Figures not attached to vessels give the soundings. Within the channel they indicate depth in fathoms; beyond the dotted lines, feet.

Battle of Mobile Bay.

From “The Navy in the Civil War.”

“It was a glorious sight to see those brave fellows wearing a smile of joy upon their faces in view of such odds against them, and not knowing how soon they and their comrades would be lying at the bottom of the bay. All could not hope to escape this trying ordeal, when several of the coolest officers calculated that at least six of the ships would be blown up. They never stopped to consider whose fate this would be; all they desired was to grapple with the enemy, and see the Union flag floating over the forts that had been taken from their lawful owners.”

Slowly—too slowly, the squadron steamed in, the American flag fluttering at every peak until within easy range, when the Tecumseh, the leading monitor, hurled two fifteen-inch shot at the fort. There was no reply, and the squadron continued slowly on with the monitors blazing away.

The silence of the fort was ominous, for its garrison were waiting for the shortest range; but at 7.7 o’clock, as the head of the squadron drew in to make the turn at the red buoy, the time had come, and a roaring blast of iron hail struck the leading ships. But ominous as the silence of the fort had seemed, the result of their best aim was insignificant, for only one shot did any damage worth mention, and that one killed nearly all of a gun’s crew on the Hartford.

All the guns of the fleet that would bear were now opened on the fort, grape and canister being chiefly used in order to drive the men from the guns, and so steady was the rain of the small projectiles through the fort’s portholes that the fire there was instantly slackened.

T. A. M. Craven.