THE WESTERN FLOTILLA.
437
the hills. When they were about to lower the first coffin, a Roman Catholicpriest appeared, and .his services being accepted, he read the prayers for thedead. As the last service was ended, the sound of the battle being waged byGeneral Grant, like the rumbling of distant thunder, was the only requiemfor our departed shipmates.
On Sunday, the 16th, at dawn, Fort Donelson surrendered and the gun-boats steamed up to Dover. After religious services the Carondelet proceededback to Cairo , and arrived there on the morning of the 17th, in such a dense fogthat she passed below the town unnoticed, and had great difficulty in findingthe landing. There had been a report that the enemy was coming fromColumbus to attack Cairo during the absence of its defenders; and while theCarondelet was cautiously feeling her way back and blowing her whistle, somepeople imagined she was a Confederate gun-boat about to land, and madehasty preparations to leave the place. Our announcement of the victory atFort Donelson changed their dejection into joy and exultation. On the fol-lowing morning an order congratulating the officers and men of the Carondeletwas received from Flag-Officer Foote.
A few days later the Carondelet was taken up on the ways at MoundCity, Illinois,— six or seven miles above Cairo on the Ohio River,— forrepairs; and a crowd of carpenters worked on her night and day. After therepairs were completed, she was ordered to make the experiment of backing
Shickman
SAXA’U-VV'AX-'
JA Prr E RS:
ROAD TO union CITY
O'iunv.li r... <•
Scale