he point, a dangerous shoal spot makes out.
At the time of the passage of the fleet there were mounted in battery
nineteen heavy guns,[15] viz.: two X-inch and two VIII-inch
columbiads; two 42-, two 32-, and three 24-pound smooth-bores; and
eight rifles, varying from 80- to 50-pounders.

The object of the admiral was simply to pass the batteries with his
fleet, so as to blockade the river above. The vessels he had with him
were the Hartford (flag-ship), twenty-four guns, Captain James S.
Palmer; Monongahela, ten guns, Captain J.P. McKinstry; Mississippi,
seventeen guns, Captain Melancthon Smith; Richmond, twenty-four guns,
Commander James Alden; Genesee, eight guns, Commander William H.
Macomb; Albatross, six guns, Lieutenant-Commander John E. Hart; Kineo,
six[16] guns, Lieutenant-Commander John Watters.

The larger ships, except the Mississippi, were directed to take a
gunboat on the port side, securing her well aft, so as to leave as
much of the port battery as possible clear. Each was to keep a little
to starboard of her next ahead, so as to be free to use her bow guns
as soon as possible with the least danger from premature explosions of
projectiles. In accordance with this order, the Hartford took the
Albatross, the Monongahela, the Kineo, and the Richmond the Genesee;
the Richmond being the slowest ship and the Genesee the most powerful
gunboat. The ships were prepared as at the passage of the lower forts,
and in the Hartford the admiral had placed his pilot in the
mizzen-top, where he could see more clearly, and had arranged a
speaking-tube thence to the deck. The Essex and Sachem were not to
attempt the passage, but with some mortar-boats to engage the lower
batteries to cover the movement.

Shortly before 10 P.M. the ships weighed and advanced in the following
order: Hartford, Richmond, Monongahela, Mississippi. At eleven, as
they drew near the batteries, the lowest of which the Hartford had
already passed, the enemy threw up rockets and opened their fire.
Prudence, and the fact of the best water being on the starboard hand,
led the ships to hug the east shore of the river, passing so close
under the Confederate guns that the speech of the gunners and troops
could be distinguished. Along the shore, at the foot of the bluffs,
powerful reflecting lamps, like those used on locomotives, had been
placed, to show the ships to the enemy as they passed; and for the
same purpose large fires, already stacked on the op