boom
of the first gun was heard. This was from the monitor 'Tecumseh,' at
forty-seven minutes past six o'clock. Presently one or two of our
forward guns opened, and we could hear the distant sound of the guns
of the fort in reply. Soon the cannon-balls began to crash through the
deck above us, and then the thunder of our whole broadside of twelve
Dahlgren guns kept the vessel in a quiver. But as yet no wounded were
sent down, and we knew we were still at comparatively long range. In
the intense excitement of the occasion, it seemed that hours had
passed; but it was just twenty minutes from the time we went below
when an officer shouted down the hatchway: 'Send up an army
signal-officer immediately: the 'Brooklyn' is signalling.' In a moment
the writer was on deck, where he found the situation as follows: The
'Brooklyn,' directly in front of us, had stopped, and was backing and
signalling; the tide was with us, setting strongly through the
channel, and the stopping of the 'Brooklyn' threatened to bring the
whole fleet into collision and confusion; the advance vessels of the
line were trying to back to prevent a catastrophe, but were apparently
not able to overcome the force of the current; and there was danger
not only of collision, but of being drifted on shore."

While the fleet was thus embarrassed and hampered, the gunners in the
forts were pouring in their shot thick and fast. On the decks of the
ships the most terrible scenes of death were visible. Along the port
side the bodies of the dead were ranged in long rows, while the
wounded were carried below, until the surgeon's room was filled to
its last corner. One poor fellow on the "Hartford" lost both legs by a
cannon-ball, and, falling, threw up both arms just in time to have
them carried away also. Strange to say, he recovered from these
fearful wounds.

Just as the fight was at its hottest, and the vessels were nearing the
line, the passage of which meant victory, there went up a cry from the
whole fleet, "The 'Tecumseh!' Look at the 'Tecumseh!'" All eyes were
turned on the monitor, and every one saw that she was sinking. She
staggered for a moment, and went down with a rush, carrying her brave
commander and over a hundred of her crew. A few escaped, the last of
whom was the pilot. As the pilot was rushing for the hatchway that led
to the open air and to life, he met at the foot of a narrow ladder
Commander Craven. Craven stepped back, saying gravely, "After