Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Edwin M. Stanton, May 8, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

New Orleans, May 8, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to report my further operations since my dispatch of the 29th ultimo.

I commenced the disembarkation of my men on May 1; when I took formal possession of New Orleans.

The Twenty-first Indiana was landed at Algiers, a small town on the right bank of the river, opposite New Orleans, at the inner terminus of the New Orleans and Opelousas Railroad. All the rolling stock of the road has been seized, and the road is now running under my direction, only for the purpose of bringing in provisions to the city. That regiment under Colonel McMillan, on the 5th of May was sent to Brashear, 80 miles (the whole length of the railway), and Berwick Bay, and there captured two brass 6-pounder field guns, With ammunition for the same, some 1,500 pounds of powder, and some other ordnance stores, and dispersed a military organization there forming, captured and brought off two citizens who persisted in insulting our troops.

There are now no Confederate forces on the right or western bank of the Mississippi within possible reaching distance of which I have any intelligence.

The remainder of my troops which I had been able to take with me by means of any transportation which I had, to wit, Thirtieth and Thirty-first Massachusetts, Fourth Wisconsin and Sixth Michigan, Ninth and Twelfth Connecticut, with Manning's and Everett's Fifth and Sixth Massachusetts Batteries, and Holcomb's Second Vermont Battery, and two companies of cavalry, I landed in the city proper, posting and quartering them at the custom-house, city hall, mint, and Lafayette Square. I thought it necessary to make so large a display of force in the city. I found it very turbulent and unruly, completely under the control of the mob; no man on either side daring to act independently for fear of open violence and assassination. On landing we were saluted with cheers for Jeff. Davis and Beauregard. This has been checked, and the last man that was heard to call for cheers for the rebel chief has been sentenced by the provost judge to three months' hard labor at Fort Jackson, which sentence is being executed. No assassinations have been made of any United States soldiers, with the exception of a soldier of the Ninth Connecticut, who had left his camp without orders in the night and was found dead the next morning in an obscure street, having probably been engaged in a drunken brawl.

My officers and myself now walk in any part of the city where occasion calls by day or night, without guard, obstruction, or annoyance. There is, however, here a violent, strong, and unruly mob; that can only be kept under by fear.

On the 5th instant I sent Brigadier-General Phelps, with the Ninth and Twelfth Connecticut and Manning's battery, to take possession of the rebel works on the north side of the city, which run from the river to the marshes of Lake Pontchartrain, about 7 miles above the city. I could make no earlier movement, because all the steamers captured and in repair were claimed by the Navy, and were used either in towing their supply ships or tugging off the Rhode Island, which had gone on shore and detained us all three days. This point, in the judgment of the engineers on both sides, is a most defensible one on the northerly side, had been fortified by the rebels with heavy earthworks, and can be maintained with a few regiments against any force, however large, that may be brought against it.

The sloop-of-war Portsmouth and the gunboat Iroquois are anchored so as to enfilade the front of the embankments which were abandoned by the rebels. These can easily be put in defensible condition, although before the arrival of the army and after the evacuation by the enemy, who spiked the guns, a party from the advanced gunboats landed and burned the gun-carriages, which we must supply from those captured at the customhouse.

All the rolling stock of the Jackson Railroad was carried away by the retreating General Lovell, and he has cut the road 14 miles above the city. I am now taking measures to possess ourselves of the whole road to Manchac Pass. The fleet have gone up the river as far as Baton Rouge. The flag-officer started yesterday, and I have sent two regiments to accompany him and make any landing necessary.

The projected expedition from Vicksburg to Jackson, of which I spoke in my last dispatch, has become nugatory, because I am reliably informed from different sources that Beauregard has fallen back upon Jackson with his whole army, and is there concentrating his means of defense. My spies inform me that he is suffering greatly for want of food; that his army is daily becoming demoralized and leaving him.

As soon as all necessary points can be occupied here and my instructions carried out as regards Mobile, I will endeavour to march upon his rear with all the force I can spare consistently with reasonable safety of this point.

As in case of defeat he must retreat upon us, it will be perceived that I must be prepared to meet the débris of his army, or indeed, as he has ample rolling stock (the Telegraph says 13 miles of cars), he may precipitate any amount of force upon me at any moment; for which we will try to be ready. I have caused Forts Pike and Wood, the defenses of Lake Pontchartrain, to be occupied by detachments of the Seventh Vermont and Eighth New Hampshire Regiments. I have not yet occupied either the Chalmette, Tower Dupré, or Battery Bienvenue. Our boats hold the lake, and these are only defenses from exterior enemies; are in no need to occupy them at present. The same observation will apply to Fort Livingston.

I have the honor to inclose copies of a proclamation and the several general orders necessary in the administration of the affairs of so large a city.*  The order most questionable is the one in regard to cotton and sugar, No. 22; but it has had a most salutary effect. Both cotton and sugar are now being sent for to be brought into this market, and the burning through the adjacent country has ceased.

My action in regard to provisions was made absolutely necessary by the starvation which was falling upon the "just and the unjust," and as the class of workmen and mechanics on whom it is pressing most heavily, I am persuaded, are well disposed to the Union, I may have to take other measures to feed these.

It will become necessary for me to use the utmost severity in rooting out the various rebel secret associations here, which overawe the Union men, and give expression to the feelings of the mob by assassination and murder, and usurping the functions of government when a government was here pretended to. I propose to make some brilliant examples.

I take leave to suggest whether it might not be well to send to this point or Mobile a large force by which to operate on the rebel rear, so as To cut him off completely.

I send this dispatch by Colonel Deming, a gentleman known to you, who is possessed of my confidence, and will present to you some matters of interest more at length than could be done in this form of communication. I desire, however, to add urgently to anything he may say that there is an immediate necessity for a paymaster here. As well for the spirit, health, and comfort of the troops, I have established the strictest quarantine at the proper point (the quarantine grounds), and hope to preserve the present good health of my command. I hope my action will meet the approval of the President and the Department of War. Much of it has been done in the emergencies called for by a new and untried state of things, when promptness and movement were more desirable than deliberation. I await with anxiety instructions from the Department for my guidance in the future.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

 BENJ. F. BUTLER,             

 Major-General, Commanding.

 The SECRETARY OF WAR.

_______________

* See “Correspondence, etc.,” post.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 6 (Serial No. 6), p. 506-8

Incidents of the Naval Fight on the Mississippi

The following incidents of the fight, from the correspondence of the Boston Journal, are very interesting:

CUTTING THE CHAIN ACROSS THE RIVER.

On Sunday night the gunboats Pinola and Itasca went up, under command of Flagg Captain Bell, to cut the chain.  The Pinola ran in the west bank, and after striking a sunken ship she succeeded in reaching one of the hulks, to which Mr. Kroehl, the experimenter, attached a heavy petard.  The wire connecting it to the battery on board the steamer was coiled up on de[ck] but the current ran so strong and the Pinola drifted so rapidly, that the wire was broken and the attempt failed.  In the meantime, the Itasca ran up to one of the hulks on the east side of the river, when Acting Masters Edward Jones and Amos Johnson, with eight men, boarded the schooner, and in half an hour succeeded in unshackling the chain from its moorings and dropping it down.

The following letter from Capt. Caldwell, of the gunboat Itasca, gives an account of the affair:

* * * The operator on board the Pinola did not succeed in blowing up the chain, as the connecting wire broke and the vessel could not be blown up as the current pressed the Pinola upon her with such force that it took half an hour to clear her.  The Itasca took the next schooner, and in half an hour stripped the chain, but unfortunately before she could get well clear, the current cast her over on to the east shore, grounding the schooner lashed to her and running the Itasca’s fore foot into the mud, where she remained nearly two hours exposed to the fire of both forts.  The Pinola parted two 5-inch hawsers in trying to pull her off, but at last started her with an 11-inch hawser.  After running this schooner on shore, the others swung most favorable, leaving a wide passage for the fleet.

On Wednesday night Capt. Caldwell, with Acting Master Jones, and eleven of the Itasca’s men, pulled up to the schooners after dark, to make a final reconnaissance of the schooners.  They pulled up and sounded round the schooners on the west bank, and then crossed over and did the same with the schooners on the east bank.  They found the channel more than sufficiently wide and entirely unobstructed.  The rebels had lighted a fire on the east bank exposing everything attempting to pass up, but the boat, with muffled oars, passed safely up, and made all their observations unobserved, although they could hear the orders given at the fort, and hear the men calling and talking very loudly about some business they were carrying on outside the fort.  The boat then returned and made the joyful signal, “all right” – the Itasca’s night number, two white and one red lanterns.  Soon after the flag ship hoisted another preconcerted signal, two red lanterns.  This was to get under weigh, prepare for battle and pass up the river.  Within two hours the fleet performed one of the most wonderful and brilliant feats that ever honored any navy, and made the glorious passage of the river.

CHAIN-CLAD SLOOPS OF WAR.

The most conspicuous feature in the outward appearance of the fleet was the iron-linked mail of the sloops of war Richmond, Brooklyn, and Pensacola, each of which had their engines and boilers protected by chain cables, hung in bites on the outside and triced to eyebolts and rods running fore and aft.  The chains were dropped from the height of the gun-deck to below the water-line, and connected together by strong cordage.  This was equivalent to four inch plates, provided it withstood the effects of glancing or oblique shots.  The only danger apprehended from the chains on the steamers was from raking shots tearing them off, in which case it was feared they would become entangled with the propellers.  To guard against this, some of the ships unshackled the chain in short lengths, so that it might reach astern.  The machinery of the Iroquois was protected in the same way, the credit of originating which plan is due to Assistant Engineer Hoyt of the Richmond, upon which ship it was first adopted, the other vessels following her example.

Among the most efficient of the internal arrangements for the protection of the boilers, the destruction of which by a shot or shell was the most to be dreaded, although this was not the only dangerous part of the ships, was that adopted on board the sloop of war Mississippi, the machinery of which, being more above the water line, was consequently more exposed to the fire of the enemy.  The preparations of the ship for the action involved an immense amount of labor, which engaged her officers and crew for weeks before the attack.  Under the direction of Chief Engineer Lawton, Mr. Bartleman, the First Assistant, worked night and day with a strong force, and constructed a temporary roof in the coal bunkers just below the water line, about which the heavy chain cables of the ship were packed in layers, running fore and aft. – The ends of the shaft of the Mississippi were protected by four bales of bagging on the outside of each wheel.  The bows of several of the ships, including the Richmond and Harford, were protected by sand bags piled up beneath the forecastle, and intended to be removed aft to break the force of raking shot after the ships should have passed the forts.  I alluded in a former letter to the log packing of the boilers of the gunboat Owasco.  The bulkheads of other gunboats were strengthened in like manner, and also by sand bags, and the coal bunkers of all being kept full, supplied the wants of extra barriers to shot and shell.  From the moment the sloop of war Portsmouth arrived in the river, her officers and crew engaged in putting the ship into fighting trim.  She wore a mail constructed of her sheet chains, for the protection of her bow against a raking fire, and spread a complete spar netting of strong ropes to prevent her lofty spars – cut away by cannon balls – from falling on deck.

SKILLFUL PREPARATIONS.

The sloop of war Richmond, taken altogether, was by far the best fitted ship in the squadron.  Her hull, standing rigging, and in fact every part of the vessel which could afford the least mark for the rebel artillerists, received a coating of mud paint; she wore splinter nettings running fore and after over her decks.  In addition to the iron mail, which she wore externally, her machinery was protected by sand bags, packed against her bulkheads.

The gunboats Katahdin, Lieutenant Commanding Preble, and the Harriet Lane wore their boarding nettings, and other gunboats and ships were provided wiht the same barriers against the enemy.  Many of the ships carried kedge anchors on their yard arms, and grappling hooks on their jib booms, with which to fasten the gunboats and fire rafts of the enemy.

CAPT. BOGGS’ ACCOUNT OF THE VERONA’S [sic] ACTION.

The following is an extract from a letter of Captain Boggs, of the Verona, addressed to his family in New Jersey.  It was of course, not intended for the public eye.  Sailor-like, the gallant captain identifies himself with his ship, and with as much directness and force as he fights:

MISSISSIPI RIVER,

U. S. Steamer Harriet Lane, April 23, 1862

As Captain Porter is about to dispatch a vessel for Havanna with communications for our government, I have only a few moments to say that, thanks to good Providence, I am safe, and without even a scratch.

Yesterday our great battle was fought.  The squadron passed the forts under as severe a fire as any fleet probably ever endured.  The ships were much cut up, and there were many killed and wounded.

I can only give a hasty narrative of what occurred on board the Verona, as in that you will take a special interest.

“We started at 2 o’clock, A. M., and received the first fire at 3.30, just as the moon was rising.  My vessel was terribly bruised, but we returned the fire with interest.  On passing the forts I found myself the leading ship, and surrounded by a squadron or rebel steamers, who annoyed me much by their fire; so that I steered as close to them as possible, giving to each a broadside in succession as I passed; driving one on shore, and leaving four others in flames.

“During this time the firing of guns, whistling of shot and bursting of shells was terrible; the smoke dense.  As this cleared off, finding more steamers ahead, I stopped to look for the rest of the squadron.  The ship was leaking badly; but thus far none were hurt.  Astern, I saw the Oneida engaged with a rebel steamer.  The latter shortly after came up the river, when I engaged him, but found my shot of no avail, as he was iron-clad about the bow.  He tried to run me down; and I to avoid him and reach his vulnerable parts.  During these movements he raked [me], killing three and wounding seven, and attempted to board; but we repulsed him.  Driving against me he battered me severely, but in these efforts exposed his vulnerable side, and I succeeded in planting a couple of broadsides into him, that crippled his engine and set him on fire.  He then dropped off, and as he moved slowly up the river and passed me I gave him another and parting broadside.

“I now found my ship on fire from his shells, and it was great difficulty that it was put out.  Just then another iron-clad steamer bore down and struck heavily on my port quarter, and backed off for a second blow.  This second blow crushed in my side; but at the same instant I gave him a full complement of shot and shell that drove him on shore and in flames.

“Finding myself in a sinking condition I ran my bow into the bank and landed my wounded, still keeping up a fire on my first opponent, who at last hauled down his flag.  My last gun was fired as the decks went under water.

“No time to save anything, the officers and crew escaping with the clothes they had on their backs.  We were taken off by boats from the squadron, who had now come up, the crews cheering as the Veruna went down with her flag flying; victorious in defeat, and covered with glory.

“I think we have done well.  Eleven steamers destroyed by the squadron.*  The old ram Manassas sunk by the Mississippi.

“This has been a gallant fight, no less than 170 guns playing on us.  The forts are cut off from succor, and must soon surrender.  The way to New Orleans is open, and the city is probably ours at this moment; for the fleet immediately passed up the river.

“The commodore, as a post of honor, dispatched me in my only remaining boat, with a picked crew from Veruna’s men, to carry dispatches to Gen. Butler.

Having been in the boat for twenty six hours after such a day’s previous work, you may imagine I am somewhat exhausted.  What my next position may be I do not know – perhaps to go home for another ship, or possibly to become naval aid to – Major General Butler.”

(Capt. Boggs is too modest to say that he destroyed six out of the eleven. – ED.)

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 2