lf the fort was transformed into a morass. An
officer in Fort Jackson said, after the surrender, that in two hours
over one hundred shells had fallen upon the parade-ground of that
work, tearing it up terribly. For six days this terrible fire was
endured; and during the latter half of the bombardment the water stood
knee deep on the gun-platforms, and the gunners worked at their guns
until their shoes, soaked for days and days, fairly fell from their
feet. For bed and bedding they had the wet earth, for rations raw meat
and mouldy bread. If there were glory and victory for the Union
sailors, let there at least be honor and credit granted the soldiers
of the gray for the dogged courage with which they bore the terrible
bombardment from Porter's flotilla.

While the mortars were pounding away through those six long days and
nights, Farragut was getting ready to take his ships past the forts.
Union scouts and spies had travelled over every foot of land and water
about the forts; and the exact strength of the Confederates, and the
difficulties to be overcome, were clearly known to the Federal
admiral. One of the chief obstructions was a chain of rafts and old
hulks that stretched across the channel by which the fleet would be
obliged to ascend the river. Under cover of a tremendous fire from all
the mortars, two gunboats were sent up to remove this obstruction. The
night was dark and favorable to the enterprise, and the vessels
reached the chain before they were discovered. Then, under a fierce
cannonade from the forts, Lieut. Caldwell put off in a row-boat from
his vessel, boarded one of the hulks, and managed to break the chain.
The string of hulks was quickly swept ashore by the swift current, and
the channel was open for the ascent of the Union fleet.

[Illustration: Breaking the Chain.]

On the 23d of April, Farragut determined that his fleet should make
the attempt to get past the forts the following day. He knew that
the enemy must be exhausted with the terrible strain of Porter's
bombardment, and he felt that the opportunity had arrived for him to
make a successful dash for the upper river. The fleet was all prepared
for a desperate struggle. Many of the captains had daubed the sides of
their vessels with the river mud, that they might be less prominent
marks for the Confederate gunners. The chain cables of all the vessels
were coiled about vulnerable parts, or draped over the sides amidships
to protect the boile