o carry her across these
flats--an undertaking requiring both time and mechanical appliances,
neither of which would be available if an enemy were inside to molest
the operations. As the Tennessee was distinctly the most formidable
element in the dangers Farragut had to encounter, and as the character
of the soundings gave her a field of action peculiarly suited to utilize
her especial powers, which consisted in the strength of her sides and
the long range of her heavy rifled guns, it was particularly desirable
to anticipate her crossing the upper bar by the fleet itself crossing
the lower. That done, the Tennessee was reduced to impotence. It was not
done, for two reasons. First, the Navy Department did not send the
ironclads which Farragut demanded; and second, the army in the
Southwest, having wasted its strength in a divergent operation, was
unable to supply the force necessary to reduce Fort Morgan. That the
delay was not productive of more serious consequences was due to the
impatience or recklessness of the Confederate admiral, and to the energy
with which Farragut seized the opportunity afforded by his mistake.

Six months passed before the moment for decisive action arrived. Though
devoid of military interest, they were far from being months of idleness
or enjoyment. The administrative duties of so large a command drew
heavily upon the time and energies of the admiral, and, as has been
said, they were not congenial to him. When the Tennessee crossed Dog
River Bar, which she did on the 18th of May, Farragut felt that he must
be on the spot, in case she attempted to execute her threat of coming
out to break up the blockade; but up to that time he was moving actively
from point to point of his command, between New Orleans on the one side,
and Pensacola, now become his principal base, on the other. From time to
time he was off Mobile, and for more than two months preceding the
battle of the Bay he lay off the port in all the dreary monotony of
blockade service. The clerical labor attaching to the large force and
numerous interests entrusted to him was immense. Every mail brought him,
of course, numerous communications from the Department. "I received your
letter last evening," he writes to a member of his family, "but at the
same time received so many from the Department that my eyes were used up
before I came to yours, so that mine to you will be short and badly
written." A very large part of this correspondence co