g salute, in derision at our departure.

CHAPTER XXVII

FORT FISHER

On our arrival at Beaufort all was bustle and activity. Ammunition and
coal were taken on board, the small boats repaired, and everything was
made ready for another expedition. Porter was continually sending
despatches to Washington. Butler was there in person. Between them there
was a lively war of words. The new expedition sailed for Fort Fisher.
During our absence the enemy had repaired the fort, and the garrison had
been increased from six hundred to a thousand men. General Terry arrived
with his transports, having on board five thousand white troops. The
fort was bombarded, and the garrison driven into the bomb-proofs.
Several of our hundred-pounder rifled guns exploded, doing considerable
damage, and that class of guns was not used any more during the action.
On the 14th of January the troops were all landed. On the 15th two
thousand sailors and marines were also landed, each vessel sending a
detachment. The quota from the Nereus was fifty men, Ensign Dayton and
myself being in command. We received printed orders from Admiral Porter:

"When you get in the fort, if the rebels refuse to surrender,
four seamen must take each rebel and throw him over the
ramparts."

That is one extract. There was more in the same strain. The men had been
notified in advance as to who had been detailed for the assaulting
party, but not so the officers. When the men were ready to get into the
boats, Dayton and I were called from our gun divisions and received
orders to take charge of them.

Our preparations were hastily made; each of us took a ship's cutlass,
revolver, and breech-loading carbine, and then filled our pockets with
ammunition. The surgeon was on hand with a supply of tourniquets and
bandages, which he jammed into our pockets while giving us brief
lectures on the compression of arteries. In a short time the sailors
were landed; the marines were detailed as sharp-shooters, each one
having his knapsack as a portable breastwork. About one o'clock the army
was ready for the assault in the rear end of the fort. The marines
deployed to their position; the sailors moved up the beach in double
column, the ships firing over us.

Some of the enemy came out of their bomb-proofs and kept continually
firing into our columns. The beach was perfectly level, with no friendly
trees or rocks to afford us any protection. Our destination was the se