saw thirty armed boats coming
against them, and that night the heavy floating battery was brought to
bear upon the fort. The next morning it opened with terrible effect, yet
they endured it, and made the enemy suffer so much from their fire that
they began to think seriously of giving up the contest, when one of the
men in the fort deserted to them, and his tale of the weakness of the
garrison inspiring the British with renewed hope of conquest they
prepared for a more general and vigorous assault.

"At daylight on the 15th two men-of-war, the _Iris_ and the _Somerset_,
passed up the channel in front of the fort on Mud Island. Two
others--the _Vigilant_ and a hulk with three twenty-four
pounders--passed through the narrow channel on the west side and were
placed in a position to act in concert with the batteries of Province
Island in enfilading the American works.

"At ten o'clock all was silent, and doubtless our men were awaiting the
coming onslaught with intense anxiety, when a signal bugle sounded and
instantly all the ships and batteries poured a storm of shot and shell
from the mouths of their many guns upon the devoted little garrison."

"Oh, how dreadful!" sighed Grace. "Could they stand it, papa?"

"They endured it with astonishing courage," replied the captain, "while
all day long, and far into the evening, it was kept up without cessation.
The yards of the British ships hung nearly over the American battery;
and there were musketeers stationed in their tops who immediately shot
down every man who showed himself on the platform of the fort. Our men
displayed, as I have said, wonderful bravery and endurance; there seems
to have been no thought of surrender; but long before night palisades,
block houses, parapet, embrasures--all were ruined.

"Early in the evening Major Thayer sent all but forty of his men to Red
Bank. He and the remaining forty stayed on in the fort until midnight,
then, setting fire to the remains of the barracks, they also escaped in
safety to Red Bank.

"Lossing tells us that in the course of that last day more than a
thousand discharges of cannon, from twelve to thirty-two pounders, were
made against the works on Mud Island, and that it was one of the most
gallant and obstinate defences of the war.

"Major Thayer received great credit for his share in it, and was
presented with a sword by the Rhode Island Assembly as a token of their
appreciation of his services there."

"Did not C