The Capture of New Orleans 121

cles were surmounted and all was in readiness forthe bombardment. Commander Por- Bombard _ter anchored his bomb-vessels around ment of Fortthe bend of the river, close to the right Jackson ‘bank, from three to four thousand yards belowFort Jackson and behind a thick wood. Themastheads were dressed with bushes, and thusbecame indistinguishable from the treetops. Insuch wise the bombardment began on the morningof the 18th, and was kept up with great fury forfive days and nights, during which the mortar fleetfired 16,800 shells, or more than one to everyminute. The aim was excellent. Nearly everyshell was lodged inside of the fort, which at theend of this time was riddled like a worm-eatenlog. Huge masses of sand-bags still protected themagazine, however, and, although several gunswere silenced, Fort Jackson as yet gave no sign ofsurrender. As for Fort St. Philip, it had sufferedcomparatively little damage.

This preliminary bombardment was a pet schemeof Porter’s, to which Farragut seems to have at-tached small importance, though he Differencewas willing: to give it a trial. Porter between

i t ii i-i Farragut’s

was so keenly alive to the danger which T i ew andthe fleet would incur in running past l’ orter ’ s -the forts that he deemed it necessary to begin byforcing them to surrender, and this he hoped to do