wilderness of naval wants, I must say that no one could have done more than I have done. Very truly yours, A. H. FOOTE.

"G. V. Fox, Assistant-Secretary of the Navy.

"I have made every effort to ship men in the West, but have secured only about two hundred. The river-men enlisted in June, or went South; and as our pay is eighteen dollars per month, and their old pay thirty dollars, the remaining men are indisposed to ship in the gun-boats.

"A. H. F."

The following letters are interesting as showing the straits into which the government was forced in the early periods of the war. Most of the defective guns mentioned were thrown out; but some of them continued to be a source of annoyance and actual damage from bursting during the operations of the gun-boats under Flag-officer Foote and Captain Davis, who succeeded him.

"COMMANDANT'S OFFICE, U. S. NAVY YARD,

January 20, 1862.

"CAPTAIN A. A. HARWOOD, Chief of Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrog

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raphy:

SIR,-I beg leave to call the attention of the Bureau to the fact that certain 9-inch guns have been sent to the Western flotilla which were made for the Navy in 1855, and rejected for want of strength. As one of these guns burst as low as 121 fires, it is evident they are unsafe. I am aware that at the time they were sent West there seemed to be an immediate need of some ordnance, and it not being possible to procure any others, there was a justification for the risk incurred. But this is no longer the case; and as the gun-boats on which these guns are may be in action before long, I would urge the Bureau to lose no time in replacing the 9-inch guns sent West by others which have been fully proved. "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "JOHN A. DAHLGREN, Commandant."

"BUREAU OF HYDROGRAPHY, NAVY Department, WASHINGTON, January 23, 1862.

"SIR,-You were telegraphed on the 21st instant (1) not to send more 9-inch guns to New York until further orders, and to get ready with all

possible dispatch sixteen of the same class for a special purpose. (2) The Bureau now informs you that the sixteen guns are intended for the gun-boat flotilla at Cairo; and you will please forward the guns by the quickest means of transportation, one by one, as fast as they can be delivered. (3) You will please inform the Fort Pitt founders that the Bureau especially and urgently requests that every possible exertion may be made to expedite the work for the purpose indicated at the earliest practicable moment. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"ANDREW A. HARWOOD, Chief of Bureau.

"Commander J. R. M. Mullany, U. S. N., }

Asst. Ins. Ordnance, Pittsburg."

But it is time that we should speak of the remaining operations of the gun-boats during the year 1861, from the date of the action at Eddyville, October 26th.

It should be borne in mind that the whole Western military field, comprising both land and water, was up to this time under the command of Major-General Fremont, and thus, generally speaking, of the Army Department. General Grant, having seized upon Paducah, gained a footing near the mouth of the Ohio River, and established his head-quarters at Cairo, with a force rapidly increasing in numbers. Combined with him in the control of operations in the Mississippi Valley was that very able commander, General C. F. Smith; and with these two army leaders Foote, with the title and authority of flag-officer,* which ranked him with a major-general in the army, was appointed specially to co-operate with his gun-boat fleet; having, it is true, an independent command, but at the same time being more or less under the direction of the army, and his subordinate commands being liable at any moment to be peremptorily ordered to perform some duty required in carrying out the plans of General Smith or General Grant. This state of things, in which the authority and responsibility

* His official naval rank as " flag-officer" dates actually from November 13th, 1861, although before this he was the regularly appointed commander-in-chief of the Western waters.

Battle of Belmont.

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were at best but vaguely defined, was, as has been more than once hinted, a source of annoyance to so high-spirited a man as Foote; and it grew to its height under General Halleck, who, two days after the battle of Belmont, succeeded Fremont in the control of the Western Department. Foote felt this to be so great a grievance that he at one time solicited a transference to a separate naval coast command; but his value at the post where he had been placed was so great that the government refused his request, having unlimited confidence in his ability and his adaptation to the work assigned him. The wisdom of its choice was confirmed by the result; but the subject of it nevertheless was subjected to a cruel trial, which, however, he nobly bore, suffering it to have no evil influence upon his actions. He went straight on in spite of all obstacles, sacrificing his personal feelings to the public good.

On the 1st of November, 1861, Major-General Fremont ordered Grant to make demonstrations on both sides of the Mississippi River. This order was countermanded; but was renewed on the 5th, and was carried into effect by Grant. Having learned on the 7th that there was a movement of the rebels from Columbus to Belmont, to cut off Colonel Oglesby, whom he had sent with three thousand men toward the St. Francis River, Grant immediately resolved to attack Belmont, and to surprise General Polk, who was there with a force of seven thousand men, thus preventing him from sending reinforcements into Missouri. Grant's troops, consisting of about three thousand men, were swiftly embarked on transports at Cairo; and the gun-boats Taylor and Lexington were ordered to convoy them down the river to a point two miles above Belmont, where they were landed; but as we do not intend to give an account of the battle of Belmont, but only of the part that the flotilla, which had been prepared for action and, as it were, created by Foote, took in it, we simply subjoin Commander Walke's report:

"U. S. GUN-BOAT 'TAYLOR,' MOUND CITY, Nov. 9, 1861. "SIR,-I have the honor to report that on the evening of the 6th instant I received instructions from General Grant to proceed down the river, in company with the Lexington, under Commander Stembel, for a reconnoissance and as convoy to some half-dozen transport steamers. We proceeded opposite to Norfolk, near the Kentucky shore, where we rounded to, and anchored for the night. I then learned for the first time the extent of the reconnoissance.

"At three o'clock the following morning, at the request of General Grant, the Taylor and Lexington started down the river for the purpose of engaging the rebel batteries at Columbus; but after proceeding a few miles we were met with such a dense fog as to render any farther progress hazardous; we therefore rounded to, and returned to the point from whence we started. At six o'clock we all got under way, our two gunboats taking the lead, and convoying the steamers containing Generals Grant and McClernand and their aids, and some three thousand troops, two companies of cavalry, and some artillery. We proceeded down the river to the extreme end of Lucas's Bend, and just without, as I thought, the range of their guns on Iron Banks. After the troops had disembarked, and were under marching orders (half-past eight o'clock), our two boats proceeded to engage their batteries on Iron Banks, each expending several rounds of shell, and returning to the transports. Their shot passed over us, though in some instances coming very close to us. At this time, with their long-range rifled cannon, they sent a large number of shot half a mile above the transports. I requested the captains of the transports to move up and out of the range of their shot, which they did. At ten o'clock, the engagement having commenced at Belmont, we again engaged the Iron Bank batteries, expending still more shell, their shot flying around us, but doing no harm, while our shells seemed to go where they could be effective. We returned, after an engagement of about twenty minutes, to the transports.

"At about noon, hearing the battle of Belmont still going on, our two gun-boats made a third attack upon their batteries, this time going nearly a quarter of a mile nearer to them. We opened a brisk fire of shell, and seemingly with good effect. While in this engagement one of their 24pounders struck us on the starboard bulwarks, and, continuing obliquely through the spar-deck, took off the head of Michael Adams, seaman, and broke the arm and otherwise seriously injured James Wolfe, seaman, and slightly wounding a third. Acting-Surgeon Kearney, who was cool and