such a canal was impossible; but the men of the North were
given to doing impossible things in those days, and while Foote's
mortar-boats continued their thunder, fifteen hundred men were set to
work cutting a way through the noisome swamps. A channel forty feet
wide must be made. First gangs of men with axes and saws, working in
three feet of water, went ahead, cutting down the rank vegetation. As
fast as a little space was cleared, a small steamer went in, and with
dredge and steam-capstan hauled out the obstructions. In some places
the surveyed channel was so filled with drift-wood, fallen trees, and
tangled roots, that the labor of a thousand men for a day seemed to
make no impression. When the canal was pretty well blocked out, the
levee was cut; and the rush of the waters from the great river
undermined trees, and piled up new obstacles for the steamers to tow
away. Amid the foul