ugh the streets till it reached the City
Hall, and there it was placed in position to cover every point of
approach. A young middy, apparently about fifteen years of age, then
made his appearance at the entrance of the City Hall, bearing a United
States flag. He was admitted without opposition, and was shown the way
to the top of the building. The lad ascended to the roof, and in full
view of an assembled multitude of thousands in the streets and on the
housetops, deliberately undid the halyards and hauled down the
Confederate, or rather Louisiana State flag; then replacing it with the
one he carried, hoisted it to the peak of the staff in its place, and
the capture of New Orleans by the navy was complete. Many who witnessed
the act of this daring boy trembled for his life, as a rifle shot from
any of the houses surrounding, or even from the street, would have
proved fatal and put an end to his young life at any moment. So excited
was the crowd in the street, when the middy came down, and so fierce the
thirst for vengeance upon any object that might present itself, that it
was found necessary to hurry him into a close carriage and drive with
all speed through back streets, to keep clear of the pressing mob, who,
in the blindness of their passion, would perhaps have sacrificed the
youngster, had they caught him, to appease their rage.

After this the city began to quiet down. The foreign residents formed
themselves into a police and took charge of the streets; and had
succeeded pretty well in restoring order, when, on the 2d of May, Butler
landed at the levee from his transports, and marched to the St. Charles,
where he established his headquarters and took formal possession of the
city. Still he found it no easy matter to subdue the spirit of a people
who did not hesitate to jeer at his soldiers or jostle them from the
sidewalks as they marched through the streets. But he soon enough became
master of the situation, and made the most for himself out of what
Farragut had so readily placed in his hands. The navy was certainly
entitled to all the credit of the capture; one ship in front of the city
with open ports was enough, it did what the entire army of Butler, had
it been ten times as numerous, could never have accomplished. New
Orleans never would have been taken by the army alone; but the guns of a
sloop-of-war in front of an open city are conclusive and irresistible
arguments. If it was heroism to capture that city th