all the
time, and took position close into the bank with her head up stream.
The Louisville, following the Pittsburg's motions, passed her, rounded
to and took her station immediately astern. The Carondelet and Mound
City successively performed the same manoeuvre. All four then went
into close action with the lower fort, at the same time directing any
of their guns that would bear upon other points of the works. The
remaining vessels, Lafayette, Tuscumbia, and flag-ship Benton,
followed the first four, but rounded to above the town to engage the
upper fort; the Lafayette taking position at first in an eddy of the
river, and using her two stern guns, 100-pound rifles. The Benton and
Tuscumbia fought their bow and starboard guns; all the vessels keeping
under way during the engagement, and being at times baffled by the
eddies in the stream. At eleven o'clock, the admiral signalled the
Lafayette to change her position to the lower battery, which she did.
About eleven, a shot came into the Benton's pilot-house, wounding the
pilot and shattering the wheel. The vessel was for a moment
unmanageable, got into an eddy, and was carried down three-quarters of
a mile before she could again be brought under control; but her place
was promptly supplied by the Pittsburg, which had just moved up with
that division of the fleet, the lower fort being silenced. The whole
squadron now concentrated its fire upon the Point of Rocks battery,
keeping under way, and from the difficulties of the stream and the
eddying current, at varying ranges. The Lafayette took again her
position in the eddy to the north of the battery. Half an hour after
noon, the Tuscumbia's port engine was disabled, and being unable to
stem the stream with her screws, she was compelled to drop down below
Grand Gulf. The action was continued vigorously until 1 P.M., when the
enemy's fire, which had not been silenced in the upper fort, slackened
materially. The admiral then passed up the river to consult with
Grant, who had seen the fight from the deck of a tug and realized, as
did Porter, that the works had proved themselves too high and too
strong to be taken from the water side. He therefore decided to land
the troops, who were already on board the transports waiting to cross,
and march down to the point immediately below Grand Gulf, while Porter
signalled his ships to withdraw, which they did, after an action
lasting four hours and a quarter, tying up again to the landing