impression made
upon me at the sight of the first man I had ever seen killed. He was a
boatswain's mate and was fearfully mutilated. It staggered and sickened
me at first; but they soon began to fall around me so fast that it all
appeared like a dream and produced no effect upon my nerves. I can
remember well, while I was standing near the captain just abaft of the
mainmast, a shot came through the waterways and glanced upward, killing
four men who were standing by the side of the gun, taking the last one
in the head and scattering his brains over both of us. But this awful
sight did not affect me half as much as the death of the first poor
fellow. I neither thought of nor noticed anything but the working of the
guns.... When my services were not required for other purposes, I
generally assisted in working a gun; would run and bring powder from the
boys and send them back for more, until the captain wanted me to carry a
message; and this continued to employ me during the action."

Although included in the report of the slightly wounded, Farragut
received no serious injury, but he was not without the narrow escapes
which must have been undergone by all the survivors of so desperate an
action. One has just been related; and he has himself recorded two other
incidents which came near making an end of him. "An old quartermaster
named Francis Bland was standing at the wheel when I saw a shot coming
over the fore yard in such a direction that I thought it would strike
him or me; so I told him to jump, at the same time pulling him toward
me. At that instant the shot took off his right leg, and I afterward
found that my coat-tail had been carried away. I helped the old fellow
below, and inquired for him after the action, but he had died before he
could be attended to." At another time "some gun-primers were wanted and
I was sent after them. In going below, while I was on the ward-room
ladder, the captain of the gun directly opposite the hatchway was struck
full in the face by an eighteen-pound shot and fell back on me; we
tumbled down the hatch together. I struck on my head, and, fortunately,
he fell on my hips. I say fortunately, for, as he was a man of at least
two hundred pounds' weight, I would have been crushed to death if he
had fallen directly across my body. I lay for some moments stunned by
the blow, but soon recovered consciousness enough to rush on deck. The
captain, seeing me covered with blood, asked if I were woun