lling the woods
on the right of the fort, firing a few 9-inch and 30-pounder shells
over the works and down the bayou, followed presently by 30-pounder
and 20-pounder shrapnel and 9-inch grape, fired at point-blank
range in the direction of the Confederate yells. The assault was
made in the most determined manner. Shannon, with the 5th Texas,
passed some of his men around the end of the river stockade, others
climbed and helped one another over, some tried to cut it down with
axes, many fired through the loopholes; Phillips made a circuit of
the fort and tried the bayou stockade, while Herbert's 7th Texas
attempted to cross the ditch on the land side. The fight at the
stockade was desperate in the extreme; those who succeeded in
surmounting or turning this barrier found an impassable obstacle
in the ditch, whose existence, strange to say, they had not even
suspected. Here the combatants fought hand to hand; even the sick,
who had barely strength to walk from the hospital to the rampart,
took part in the defence. The Texans assailed the defenders with
brickbats; these the Maine men threw back upon the heads of the
Texans; on both sides numbers were thus injured. Lane, who was to
have supported Phillips, somehow went adrift, and Hardeman, who
was to have attacked the stockade on the bayou side, was delayed
by his guide, but toward daylight he came up to join in the last
attack. By way of a diversion, Stone had crossed the bayou to the
east bank on a bridge of sugar coolers, and his part in the fight
was confined to yells.

At a quarter before four the yelling, which had gone on continuously
for more than two hours, suddenly died away, the fire slackened,
and three rousing cheers went up from the fort. A few minutes
later the _Winona_ came down and opened fire, and at half-past four
the _Kineo_ hove in sight. The fight was ended. "The smoke clearing
away," says Woolsey, "discovered the American flag flying over the
fort. Gave three cheers and came to anchor." Yet the same sun
rose upon a ghastly sight--upon green slopes gray with the dead,
the dying, and the maimed, and the black ditch red with their blood.

Green puts his loss at 40 killed, 114 wounded, 107 missing, in all
261. However, during the 28th, the _Princess Royal_ and the _Kineo_
received on board from the provost-marshal 124 prisoners, by actual
count, including 1 lieutenant-colonel, 2 major, 3 captains, and 5
lieutenants; and Lieutenant-Command