ed in the admiral
indignation as well as regret. Shortly afterward, two sailing vessels of
the squadron, charged with the blockade of Sabine Pass, were also taken
by cotton-clad steamers; which to attack availed themselves of a calm
day, when the ships were unable to manoeuvre. An unsuccessful attempt
was made after this to take Sabine Pass; but both that place and
Galveston remained in the power of the enemy, and were not regained
until the final collapse of the Confederacy. Farragut dispatched one of
his most trusted and capable officers, Commodore Henry H. Bell, formerly
his chief-of-staff, to re-establish the blockade of Galveston. Arriving
off the port toward night, Bell sent one of his detachment, the
Hatteras, a light side-wheel iron steamer bought from the merchant
service, to overhaul a sail in the offing. Unfortunately, the stranger
proved to be the Confederate steamer Alabama, far superior in force to
the Hatteras, and after a short engagement the latter was sunk.

All this bad news came in rapid succession, and was closely followed by
tidings of the escape from Mobile of the Oreto, which a few months
before had eluded the blockading squadron through the daring ruse
practiced by her commander. Known now as the Florida, and fitted as a
Confederate cruiser, she ran out successfully during the night of
January 15th. Here again, though the discredit was less than at
Galveston, the annoyance of the admiral was increased by the knowledge
that carelessness, or, at the best, bad judgment, had contributed to the
enemy's success. From a letter written home at this time by his son, who
had not yet returned from the visit begun at Pensacola, it appears that
in the intimacy of family life he admitted, and showed by his manner,
how keenly he felt the discredit to his command from these events.
Though conscious that they were not due to failure on his part to do his
utmost with the force given to him, and seeing in the escape of the
Oreto a further justification of his own opinion that the lower harbor
of Mobile should have been early seized, he nevertheless was "very much
worried." This inside view of the effect, visible to those from whom he
had no concealments, is supplemented by the description of the admiral's
bearing under these reverses given by Captain (now Rear-Admiral)
Jenkins, who at this time became his chief-of-staff. "These disasters,"
he writes, "were sore trials to the admiral, and a less well-poised man
wou