CHAPTER XXIII. OPERATIONS OF FLEET AT FORT PILLOW. ILL - HEALTH, AND GIVING UP OF ACTIVE COMMAND. THE reception of the news of the fall of Island No. Ten by the government and country, although waited for long and with much impatience, was most enthusiastic. The following letter of congratulation was telegraphed to the commodore on the 9th of April: “FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE, commanding Gun-boats, Western Waters: 66 'SIR,-A nation's thanks are due to you and the brave officers and men of the flotilla on the Mississippi, whose labors and gallantry at Island No. Ten, which surrendered to you, have for weeks been watched with intense interest. Your triumph is not the less appreciated because it was protracted, and finally bloodless. "To that Being who has protected you through so many perils, and carried you onward through successive victories, be the praise for his continued goodness to our country, and especially for this last great success of our arms. "Let the congratulations to yourself and your command be also extended to the officers and soldiers who co-operated with you. "GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy." So greatly was confidence in the Union cause restored by these victories at the West that government securities, which were two and a half and three per cent. below par, immediately commanded a premium. Panic prevailed among the Confederates on the Mississippi, even to New Orleans. Martial law was proclaimed in Memphis, and the specie in the banks was removed to places of supposed safety.* * Lossing's "Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 249. Engagement with Hollins's Fleet. 295 Foote and Pope did not rest upon their victory, but on the 13th of April an army of twenty thousand men was convoyed by the gun-boats down the river, and landed in the vicinity of Fort Pillow, just above Memphis, and the combined naval and land forces prepared to attack that fortification. Five rebel gun-boats of Hollins's fleet that came out to oppose them before they reached Fort Pillow were engaged, and were chased in under the protection of the guns of the fort. This engagement took place on Sunday morning, and when the hour for reading the service came, the commodore suggested that the firing should cease, and the crew be mustered. for a brief space. He himself read the service; and, after a short extemporaneous prayer, he set forth in clear and concise terms to the men that duty to one's country often called them to do, as they were doing, something entirely opposed to the usual proper manner of observing the sacred day, and the reasons for this. The men listened attentively, as they always did, to his remarks, and then they were piped down to their work at the batteries. Several shells burst over the ship during this remarkable service. The plan marked out in these operations by Foote and Pope was that the mortar-boats, protected by the gun-boats, were to be placed on the Arkansas shore within range of the enemy's batteries, while General Pope was to strive to get into the rear of the fort, the boats attacking in front. During these active preparations for assault the following telegram reached the flag-officer, showing how useful and indispensable were his gun-boats in another quarter: "U. S. GUN-BOAT TAYLOR,' PITTSBURG, TENNESSEE, "I have the honor to inform you that the Taylor and Lexington convoyed two transports, containing two thousand troops, infantry and cavalry, under the command of General Sherman, to Chickasaw, Alabama, where they disembarked, and proceeded rapidly to Bear Creek Bridge, the crossing of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, for the purpose of destroying it, and as much of the trestle-work as they could find. "I am happy to state that the expedition was entirely successful. The bridge, consisting of two spans, one hundred and ten feet each, was completely destroyed (i. e., the superstructure), together with some five hundred feet of trestle-work, and half a mile of telegraph line. "The rebels made a feeble resistance to our cavalry, one hundred and twenty in number; but soon made a hasty retreat, losing four killed; our loss, none. "I regret to state that, in firing a salute on the 12th, John D. Seymour, boatswain's mate, was so much injured by the premature discharge of a gun as to cause his death yesterday morning. "Allow me to congratulate you, and those under your command, on your great success at Island No. Ten. Inclosed I send you LieutenantCommanding Shirk's report. Very respectfully, etc., “WILLIAM GWIN, Lieutenant, "Com. Division of Gun-boats on Tennessee River. "Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, com. Naval Forces, Western Waters." It was necessary to destroy the lines of railway communication southward from Tennessee and Virginia, and thus to prevent the rapid reforming of the broken lines of rebel defense; and the value of the gun-boats in this work, both in conveying troops and in affording protection to transports, was great. These gun-boats-the Taylor and the Lexington-we have seen, were an important means of saving our army from destruction at the terrible battle of Shiloh. If this almost equal battle had been decisively won by the Confederates, the gun-boats on the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi rivers would have been forced to play a prominent part in defending conquered territory, and in holding back the furious rebel advance; hence the cautiousness of Commodore Foote in not rashly exposing his vessels at Island No. Ten seemed to be far-sighted and wise. These vessels were also destined to perform much valuable additional service on the Mississippi; and the names of the Benton, Cincinnati, Carondelet, Louis Operations at Fort Pillow. 297 ville, figure in many hard-fought battles and sieges after their old flag-officer had been compelled to retire from their command. As the Trojan fleet become almost like living personages to the reader of Virgil, so these black gun-boats of our American "pius Eneas," with their varied qualities and fortunes, grow vividly familiar in the memory of one who studies the history of this little flotilla. In regard to the operations in front of Fort Pillow, which were actually the last that Commodore Foote was permitted to take an active personal share in, we give his own accounts of them, for we have already discovered that much of the published history of the military operations at the West during the period when Foote was a prominent actor therein, is really nothing more than an embodiment of his letters and reports; for he was the pen as well as the sword of many of the scenes in which he was engaged. These are also interesting as being the last of his official papers: "FLAG-STEAMER BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, "SIR,-I have the honor to report that on the 11th instant I proceeded with our flotilla from Island No. Ten to New Madrid, and left that place with all our force on the 12th instant, and anchored the same evening near and just below the Arkansas line, fifty miles distant from New Madrid. "Early in the morning, General Pope, with transports conveying his army of twenty thousand men, arrived from New Madrid. At eight o'clock five rebel gun-boats rounded the point below us, when the gunboats, the Benton in advance, immediately got under way and proceeded in pursuit; and when within long range opened upon the rebels, followed by the Carondelet, Cincinnati, and other boats. After an exchange of some twenty shots, the rebel boats rapidly steamed down the river, and kept beyond our range until they reached the batteries of Fort Pillow-a distance of more than thirty miles. We followed them to within a mile of Fort Pillow, within easy range of their batteries, for the purpose of making a good reconnoissance, at considerable expense, however; but it was not till we had rounded to and ran some distance up the stream that the enemy opened upon us, and then with no effect, their shot, most of them, going beyond us. Having accomplished our object, I tied the flotilla up to the banks of the Tennessee side, out of range of the forts, for the night. "General Pope, with Assistant-Secretary Scott, came aboard at 3 P. M., when it was arranged that the mortar-boats should be placed in the morning on the Arkansas shore, within range of the forts, to be protected by the gun-boats; and General Pope, with most of his force, should land five miles above, with the view of getting his army, if possible, to the rear of the fortifications, and make the attack in rear, while we should, with gun and mortar boats, attack them in front. "This place has a long line of fortifications, with guns of heavy calibre; their number and the number of their men I have not yet been able to ascertain. The secession feeling here, as I learn from several persons coming on board, is very strong; and they express the opinion that the resistance will be very determined. “Three P. M.—General Pope has returned with his transports, and informs me that he is unable to reach the rear of the rebels from any point of the river above, and proposes to cut a canal on the Arkansas side, which will enable us to get three or four of the gun-boats below, and thus enable him to cross the river below the upper forts, and thus cut off the batteries. We shall thus have three iron-clads above and four below, which, I presume, will be all that will be required in case the six gun-boats of the rebels make an attack upon either division, as three of our gun-boats ought successfully to cope with six of theirs. "The mortars are now firing, and have driven the rebel gun-boats out of range down the river. "I shall continue to keep the Department advised of our movements. "The effects of my wound have quite a dispiriting effect upon me, from the increased inflammation and swelling of my foot and leg, which have induced a febrile action, depriving me of a good deal of sleep and energy. I can not give the wound that attention and rest it absolutely requires until this place is captured. "I have the honor to be your obedient servant, "A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. "The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." We here insert a private letter, of which and similar letters Secretary Welles says: "I send herewith half a dozen. letters written by Admiral Foote in the spring of 1862, when, |