as to the mortar boats. These were
to be anchored down the stream below the forts, and limbs of trees full
of green leaves were tied on their masts, so they could not be told from
the trees on the river-bank. As they went up the river they looked like
a green grove afloat.

Now let us take a look at what the Confederates were doing. They were
not asleep, you may be sure. They had built two strong forts, one on
each side of the river, just where it made a sharp bend. One of these
was named Fort Jackson and the other Fort St. Philip. There were more
than a hundred cannon in these forts, but most of them were small ones.

They had also stretched iron cables across the river, with rafts and
small vessels to hold them up. These were to stop the fleet from going
up the river, and to hold it fast while the forts could pour shot and
shell into it. They had also many steamboats with cannon on them. One of
these, the _Louisiana_, was covered with iron. Another was a ram, called
the _Manassas_. This had a sharp iron beak, to ram and sink other
vessels. And there were great coal barges, filled with fat pine knots.
These were meant for fire-ships. You will learn farther on how these
were to be used.

You may see from this that Farragut had some hard work before him. Even
if he got past the chains and the forts, all his ships might be set on
fire by the fire-ships. But the bold captain was not one of the kind
that mind things like that. Now let us go on to the story of the
terrible river fight, which has long been one of the most famous
battles of the war.

Porter's mortar boats were anchored under the trees on the river-bank,
two miles below the forts. With their green-clad masts they looked like
trees themselves. At ten o'clock in the morning of April 18, 1862, the
first mortar sent its big shell whizzing through the air. And for six
days this was kept up, each of the mortars booming out once every ten
minutes. That made one shot for every half-minute.

Two days after the mortars began, a bold thing was done. The gunboat
_Itasca_ set out in the darkness of the night and managed to get between
the shore and the chain. Then it ran up stream above the chain till it
got a good headway. It now turned round and came down at full speed
before the strong current.

Fort Jackson was firing, and balls were rattling all about the bold
_Itasca_, but she rushed on through them all. Plump against the chain
she came, with a thud that lifted