HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT
OF THE GULF,
Forts Jackson and
Saint Philip, April 29, 1862.
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 engaged in the bombardment of
Forts Jackson and Saint Philip. Failing to reduce them after six days of
incessant fire, Flag-Officer Farragut determined to attempt their passage with
his whole fleet, except that part thereof under the immediate command of
Captain Porter, known as the Mortar Fleet.
On the morning of the 24th instant the fleet got under way,
and twelve vessels, including the four sloops of war, ran the gauntlet of fire
of the forts and were safely above. Of the gallantry, courage, and conduct of
this heroic 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 800 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, 5 miles above.
In case the forts were not reduced, and a portion of the
fleet got by them, it had been arranged between the flag-officer and myself
that I should make a landing from the Gulf side on the rear of the forts at the
quarantine, and from thence attempt Fort Saint Philip by storm and assault,
while the bombardment was continued by the fleet. I immediately went to Sable
Island with my transports, 12 miles in the rear of Saint Philip, the nearest
point at which a sufficient depth of water could be found for them.
Captain Porter put at my disposal the Miami, drawing 7½
feet, being the lightest-draught vessel in the fleet, to take the troops from
the ship, as far as the water would allow. We were delayed twenty-four hours by
her running ashore at Pass à l'Outre. The Twenty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteers, Colonel Jones, were then put on board her and carried within 6
miles of the fort, where she again grounded. Captain Everett, of the Sixth
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 30 boats, into which the troops were again transshipped and conveyed,
by a most fatiguing and laborious row, some 4½ miles farther, there being
within 1 mile of the steamer only 2½ feet of water. A large portion of this
passage was against a heavy current, through a bayou. At the entrance of
Manuel's Canal, a mile and a half from the point of landing, rowing became
impossible, as well from the narrowness of the canal as 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 Fourth Wisconsin
Volunteers and Twenty-first 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 to 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 it if 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 250) of the garrison of Fort Jackson
mutinied, spiked the guns bearing up the river, came up and surrendered themselves
to my pickets, declaring that as we had got in 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. They averred that
they had been impressed and would fight no longer.*
On the 28th the officers of Forts Jackson and Saint Philip
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 Fort Saint
Philip she blew up, killing one of their own men by the fragments which fell
into that fort.
I have taken possession of the forts, and find them
substantially as defensible as before the bombardment—Saint 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 Lieutenant Weitzel, of the Engineers, to
make a detailed report of their condition to the Department I have left the
Twenty-sixth 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 Barataria Bay. They have retired in the direction of
Corinth, beyond Manchac Pass, and abandoned everything up the river as far as
Donaldsonville, some 70 miles beyond New Orleans. I 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 such 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,
BENJ. F. BUTLER,
Major-General,
Commanding.
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
_______________
* See Butler to Stanton, June 1, 1862 in Chapter XXVII.
† Not found.
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. 503-6
