Rested tolerably
last night, At 8. A M. The batteries open on the Forts & keep up a vigorous
shelling for 3 hours. P. M. the felled timber front of the forts where our
skirmish line is gets on fire. Rebs open on them with shell & small arms.
Could not see how the skirmishers could stand the heat & firing but they
did it nobly, firing became so heavy at 6. P. M. the men were ordered to arms
Co G. was ordered to the forward rifle pits to reinforce Co. B as a support to
the skirmishers, Capt Ledyard was on duty as Brig off of the day, which left me
in comd of the co. I took them down on the double quick although almost too
week to stand. The bullets whistled thick arond but no one was struck. At 11.
P. M. the heavy firing ceased & I recd orders to keep my co in the pits all
night. I hear of several men being killed but none from our Regt, hear a report
that on our right Smith with some of the heavy Parrots disables one of the
Enemy's gunboat & drives another off 2 miles, one battery of heavy guns on
our left is silenced by the fire save the main Fort. It is rumored that Thomas
has made connection with Steele. The Gunboats advance slowly taking out the
torpedos, advanced about 100. yds and that Genl Maury commands at Mobile &
Genl Gibson at Spanish Fort. We rec mail today one from cous John who is with
Thomas & says under date of 10th Feb that the comd was preparing for an
expedition against Mobile.
SOURCE: “Diary of
John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa,
Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 582
