Confederacy. They urged their
husbands, brothers, sons, and friends to enlist in the service, and the
young man who hesitated received presents of hoop-skirts, petticoats,
and other articles of female wearing apparel.

Eight gunboats were built. Commodore Hollins, as you have seen,
commanded them. He attempted to drive back General Pope at New Madrid,
but failed. He went to New Orleans, and Captain Montgomery was placed in
command.

When Commodore Foote and General Pope took Island No. 10, those that
escaped of the Rebels fell back to Fort Pillow, about forty miles above
Memphis. It was a strong position, and Commodore Foote made but little
effort to take it, but waited for the advance of General Halleck's army
upon Corinth. While thus waiting, one foggy morning, several of the
Rebel gunboats made a sudden attack upon the Cincinnati, and nearly
disabled her before they were beaten back. Meanwhile, Commodore Foote,
finding that his wound, received at Donelson, was growing worse, was
recalled by the Secretary of the Navy, and Commodore Charles Henry
Davis, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was placed in command.

Besides the gunboats on the Mississippi, was Colonel Ellet's fleet of
rams,--nine in all. They were old steamboats, with oaken bulwarks three
feet thick, to protect the boilers and engines. Their bows had been
strengthened with stout timbers and iron bolts, and they had iron prows
projecting under water. They carried no cannon, but were manned by
sharpshooters. There were loop-holes through the timbers for the
riflemen. The pilot-house was protected by iron plates. They joined the
fleet at Fort Pillow.

The river is very narrow in front of the fort,--not more than a third of
its usual width. It makes a sharp bend. The channel is deep, and the
current rushes by like a mill-race. The Tennessee shore was lined with
batteries on the bluff, which made it a place much stronger than
Columbus or Island No. 10. But when General Beauregard was forced to
evacuate Corinth, the Rebels were also compelled to leave Fort Pillow.
For two or three days before the evacuation, they kept up a heavy fire
upon the fleet.

On the 3d of June,--a hot, sultry day,--just before night, a huge bank
of clouds rolled up from the south. There had been hardly a breath of
air through the day, but now the wind blew a hurricane. The air was
filled with dust, whirled up from the sand-bars. When the storm was at
its height, I was surprised to see two