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The opening of the canal, fifty feet wide and twelve miles long, from the bend of the Mississippi near Island No. Eight, across the neck of the swampy peninsula, to the neighborhood of New Madrid, was the joint work of the Army and Navy, and was one of the most energetic and remarkable achievements of the war. It was actually suggested by General Schuyler Hamilton, and was executed in the space of about two weeks, under the command of Colonel Bissel. Three fourths of a mile was through solid earth, and six miles of the way was hewn through a dense growth of heavy timber, which had to be cut off in some places four feet under water.* Advantage was taken of narrow channels connecting bayous, or places with more open water, and near New Madrid a small stream ran down from the swamp, which aided the enterprise; but it was a herculean task, and for nineteen days soldiers and sailors worked and floundered together in water and mud, cutting down and dragging out trees and stumps, with capstans, saws, and axes. Four light steamers and two or three gunbarges aided them in this. It was impracticable to make a passage deep enough for the great gun-boats; but, after incredible labor, the canal was finished, and in the first week of April a small fleet of light steamers and transports, gliding through the depths of a Mississippi forest, reached New Madrid, with the almost wild rejoicings of the troops there. In the mean time, on the 1st of April, a gallant feat was done by a boat expedition manned by seamen of the Benton and four other gun-boats, with fifty soldiers, the whole under the command of Colonel George W. Roberts, of the Second Illinois Volunteers. At eleven o'clock at night they started, rowing softly, and hugging the eastern shore in the shadow. They proceeded to the upper (Rucker's) battery, or the first of the seven forts on the Tennessee shore, and as they approached

*Lossing's "Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 244.

Spiking of a Rebel Battery.

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within thirty feet the sentinels perceived them, uttered a cry of surprise, fired, and fled. The alarm was also communicated to the rebel steamer Grampus; but the movements of the invaders were rapid; they landed, threw out a detachment of twenty men between the battery and the rebel camp, and proceeded to spike the guns, which they did successfully, and returned without loss to the fleet, although the rebel steamer was already bearing down upon them. This shore-battery, consisting of eleven guns, one of them a 10-inch columbiad, was one of the most formidable batteries of the enemy, and was so situated that for a boat to run by it it must pass within three hundred yards of the fort. The commodore speaks of this expedition in a letter to his wife:

"FLAG-STEAMER 'BENTON,' OFF ISLAND NO. TEN,

April 2, 1862.

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"MY DEAR WIFE,―The mail arrived at 9 P.M. last night, but brought me no tidings from you, which leaves me in a feverish state of excitement, as your letter three days ago spoke of your own and the children's illness. The Conestoga will soon be down with the mail, and I pray God that the news from you may be good, or more favorable.

"The expedition last night was entirely successful, as you will have heard from my telegram before receiving this. We have spiked all the guns in No. One, or the first fort on the Tennessee shore above No. Ten. The sentinels fired on our boats and ran, while our men jumped from the boats into the fort and spiked their guns, and got safely off. Just as they reached this vessel, a squall of thunder and lightning of the most terrific character struck us, as if it would destroy our fleet; but, thank God, no serious damage has been done except to two steamers, which fouled the Cincinnati. The rebels are firing briskly upon us this morning, which we are returning. I suppose they are indignant and demoralized somewhat at the spiking of their guns. No other news. I will write more when the mail comes. In the mean time, rest assured that, next to God, you and the dear children are in my thoughts. I send from a rebel paper a good piece, which you must apply to yourself and children. I know you will. Sanford is in my cabin, and dines with us to-day. He is in tolerable spirits. We all feel a little more encouraged from putting

to rest Fort No. One. The men are singing psalm tunes near the cabin, but, I am sorry to say, I hear more oaths than praises among them. Secretary Scott has been to see me this morning. He, as well as Colonel Buford, rather urge me on to a fight, but I resist and am cautious, and they have great confidence in my judgment. Read the rebel slip, and tell me if you do not fully indorse it, come what will. William often expressed Christian sentiments. I will add a word if the mail come before this goes, which is doubtful. Affectionately,

A. H. F."

One of the obstacles in the way of sending a gun-boat down the river past the forts was removed, and another formidable obstacle was the next day also done away by the destruction of the enemy's floating battery, moored at the head of the isl and. The flag-officer thus speaks of it in his dispatch:

“CAIRO, April 4, 1862.

"This morning the Benton, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg, with three mortar-boats, opened, and continued more than an hour, a fire on the rebels' heavy floating battery at Island No. Ten, when the latter, having received several shells from the rifles and mortars, cut loose from her moorings and drifted down the river two or three miles. The shells were thrown from the rifles into the different forts of the island, and into the rebel batteries lining the Tennessee shore. The return fire produced no effect on the squadron. No more men than were actually necessary to man the batteries were visible. A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer.

"The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy."

Thus the flag-officer was gradually feeling his way, in his own method and time, toward making the move which should secure the capture of Island No. Ten. It is true that General Pope, waiting unemployed after his struggle and success at New Madrid, began to be extremely impatient; it is true that the country itself began to think that it was time for the downfall of the defiant stronghold-the key of the Mississippi, as it was considered; it is true that our naval Marcellus seemed to have suddenly become a very Fabius in his caution; it is true that Farragut had turned his prow up stream

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at New Orleans, and had sent word that he would meet Foote coming down the Mississippi; yet it is also true that up to this point Foote (whether he erred or not in judgment) did not think that the time had come to safely try the last experiment, to make the grand throw; and it is also true that what he there did, and at the time he did it, won the long-contested prize, and it dropped like ripened fruit into his waiting hand. It is not impossible that the desired end might more speedily have been attained by the same means that was finally employed-but we defer the account of the completion of this hard contest to another chapter.

CHAPTER XXII.

CAPTURE OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN.

FOOTE was now waiting for a favorable moment, or, in other words, for a dark night, to carry out the plan, of the necessity of which he had become fully convinced, and which was also earnestly urged by General Pope, to send a gun-boat down past the batteries. He had lessened the difficulties of the feat by silencing the rebels' upper and floating batteries; and he had issued the following general order to Commander Walke, of the Carondelet:

"U. S. FLAG-STEAMER 'BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN,

March 30, 1862.

"SIR,-You will avail yourself of the first fog or rainy night, and drift your steamer down past the batteries on the Tennessee shore and Island No. Ten until you reach New Madrid.

"I assign you this service, as it is vitally important to the capture of this place that a gun-boat should soon be at New Madrid for the purpose of covering General Pope's army while he crosses at that point to the opposite shore, or to the Tennessee side of the river, that he may move his army up to Island No. Ten, and attack the rebels in rear while we attack them in front.

"Should you succeed in reaching General Pope, you will freely confer with him, and adopt his suggestions, so far as your superior knowledge of what your boat will perform and enable you to do, for the purpose of protecting his force while crossing the river.

"You will also, if you have coal, and the current of the river will permit, steam up the river while the army moves, for the purpose of attacking their fortifications. Still, you will act cautiously here, as your own will be the only boat below.

"You will capture or destroy the rebel steam gun-boat Grampus and the transports, if possible, between this place and Island No. Ten, at such

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