four vessels of the Confederate
Navy, two belonging to the State of Louisiana, and six of the River
Defence Fleet. The latter were commanded by a Captain Stephenson, who
entirely refused to obey the orders of Commander Mitchell, the senior
naval officer, while professing a willingness to co-operate. The
constitution of this force has already been described. There were also
above, or near, the forts five unarmed steamers and tugs, only one of
which, the tug Mosher, needs to be named.

The naval vessels were the Louisiana, sixteen guns; McRae, seven guns,
six light 32-pounders and one IX-inch shell-gun; Jackson, two
32-pounders; and the ram Manassas, now carrying one 32-pounder
carronade firing right ahead. Since her exploit at the Head of the
Passes in the previous October, the Manassas had been bought by the
Confederate Government, docked and repaired. She now had no prow, the
iron of the hull only being carried round the stem. Her engines and
speed were as poor as before. Lieutenant Warley was still in command.
The State vessels were the Governor Moore and General Quitman, the
former carrying two rifled 32s, and the latter two smooth-bores of the
same calibre; these were sea-going steamers, whose bows were shod with
iron like those of the River Defence Fleet and their engines protected
with cotton. The Moore was commanded by Beverley Kennon, a trained
naval officer, but not then in the Confederate Navy; the Quitman's
captain, Grant, was of the same class as the commanders of the River
Defence Fleet. The Manassas had some power as a ram, and the Moore, by
her admirable handling, showed how much an able man can do with poor
instruments, but the only one of the above that might really have
endangered the success of the Union fleet was the Louisiana. This was
an iron-clad vessel of type resembling the Benton, with armor strong
enough to resist two XI-inch shells of the fleet that struck her at
short range. Her armament was two VII-inch rifles, three IX-inch and
four VIII-inch shell-guns, and seven VI-inch rifles. With this heavy
battery she might have been very dangerous, but Farragut's movements
had been pushed on with such rapidity that the Confederates had not
been able to finish her. At the last moment she was shoved off from
the city on Sunday afternoon, four days before the fight, with workmen
still on board. When her great centre stern wheel revolved, the water
came in through the seams of the planking, flooding the