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While these events were taking place in the East, efforts were being made to open a pathway up the Mississippi. The first important step was the occupation of Ship Island. Lying intermediate between Santa Rosa Island and the mouths of the Mississippi near the entrance to the interior, it was connected with New Orleans by Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain, and was one of the most valuable stations along the coast. A force of 2,500 troops under General J. W. Phelps was sent to Ship Island; other troops arrived in January of 1862, and on February 25 General Benjamin F. Butler sailed from Hampton Roads to assume command of the land forces intended to operate against New Orleans, that city being the natural objective point of the campaign. By the end of March, Butler had 14,000 men at the island, mostly raw recruits. By the middle of April he succeeded in embarking 6,000 troops for the Mississippi, who were to coöperate with the naval force there being organized and perfected by Captain David G. Farragut. Captain Farragut, then 60 years of age,

was chosen to command the naval forces, and on February 3 set sail from Hampton Roads with his fleet of which the steam sloop Hartford was the flagship. In his instructions of January 20, Secretary Welles had informed Farragut that a fleet of armed vessels and armed steamers enough to manage them, all under command of Commodore D. D. Porter, would be attached to the squadron. With this flotilla Farragut was directed to take New Orleans and then aid in opening the river above. By the middle of April the expedition was before the forts below New Orleans, Farragut with 17 men of war and 177 guns besides Porter's flotilla of 19 mortar schooners and 6 armed steamships for guard and towing service. Butler with a contingent of 6,000 men accompanied the expedition, the remainder of his troops being detained at Ship Island for want of transports.* The Confederate defences were of three kinds. About 80 miles below New Orleans on either side of the river were Forts Jackson and St. Philip,

* Official Records, vol. vi., p. 708.

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the former containing 74 and the latter 52 guns, their garrisons consisting of about 700 men each. The Confederates had also constructed a river barrier a mile and a half below the forts consisting of log rafts and dismasted schooners anchored at intervals and connected by strong chains. The third defence was an improvised fleet of 16 gunboats, several of them armed with iron prows and one of them (the Manassas) being an ironplated ram. In charge of the coast defences was General J. K. Duncan and General Mansfield Lovell was in command of several thousand troops at New Orleans.

On April 16 Farragut ascended the river with his fleet, anchoring the mortar boats from 2,500 to 4,000 yards below Fort Jackson. The bombardment was opened on the 18th, each vessel firing for ten minutes. During the first day 1,400 shells were thrown, but no perceptible injury was inflicted, though the citadel in the centre of the fort was set on fire. Two of the mortar boats were penetrated by shots from the fort. On the second day one of the mortar boats was sunk and considerable damage was done to the officers' quarters in the fort. During the night the chain barrier was broken and a passage was opened for the fleet. During the third and fourth days the mortar boats kept steadily at work, slowly but surely accomplishing the reduction of the fort. For six days the bombardment continued during which Porter threw 16,000 shells,

but as the forts had not surrendered Farragut decided to try his own ships.* At 2 o'clock on the morning of the 24th Farragut gave the signal to advance, Porter at the same time increasing his bombardment to its utmost rapidity. The fleet was arranged in two divisions: First, the column of the red, consisting of the Cayuga, flag gunboat, Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, Kineo, Wissahickon, carrying 67 guns and in command of Captain Theodorus Bailey-this to engage Fort St. Philip; while the second division, the column of the blue, commanded by Farragut and led by his flagship, the Hartford, consisting of the Brooklyn, Richmond, Sciota, Iroquois, Kennebeck, Pinola, Itasca and Winona, in all 9 ships carrying 87 guns, † was to ascend the west bank of the river and attack Fort Jackson. At about 2.30 on the morning of April 24 the two columns steamed forward. As the divisions passed through the barrier the forts opened upon them but the ships waited until they were abreast of the works and then with grape and canister quickly cleared the ramparts and drove the fort gunners from their posts. In his report of May 6, 1862, Farragut says that, as the fire became general and the smoke dense, the Union boats had nothing to aim at but the flash of the Con