Astonishing as it seems to one who has seen such dams built, Bailey and his men from Maine had completed the dam in eight days, deepening the water on the rifts by more than six feet—the water was deep enough on the rifts for the Osage, the Neosho, and Hindman to pass down and anchor in the still water between the foot of the rifts and the dam.
But just as this success had been attained two of the sunken coal barges in the centre of the dam were shoved out of line by the weight of water, and in an instant the backwater above the dam began to pour through the opening in a mighty torrent.
At that moment the gunboat Lexington, with steam up, was at the head of the rifts, ready to follow the gunboats that had passed down to safety, while Admiral Porter stood on the bank, overseeing the operation. One glance at the broken dam showed that the level of the water must quickly fall, and Porter shouted to the Lexington to go ahead over the rifts and through the break in the dam to the still water below. Instantly her pilot rang the bell to start the engines.
Up to this moment the thousands of soldiers who lined the banks had been shouting and talking to each other, and making a most confused noise; but when the Lexington entered the growing current on the rifts a hush fell upon the great throng, until no sound was heard save the beating of her paddles and the rush of the current as the pilot drove her straight at the opening. There the current took her from his hands, lifted her up on the leaping waves, and, rolling her heavily from side to side, dashed her down into the pool below.
The Fleet Passing the Dam.
From an engraving.
The mighty cheer that the great host of spectators raised seems to echo in the ear to this day as one reads the story of the incident, for the ship was safe.
The Neosho, Hindman, and Osage passed through the dam after the Lexington, but there were others still above the rifts, and these could not pass. But after a while it was found that, even with the break unrepaired, the dam still raised the water more than five feet, and so, instead of repairing the break, Bailey built two wing dams on the rifts above, and these gave the needed depth, and the remainder of the squadron passed down in safety. Bailey received the thanks of Congress, and was made a brigadier-general.
And to conclude the story of the Mississippi squadron, we may quote the words of Mahan in his admirable “Gulf and Inland Waters”: “After the Red River expedition little is left to say of the operations of the Mississippi squadron during the rest of the war.”