THE WESTERN FLOTILLA.

43i

When the Carondelet, her tow being cast off, came in sight of the fort andproceeded up to within long range of the batteries, not a living creaturecould be seen. The hills and woods on the west side of the river hid part ofthe enemy’s formidable defenses, which were lightly covered with snow; butthe black rows of heavy guns, pointing down on us, reminded me of the dis-mal-looking sepulchers cut in the rocky cliffs near Jerusalem , but far morerepulsive. At 12:50 p. m., to unmask the silent enemy, and to announce myarrival to General Grant, I ordered the bow-guns to be fired at the fort.Only one shell fell short. There was no response except the echo from thehills. The fort appeared to have been evacuated. After firing ten shellsinto it, the Carondelet dropped down the river about three miles and anchored.But the sound of her guns aroused our soldiers on the southern side of thefort into action; one report says that when they heard the guns of the avant-courrier of the fleet, they gave cheer upon cheer, and rather than permit thesailors to get ahead of them again, they engaged in skirmishes with the en-emy, and began the battle of the three days following. On the Carondelet'.wewere isolated and beset with dangers from the enemy’s lurking sharp-shooters.

On the 13th a dispatch was received from General Grant, informing methat he had arrived the day before, and had succeeded in getting his army inposition, almost entirely investing the enemy’s works. “ Most of our bat-teries,” he said, “ are established, and the remainder soon will be. If youwill advance with your gun-boat at 10 o’clock in the morning, we will beready to take advantage of any diversion in our favor.”

I immediately complied with these instructions, and at 9:05, with theCarondelet alone and under cover of a heavily wooded point, fired 13970-pound and 64-pound shells at the fort. "We received in return thefire of all the enemy’s guns that could be brought to bear on the Caron-delet, which sustained but little damage, except from two shots. One, a128-pound solid, at 11:30 struck the corner of our port broadside casemate,passed through it, and in its progress toward the center of our boilersglanced over the temporary barricade in front of the boilers. It then passedover the steam-drum, struck the beams of the upper deck, carried away therailing around the engine-room and burst the steam-heater, and, glancingback into the engine-room, “ seemed to bound after the men,” as one of theengineers said, “ like a wild beast pursuing its prey.” I have preserved thisball as a souvenir of the fight at Fort Donelson. When it burst through theside of the Carondelet , it knocked down and wounded a dozen men, seven ofthem severely. An immense quantity of splinters was blown through thevessel. Some of them, as fine as needles, shot through the clothes of themen like arrows. Several of the wounded were so much excited by the sud-denness of the event and the sufferings of their comrades, that they were notaware that they themselves had been struck until they felt the blood run-ning into their shoes. Upon receiving this shot we ceased firing for a while.

After dinner we sent the wounded on board the Alps , repaired damages,and, not expecting any assistance, at 12:15 we resumed, in accordance withGeneral Grant’s request, and bombarded the fort until dusk, when nearly all