The mortar schooners were disguised by lashing tree limbs to the masts in such fashion that they could not be distinguished from the trees along the banks. In short, no precaution was omitted.
As for the Confederates, they rested in perfect confidence behind the forts that had been erected to defend the river. As a glance at the map will show, there was some reason in the location, if not in the armament of these forts, for the confidence they felt. As will be seen, the river comes down in a southerly direction until within twenty miles of the head of the Passes. There it suddenly turns to the northeast for nearly two miles, when it makes a sharp bend to the south once more. It was right on this sharp, knee-like bend that the forts were built. Fort St. Philip stood on top of the knee-bend, so to speak, and from its walls a fair view was had for a long way down the river. On the under side of the knee lay Fort Jackson. By the compass it was about due south of Fort St. Philip and but 800 yards away. Its guns pointed all over the bend of the river and away to the south, the timber on the west side of the river having been cut away to allow an unobstructed view of the stream almost to the uttermost range of the guns.
But when the guns of these forts are considered, one must say they were very poor. The Confederates made a mistake there. In all there were 109 cannon that might be used on passing ships at one point or another, but of these, fifty-six were twenty-four-pounders—excellent guns in 1812, but very small fifty years later. More than half of the others were thirty-twos and forty-twos—in fact, but fifteen of them were really guns of the day, and but two—the seven-inch rifles—could be called first-class.
New Orleans, La., and its Vicinity.
1. Mississippi River. 2. Levee. 3. St. Charles Hotel. 4. Lake Pontchartrain. 5. Fort Pike. 6. Rigolets. 7. Lake Borgne. 8. Mississippi Sound. 9. Ship Island. 10. Chandeleur Islands. 11. Gulf of Mexico. 12. Proctorsville. 13. Fort Dupré. 14. Fort St. Philip. 15. Fort Jackson. 16. Balize. 17. South Pass. 18. Southwest Pass. 19. McDonoughville. 20. Algiers.
Doubtless the Confederates depended too much on what nature had done for the defence, but they tried to add to the forces of nature by stretching a barrier from Fort Jackson to the east across the river. Barriers appeal to the unlearned mind, but they have never obstructed a fleet that was commanded by a determined man. Rafts of big cypress logs were built and anchored in line, and then chain cables taken from the Pensacola Navy Yard were stretched from trees on the Fort Jackson side over these supporting rafts to heavy anchors buried on the east side. Before Farragut arrived the floods of spring and the accumulation of driftwood had broken the barrier, but it was renewed by substituting schooners in place of the rafts where the current was heaviest.
In addition to the forts and barrier chain, the Confederates had the support of eleven steamers and a floating battery. This battery was built as an ironclad steamer to carry sixteen heavy guns behind plenty of armor, but there were so many strikes in the shipyard where she was built that she barely got afloat, and she was towed to a place at the forts. Her engines were never used. Had Farragut been delayed ten days more, she would have been a formidable ship, and she would have had a still more formidable consort in another and larger ship of her class that never got afloat. She was called the Louisiana, and was commanded by Capt. John K. Mitchell. Another of this squadron was the ram Manassas, that under Lieutenant Warley had created a Manassas-like panic in the blockading squadron some months before. Two of the squadron belonged to the State of Louisiana. They were called the Moore, Capt. Beverly Kennon, and the McRae, Capt. Thomas B. Huger. These were cotton-clads—ocean-going steamers protected with cotton bales—very inferior as fighting ships, and yet the able Kennon made a name for himself with the Moore. Of the remainder of the squadron it may be said that six were of the “River Defence Squadron”—the guerrillas afloat—and that one of the captains said just before the battle that they were there “to show the naval officers how to fight.”
There were also a number of unarmed vessels present, whose duty it was to handle the fireboats that had been prepared—huge coal barges loaded with fat pine knots that might have made serious trouble had they all been turned loose together at the right time. And one of these unarmed boats was the Mosher, with a crew of six men under Captain Sherman—the bravest man in the Confederate squadron; but because he was only a tug captain no record was made of his first name, nor is anything said in history of his antecedents. Of the armament of the Confederate squadron little need be said. The Louisiana was well armed, and the rest poorly. The Moore, under Beverly Kennon, had two thirty-two-pounders, and she was about as well off as any.
While Farragut prepared his fleet a coast survey party under F. H. Gerdes triangulated the river, under fire at times, and set flags on the banks where the mortar schooners were to be moored. One division of these was placed on the west bank, under shelter of forest trees, and at an average distance of about 3,500 yards from the fort. The other division was on the east bank. The exact range was given to each schooner captain, and at ten o’clock in the morning on April 18, 1862, the bombardment of Fort Jackson began. The mortars were fired once in ten minutes, and the fire was continued for six days.