Fleet," including
several rams, had been ordered up to Memphis, so sure was the
Confederate Government that the attack would come from the north.
Two home-made ironclads were failures. The _Louisiana's_ engines
were not ready in time; and her captain refused to be towed into the
position near the boom where he could do the enemy most harm. The
_Mississippi_, a mere floating house, built by ordinary carpenters,
never reached the forts at all and was burnt by her own men at New
Orleans.

Farragut felt sure of his fleet. He had four splendid new men-of-war
that formed a homogeneous squadron, four other sizable warships, and
nine new gunboats. All spars and rigging that could be dispensed
with were taken down; all hulls camouflaged with Mississippi mud; and
all decks whitened for handiness at night. A weak point, however,
was the presence of mortar-boats that would have been better out
of the way altogether. These boats had been sent to bombard the
forts, which, according to the plan preferred by the Government,
were to be taken before New Orleans was attacked. In other words,
the Government wished to cut off the branches first; while Farragut
wished to cut down the tree itself, knowing the branches must fall
with the trunk.

On the eighteenth of April the mortar-boats began heaving shells
at the forts. But, after six days of bombardment, the forts were
nowhere near the point of surrendering, and the supply of shells
had begun to run low.

Meanwhile the squadron had been busy preparing for the great ordeal.
The first task was to break the boom across the river. This boom
was placed so as to hold the ships under the fire of the forts;
and the four-knot spring current was so strong that the eight-knot
ships could not make way enough against it to cut clear through
with certainty. Moreover, the middle of the boom was filled in by
eight big schooners, chained together, with their masts and rigging
dragging astern so as to form a most awkward entanglement. Farragut's
fleet captain, Henry H. Bell, taking two gunboats, _Itasca_ and
_Pinola_, under Lieutenants Caldwell and Crosby, slipped the chains
of one schooner; whereupon this schooner and the _Itasca_ swung
back and grounded under fire of the forts. The _Pinola_ gallantly
stood by, helping _Itasca_ clear. Then Caldwell, with splendid
audacity and skill, steamed up through the narrow gap, turned round,
put on the _Itasca's_ utmost speed, and, with the current in his
favor