OFFICIAL REPORT OF GEN. BUTLER.
HEAD QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILLIP,
April 29, 1862.
To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War
SIR – I have the honor to report that, in obedience to my instructions, I remained on the Mississippi river, with the troops named in my former dispatch awaiting the action of the fleet in the bombardment of the forts Jackson and St. Phillip.
Failing to reduce them after six days of incessant fire, Flag Officer Farragut determined to attempt their passage with his whole fleet, except that portion thereof under the immediate command of Captain Porter, known as the mortar fleet.
On the morning of the 24th instant the fleet got under weigh [sic], and twelve vessels, including the four sloops of war, ran the gauntlet of the fire of the forts and were safely above the action, unprecedented in naval warfare, considering the character of the works and the river, too much cannot be said. Of its casualties and the details of its performance the Flag Officer will give an account to the proper department. I witnessed this daring exploit from a point about eight hundred yards from Fort Jackson, and unwittingly under its fire, and the sublimity of the scene can never be exceeded.
The fleet pressed on up the river to New Orleans, leaving two gunboats to protect the quarantine station, five miles above.
In case the forts were not reduced and a portion of the fleet got by them, it had been arranged between the Flagg Officer and myself, that I should make a landing from the gulf side in the rear of the forts at the quarantine, and from thence attempt Fort St. Phillip by storm and assault while the bombardment was continued by the fleet.
I immediately went to Sable Island with my transports, twelve miles in the rear of Ft. St. Philip, the nearest point at which a sufficient depth of water could be found for them. Capt. Porter put at my disposal the Miami, drawing seven and one half feet, being the lightest draught vessel in the fleet, to take the troops from the fleet as far in as the water would allow. We were delayed twenty four hours by her running ashore at Pass al’Outre. The 26th Regiment Massachusetts volunteers, Col. Jones, were then put on board her and carried within six miles of the fort, where she again grounded.
Capt. Everett, of the 6th Massachusetts battery, having very fully reconnoitered the waters and bayous in that vicinity, and foreseeing the necessity, I had collected and brought with me some thirty boats, into which the troops were again transshipped and conveyed by a most fatiguing and laborious row some four and a half miles further, there being within one mile of the steamer only two and a half feet of water.
A large portion of this passage was against a heavy current through a bayou. At the entrance of Mameel’s Canal, a mile and a half from the point of landing rowing became impossible as well from the narrowness of the canal and the strength of the current, which ran like a mill race. Through this the boats could only be impelled by dragging them singly, with the men up to their waists in water. It is due to this fine regiment, and to a portion of the 4th Wisconsin volunteers and 21st Indiana, who landed under this hardship without a murmur, that their labors should be made known to the department, as well as to account for the slowness of our operations.
The enemy evidently considered this mode of attack impossible, as they had taken no measures to oppose it, which might very easily have been successfully done.
We occupied at once both sides of the river, thus effectually cutting them off from all supplies, information or succor, while we made our dispositions for the assault.
Meantime Captain Porter had sent into the bayou, in the rear of Fort Jackson, two schooners of his mortar fleet, to prevent the escape of the enemy from the fort in that direction.
In the hurry and darkness of the passage of the forts the flag officer had overlooked three of the enemy’s gunboats and the iron clad battery Louisiana, which were at anchor under the walls of the fort. Supposing that all the rebel boats had been destroyed (and a dozen or more had been) he passed on the city leaving these in his rear. The iron steam battery being very formidable. Captain Porter deemed it prudent to withdraw his mortar fleet some miles below, where he could have room to maneuver if it was attacked by the iron monster and the bombardment ceased.
I had got Brigadier-General Phelps in the river below, with two regiments, to make demonstrations in that direction, if it became possible.
In the night of the 27th learning that the fleet had got the city under its guns, I left Brigadier General Williams in charge of the landing of the troops, and went up the river to the flagship to procure light draught transportation – that night the larger portion (about two hundred and fifty) of the garrison of Fort Jackson mentioned, spiked the guns bearing up the river, came up and surrendered themselves to my pickets declaring that as we had got into their rear, resistance was useless, and they would not be sacrificed. No bomb had been thrown at them for three days, nor had they fired a shot at us from either fort. The averred that they had been impressed and would fight no longer.
On the 28th the officers of forts Jackson and St. Phillip surrendered to Captain Porter, he having means of water transportation to them. While he was negotiating, however, with the officers of the forts under a white flag, the rebel naval officers put all their munitions of war on the Louisiana, set her on fire and adrift upon the Harriet Lane, but when opposite of fort St. Phillip, she blew up, killing one of their own men by the fragments which fell into the forts.
I have taken possession of the forts and find them substantially as defensible as before the bombardment – St. Philip precisely so, it being quite uninjured. They are fully provisioned, well supplied with ammunition, and the ravages of the shells have been defensibly repaired by the labors of the rebels. I will cause Lieut. Wietzel, of the Engineers, to make a detailed report of their condition to the department.
I have left the 26th regiment Massachusetts volunteers in garrison, and am now going up the river to occupy the city with my troops and make further demonstrations in the rear of the enemy now at Corinth.
The rebels have abandoned all their defensive works in and around New Orleans, including forts Pike and Wood on Lake Pontchartrain, and Fort Livingston from Parrataria Bay. They have retired in the direction of Corinth, beyond Manchack Pass, and abandoned everything up the river as far as Donaldsonville, some seventy miles beyond New Orleans.
A propose to so far depart from the letter of my instructions as to endeavor to persuade the flag officer to pass up the river as far as the mouth of Red river, if possible, so as to cut off their supplies, and make there a landing and a demonstration in their rear as a diversion in favor of General Buell, if a decisive battle is not fought before the movement is possible.
Mobile is ours whenever we choose, and we can better wait.
I find the city under the dominion of the mob. They have insulted our flag – torn it down with indignity. This outrage will be punished in such manner, as in my judgment, will caution both the perpetrators and abettors of the act, so that they shall fear the stripes if they do not reverence the stars of our banner.
I send a marked copy of a New Orleans paper containing an applauding account of the outrage.
Trusting my action may meet the approbation of the Department.
I am most respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER,
Major General Commanding
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 4
