results. Eads
has been called as potent as a great general in clearing the upper
Mississippi. He did not, to be sure, build the entire gunboat fleet,
but he did build, as Captain Mahan says, the backbone of it; and that
the praises for that fleet, which I have quoted, are not altogether
extravagant, is further shown by the comments of Mr. John Fiske. He
says, "While it was seldom that they ["these formidable gunboats"]
could capture fortified places without the aid of a land force, at the
same time this combination of strength with speed made them an
auxiliary without which the greater operations of the war could hardly
have been undertaken."

These eight boats figured in many a fight on the great river and its
branches. They "were ever where danger was." A month and more before
the Merrimac and the Monitor were finished, the important capture of
Fort Henry "was a victory exclusively for the gunboats." It was the
Carondelet that ran the gauntlet past Island Number 10, a feat as full
of romance and daring as any that the Civil War tells us of. And these
things were done with vessels still unpaid for and the personal
property of their builder. Their usefulness was a great satisfaction to
Eads, and he rejoiced, as he wrote to Foote, with "the prideful
pleasure of the poor armorer who forged the sword that in gallant hands
struck down the foe."

When the Benton left her dock for Cairo, Foote requested Eads to see
her there in safety. Eads, who was so deeply interested in his boats
that on another occasion he was narrowly prevented from going into
action with one of them, gladly agreed. Before long the Benton
grounded. As Eads was merely a guest, and as there were naval officers
aboard, he did not feel called upon to interfere with any suggestions.
But after the officers and crew had labored all night trying to float
her, then with his aptitude for emergencies he used his scientific
knowledge to suggest another scheme. The captain at once gave him leave
to command the entire crew, and by means of hawsers tied to trees
ashore and then strongly tightened, the vessel was floated. In this
case the old river man knew more than the naval officers.

In April, 1862, the Navy Department called Eads to Washington to make
designs for more ironclads,--or rather boats made wholly of iron. These
were to be of very light draught and turreted. He submitted plans for
boats drawing five feet. The department insisted on lighter draught,
bu