FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY.

.39 3

The thunder of heavy artillery now ceased. The crews of the variousvessels had begun to efface the marks of the terrible contest by washingthe decks and clearing up the splinters. The cooks were preparing break-fast, the surgeons were busily engaged in making amputations and bind-ni g arteries, and under canvas, on the port side of each vessel, lay theghastly line of dead waiting the sailor’s burial. As if by mutual under-standing, officers who were relieved from immediate duty gathered in theward-rooms to ascertain who of their mates were missing, and the reactionfrom such a season of tense nerves and excitement was just setting inVdien the hurried call to quarters came and the word passed around, “ Theram is coming.”

The Tennessee , after remaining near Fort Morgan while the fleet had maderts way four miles above to its anchorage,—certainly as much as half anhour,—had suddenly decided to settle at once the question of the control ofthe bay. Single-handed she came on to meet the whole fleet, consisting now°f ten wooden vessels and the three monitors. At that time the Tennessee ^as believed to be the strongest vessel afloat, and the safety with which sheCa rried her crew during the battle proved that she was virtually invulner-able.. Fortunately for the Union fleet she was weakly handled, and at thee,1( l fell a victim to a stupendous blunder in her construction—the failure toProtect her rudder-chains. The spectacle afforded the Confederate soldiers, whoCl 'owded the ramparts of the two forts,—the fleet now being out of range,—w as such as lias very rarely been furnished in the history of the world. Tothe looker-on it seemed as if the fleet was at the mercy of the ram, for theMonitors, which were expected to be the chief defense, were so destitute ofs Peed and so difficult to manoeuvre that it seemed an easy task for the Ten-He ssee to avoid them and sink the wooden vessels in detail. Because ofthe slowness of the monitors, Admiral Farragut selected the fastest of the' lV °oden vessels to begin the attack. While the navy signals for a generalattack of the enemy were being prepared, the Monongahela (Captain Strong)a ^fl the Lackawanna (Captain Marchand) were ordered by the more rapidSl gnal system of the army to “run down the ram,” the order being imme-1 ately repeated to the monitors.

The Monom/ahela , with her prow already somewhat weakened by the pre-v i°us attempt to ram, at once took the lead, as she had not yet come toMichor. The ram from the first headed for the Hartford , and paid no atten-1011 to her assailants, except with her guns. The Monongahela, going at fullS P (i(: ‘d, struck the 7 Ynnessee amidships — a blow that would have sunk almostan y vessel of the Union navy, but which inflicted not the slightest damage011 the solid iron hull of the ram. (After the surrender it was almostUll Possible to tell where the attacking vessel had struck.) Her own iron1 °w and cutwater were carried away, and she was otherwise badly dam-a £ed about the stern by the collision. The Lackawanna was close behindatl( t delivered a similar blow with her wooden bow, simply causing theto lurch slightly to one side. As the vessels separated the Lackawanna1,111 g alongside the ram, which sent two shots through her and kept on