s, had just returned from a short cruise
under Captain Ward of the Confederate States Navy. She was now
christened again, and bore, thenceforward, the appropriate name of the
"Chameleon." Her battery was dismounted, the officers and crew detached,
and she was ostensibly sold to the navy agent at Wilmington. A register,
and bill of sale, were prepared in legal form, the crew shipped
according to the laws relating to the merchant service, and regular
invoices and bills of lading made out of her cargo of cotton. The
vessel, indeed, was so thoroughly whitewashed, that she subsequently
passed a searching examination in Bermuda; but my recent experience
there had convinced me of the necessity of adopting every precaution,
and I was left to my own discretion with regard to all the details; the
instructions under which I was acting requiring me only to bring in a
cargo of provisions with all dispatch.

The "Chameleon" was in nearly all respects like the Chickamauga, only a
few feet longer, and drawing a few inches more water.

On the afternoon of December 24th, the United States fleet opened fire
upon Fort Fisher, the heavy cannonading continuing during the two
following days. The booming of the heavy guns could be distinctly heard
in Wilmington.

There was a complete panic there; the non-combatants moving away, and
fright and confusion prevailing everywhere. The co-operating land
forces, under General Butler, had almost completely invested the fort,
and the communication between it and Wilmington was at one time
interrupted, so that it was impossible to ascertain the condition of
affairs below. In the midst of the turmoil, we cast off from the wharf,
about two o'clock in the afternoon of December 26th, and anchored off
Smithville after dark, the tide not serving for crossing the bar that
night.

Next morning the "Agnes Fry," an inward bound blockade-runner, was
discovered aground on the western bar. Towards evening two or three of
the blockading fleet stationed off that bar steamed in, and opened fire
upon her. The bombardment of the fort was still in progress. A little
after dark, just as we were weighing our anchor, General Whiting, who
was then in Fort Fisher, telegraphed to us that the United States land
forces were embarking, the attack upon the fort having been abandoned.
We were under way in a few moments, closely followed by the Hansa,
Captain Murray, and parting from her just as we crossed the bar. I had
known th