If
this last were correct no other reason was needed; but as the nearest
schooner was but 3,000 yards from Jackson, it seems likely he deceived
himself, as he certainly did in believing "on credible information"
that a rifled gun on the parapet of Jackson, of the same calibre as
that of the Louisiana, had not been able to reach. Three schooners had
been struck, one at the distance of 4,000 yards, during the first two
days of the bombardment, not only by rifled, but by VIII-and X-inch
spherical projectiles; and the second division had been compelled to
shift its position. Looking only to the Louisiana, the decision of the
naval officers was natural enough; but considering that time pressed,
that after five days' bombardment the fleet must soon attack, that it
was improbable, if New Orleans fell, that the Louisiana's engines
could be made efficient and she herself anything but a movable
battery, the refusal to make the desired effort looks like caring for
a part, at the sacrifice of the whole, of the defence. On the last day
Mitchell had repeated warnings that the attack would soon come off,
and was again asked to take a position to enfilade the schooners, so
that the cannoneers of Jackson might be able to stand to their guns.
Mitchell sent back word that he hoped to move in twenty-four hours,
and received from Higgins, himself an old seaman and naval officer,
the ominous rejoinder: "Tell Captain Mitchell that there will be no
tomorrow for New Orleans, unless he immediately takes up the position
assigned to him with the Louisiana."[5]

That same day, all arrangements of the fleet being completed, the
orders to be ready to attack the following night were issued. Every
preparation that had occurred to the minds of the officers as tending
to increase the chance of passing uninjured had been made. The chain
cables of the sheet anchors had been secured up and down the sides of
the vessels, abreast the engines, to resist the impact of projectiles.
This was general throughout the squadron, though the Mississippi, on
account of her side-wheels, had to place them inside instead of out;
and each commander further protected those vital parts from shots
coming in forward or aft, with hammocks, bags of coal, or sand, or
ashes, or whatever else came to hand. The outside paint was daubed
over with the yellow Mississippi mud, as being less easily seen at
night; while, on the other hand, the gun-carriages and decks were
whitewashed, thro