ourselves. Several of these guns burst; their crews
could be seen eyeing them distrustfully at every fire, and when at
last they were replaced by sounder weapons, many were not turned into
store, but thrown, with a sigh of relief, into the waters of the
Mississippi. The remainder of the armament was made up by the navy
with old-fashioned 32-pound and VIII-inch smooth-bore guns, fairly
serviceable and reliable weapons. Each of these seven gunboats, when
thus ready for service, carried four of the above-described rifles,
six 32-pounders of 43 cwt., and three VIII-inch shell-guns; total,
thirteen.

The vessels, when received into service, were named after cities
standing upon the banks of the rivers which they were to
defend--Cairo, Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City,
Pittsburg, St. Louis. They, with the Benton, formed the backbone of
the river fleet throughout the war. Other more pretentious, and
apparently more formidable, vessels, were built; but from thorough bad
workmanship, or appearing too late on the scene, they bore no
proportionate share in the fighting. The eight may be fairly called
the ships of the line of battle on the western waters.

The Benton was of the same general type as the others, but was
purchased by, not built for, the Government. She was originally a
snag-boat, and so constructed with special view to strength. Her size
was 1,000 tons, double that of the seven; length, 202 feet; extreme
breadth, 72 feet. The forward plating was 3 inches of iron, backed by
30 inches of oak; at the stern, and abreast the engines, there was
21/2-inch iron, backed by 12 inches of oak; the rest of the sides of the
casemates was covered with 5/8-inch iron. With guns and stores on
board, she drew nine feet. Her first armament was two IX-inch
shell-guns, seven rifled 42s, and seven 32-pounders of 43 cwt.; total,
sixteen guns. It will be seen, therefore, that she differed from the
others simply in being larger and stronger; she was, indeed, the most
powerful fighting-machine in the squadron, but her speed was only five
knots an hour through the water, and her engines so little
commensurate with her weight that Flag-Officer Foote hesitated long to
receive her. The slowness was forgiven for her fitness for battle, and
she went by the name of the old war-horse.

There was one other vessel of size equal to the Benton, which, being
commanded by a son of Commodore Porter, of the war of 1812, got the
name Essex. Af