. The hero of Manila; Dewey on the Mississippi and the Pacific . s and muskets in the tops,officers on the bridges, gunners between decks, en-gineers, firemen, and surgeons below—all were in astate of intense action. The largest of the Confed-erate vessels, a powerful steamer fitted as a ram, at-tacked the Varuna, and \yas subjected to a murder-ous raking fire from that ship. Finding that his bowgun was mounted too far aft to strike her when atsuch close quarters, the Confederate commander de-pressed it and fired through the bow of his own ves-sel. Then another ram came up and joined in theatt
. The hero of Manila; Dewey on the Mississippi and the Pacific . s and muskets in the tops,officers on the bridges, gunners between decks, en-gineers, firemen, and surgeons below—all were in astate of intense action. The largest of the Confed-erate vessels, a powerful steamer fitted as a ram, at-tacked the Varuna, and \yas subjected to a murder-ous raking fire from that ship. Finding that his bowgun was mounted too far aft to strike her when atsuch close quarters, the Confederate commander de-pressed it and fired through the bow of his own ves-sel. Then another ram came up and joined in theattack, and the Varuna was reduced to a wreck anddriven ashore. Meanwhile, the second division of the fleet cameup, led by the Hartford. This vessel, in attemptingto avoid a fire raft, struck on a shoal; then theram Manassas pushed another blazing raft againsther quarter, and in a moment she was on fire. Thegreat excitement thus produced on board the flag-ship did not for a moment interfere with the part of her crew were called to fire quarters and. iiiMPiiui II liiliiililiiiiiiit iiiiiliiHIiiiililtijBiiiBbiJiiiiiiiiiiiJii^^ THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 89 put out the flames, while the rest continued to workthe guns with perfect regularity. Then she was backedoff into deep water, and continued up stream, firinginto every enemy she coukl reach. A steamer loadedwith men (probably intended as a boarding party) boredown upon the flagship, but the marines promptlyfired a shell into her which exploded, and she dis-appeared. While the Mississippi was engaged in this desper-ate battle an officer on board kept his eye on Lieu-tenant Dewey—for on him every movement of theship depended—and he has described the figure of theyoung officer on the high bridge as it was alternatelyhidden by the smoke and illuminated by the flashesof the artillery. Every time the dark came back, he says, Ifelt sure that we never should see Dewey cap was blown off, and his eyes were aflam
Size: 1242px × 2013px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonrossiter184019, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
