set on fire in the forward store-room; but before
the fire had gained sufficient headway, three shot entering there let
in water and put it out. She was then fired in four different places
aft, and as soon as it was sure that she would be destroyed, the
captain and first lieutenant left her, passing down to the Richmond in
safety. The Mississippi remained aground till 3 A.M., when she floated
off and drifted down the river, passing the other ships without
injuring them. At 5.30, being then some distance below, she blew up,
thus meeting the same fate that had befallen her sister ship, the
Missouri, twenty years before, in the harbor of Gibraltar.

From the circumstances of the case the exact number of killed and
wounded of the Mississippi could not be ascertained. Upon mustering
the ship's company after the action, 64 were found missing out of a
total of 297. Of these 25 were believed to have been killed.

It is sufficiently apparent, from the above accounts of the
experiences of each vessel, that the failure of the greater part of
the fleet to pass was principally due to other circumstances than the
Confederate fire. The darkness of the night, the stillness of the air,
which permitted the smoke to settle undisturbed, the intricacy of the
navigation, the rapidity of the current, then running at the rate of
five knots, the poor speed of the ships, not over eight knots, were
known beforehand, and were greater elements of danger than the simple
fire of the enemy. To these is to be added the difficulty of making
the turn, with the swift current of the river round the bend tending
to throw the ship bodily on to the hostile shore before she could be
brought to head in the new direction. The Hartford and her consort
alone reached this final trial, and were by it nearly involved in the
common disaster.

Nearly, but not quite; and the success of the two vessels, though it
placed them in a trying and hazardous position, ensured the attainment
of the object for which the risk had been run. The Red River was
blockaded, not again to be open to the Confederates during the war;
and though nearly four months were still to elapse before the
Mississippi would be freely used throughout its length by Union
vessels, it slipped finally from the control of the enemy as Farragut
with his two ships passed from under the batteries at Port Hudson.

The morning after the action the flag-ship dropped down nearly within
range of the enemy, to com