CHAPTER IX. TAKING A FORT
Dick was with Colonel Winchester when he was admitted to the presence ofthe general who had already done much to strengthen the Union causein the west, and he found him the plainest and simplest of men, underforty, short in stature, and careless in attire. He thanked ColonelWinchester for the reinforcement that he had brought him, and thenturned with some curiosity to Dick.
"So you were at the battle of Mill Spring," he said. "It was hot, was itnot?"
"Hot enough for me," replied Dick frankly.
Grant laughed.
"They caught a Tartar in George Thomas," he said, "and I fancy thatothers who try to catch him will be glad enough to let him go."
"He is a great man, sir," said Dick with conviction.
Then Grant asked him more questions about the troops and the situationin Eastern Kentucky, and Dick noticed that all were sharp andpenetrating.
"Your former immediate commander, Major Hertford, and some of his menare due here today," said Grant. "General Thomas, knowing that his owncampaign was over, sent them north to Cincinnati and they have come downthe river to Cairo. When they reach here they will be attached to theregiment of Colonel Winchester."
Dick was overjoyed. He had formed a strong liking for Major Hertford andhe was quite sure that Warner and Sergeant Whitley would be with him.Once more they would be reunited, reunited for battle. He could notdoubt that they would go to speedy action as the little town at thejunction of the mighty rivers resounded with preparation.
When Colonel Winchester and the boy had saluted and retired from GeneralGrant's tent they saw the smoke pouring from the funnels of numeroussteamers in the Mississippi, and they saw thousands of troops encampedin tents along the shores of both the Ohio and Mississippi. Heavy cannonwere drawn up on the wharves, and ammunition and supplies were beingtransferred from hundreds of wagons to the steamers. It was evident toany one that this expedition, whatever it might be, was to proceed bywater. It was a land of mighty rivers, close together, and a steamermight go anywhere.
As Dick and Colonel Winchester, on whose staff he would now be, werewatching this active scene, a small steamer, coming down the Ohio, drewin to a wharf, and a number of soldiers in faded blue disembarked. Theboy uttered a shout of joy.
"What is it, Dick?" asked Colonel Winchester.
"Why, sir, there's my former commander, Colonel Newcomb, and just behindhim is my comrade, Lieutenant George Warner of Vermont, and not far awayis Sergeant Whitley, late of the regular army, one of the best soldiersin the world. Can I greet them, colonel?"
"Of course."
Dick rushed forward and saluted Colonel Newcomb, who grasped him warmlyby the hand.
"So you got safely through, my lad," he said. "Major Hertford, who camedown the Kentucky with his detachment and joined us at Carrollton at themouth of that river, told us of your mission. The major is bringing upthe rear of our column, but here are other friends of yours."
Dick the next moment was wringing the hand of the Vermont boy and wasreceiving an equally powerful grip in return.
"I believed that we would meet you here," said Warner, "I calculatedthat with your courage, skill and knowledge of the country the chanceswere at least eighty per cent in favor of your getting through to Buell.And if you did get through to Buell I knew that at least ninety percent of the circumstances would represent your desire and effort to comehere. That was a net percentage of seventy-two in favor of meeting youhere in Cairo, and the seventy-two per cent has prevailed, as it usuallydoes."
"Nothing is so bad that it can't be worse," said Sergeant Whitley, ashe too gave Dick's hand an iron grasp, "and I knew that when we lost youwe'd be pretty glad to see you again. Here you are safe an' sound, an'here we are safe an' sound, a most satisfactory condition in war."
"But not likely to remain so long, judging from what we see here," saidWarner. "We hear that this man Grant is a restless sort of a person whothinks that the way to beat the enemy is just to go in and beat him."
Major Hertford came up at that moment, and he, too, gave Dick a welcomethat warmed his heart. But the boy did not get to remain long with hisold comrades. The Pennsylvania regiment had been much cut down throughthe necessity of leaving detachments as guards at various places alongthe river, but it was yet enough to make a skeleton and its entity waspreserved, forming a little eastern band among so many westerners.
Dick, at General Grant's order, was transferred permanently to the staffof Colonel Winchester, and he and the other officers slept that nightin a small building in the outskirts of Cairo. He knew that a greatmovement was at hand, but he was becoming so thoroughly inured to dangerand hardship that he slept soundly all through the night.
They heard early the next morning the sound of many trumpets and ColonelWinchester's regiment formed for embarkation. All the puffing steamerswere now in the Ohio, and Dick saw with them many other vessels whichwere not used for carrying soldiers. He saw broad, low boats, withflat bottoms, their sides sheathed in iron plates. They were floatingbatteries moved by powerful engines beneath. Then there were eight hugemortars, a foot across the muzzle, every one mounted separately upon astrong barge and towed. Some of the steamers were sheathed in iron also.
Dick's heart throbbed hard when he saw the great equipment. The fightingships were under the command of Commodore Foote, an able man, butGeneral Grant and his lieutenants, General McClernand and General Smith,commanded the army aboard the transports. On the transport next to themDick saw the Pennsylvanians and he waved his hand to his friends whostood on the deck. They waved back, and Dick felt powerfully the senseof comradeship. It warmed his heart for them all to be together again,and it was a source of strength, too.
The steamer that bore his regiment was named the River Queen, and manyof her cabins had been torn away to make more room for the troops whowould sleep in rows on her decks, as thick as buffaloes in a herd. Thesoldiers, like all the others whom he saw, were mostly boys. The averagecould not be over twenty, and some were not over sixteen. But they hadthe adaptability of youth. They had scattered themselves about in easypositions. One was playing an accordion, and another a fiddle. Theofficers did not interrupt them.
As Dick looked over the side at the yellow torrent some one said besidehim:
"This is a whopping big river. You don't see them as deep as this whereI come from."
Dick glanced at the speaker, and saw a lad of about his own age, ofmedium height, but powerfully built, with shoulders uncommonly thick.His face was tanned brown, but his eyes were blue and his naturalcomplexion was fair. He was clad completely in deerskin, mocassinson his feet and a raccoon skin cap on his head. Dick had noticed theNebraska hunters in such garb, but he was surprised to see this boydressed in similar fashion among the Kentuckians.
The youth smiled when he saw Dick's glance of surprise.
"I know I look odd among you," he said, "and you take me for one of theNebraska hunters. So I am, but I'm a Kentuckian, too, and I've a rightto a place with you fellows. My name is Frank Pennington. I was bornabout forty miles north of Pendleton, but when I was six months old myparents went out on the plains, where I've hunted buffalo, and whereI've fought Indians, too. But I'm a Kentuckian by right of birth just asyou are, and I asked to be assigned to the regiment raised in the regionfrom which we came."
"And mighty welcome you are, too," said Dick, offering his hand. "Youbelong with us, and we'll stick together on this campaign."
The two youths, one officer and one private, became fast friends ina moment. Events move swiftly in war. Both now felt the great enginesthrobbing faster beneath them, and the flotilla, well into the mouth ofthe Ohio, was leaving the Mississippi behind them. But the Ohio herefor a distance is apparently the mightier stream, and they gazed withinterest and a certain awe at the vast yellow sheet enclosed by shores,somber in the gray garb of winter. It was the beginning of February, andcold winds swept down from the Illinois prairies. Cairo had been leftbehind and there was no sign of human ha
bitation. Some wild fowl,careless of winter, flew over the stream, dipped toward the water, andthen flew away again.
As far as the eye was concerned the wilderness circled about them andenclosed them. The air was cold and flakes of snow dropped upon thedecks and the river, but were gone in an instant. The skies were anunbroken sheet of gray. The scene so lonely and desolate contained amajesty that impressed them all, heightened for these youths by theknowledge that many of them were going on a campaign from which theywould never return.
"Looks as wild as the great plains on which I've hunted with my father,"said Pennington.
"But we hunt bigger game than buffalo," said Dick.
"Game that is likely to turn and hunt us."
"Yes."
"Do you know where we're going?"
"Not exactly, but I can make a good guess. I know that we've taken onTennessee River pilots, and I'm sure that we'll turn into the mouth ofthat river at Paducah. I infer that we're to attack Fort Henry, whichthe Confederates have erected some distance up the Tennessee to guardthat river."
"Looks likely. Do you know much about the fort?"
"I've heard of it only since I came to Cairo. I know that it stands onlow, marshy ground facing the Tennessee, and that it contains seventeenbig guns. I haven't heard anything about the size of its garrison."
"But we'll have a fight, that's sure," said young Pennington. "I'vebeen in battle only once--at Columbus--but the Johnny Rebs don't give upforts in a hurry."
"There's another fort, a much bigger one, named Donelson, on theCumberland," said Dick. "Both the forts are in Tennessee, but as the tworivers run parallel here in the western parts of the two states, FortDonelson and Fort Henry are not far apart. I risk a guess that we attackboth."
"You don't risk much. I tell you, Dick, that man Grant is a holy terror.He isn't much to look at, but he's a marcher and a fighter. We fellowsin the ranks soon learn what kind of a man is over us. I supposeit's like the horse feeling through the bit the temper of his rider.President Lincoln has stationed General Halleck at St. Louis withgeneral command here in the West. General Halleck thinks that GeneralGrant is a meek subordinate without ambition, and will always be sendingback to him for instructions, which is just what General Halleck likes,but we in the ranks have learned to know our Grant better."
Dick's eyes glistened.
"So you think, then," he said, "that General Grant will push thiscampaign home, and that he'll soon be where he can't get instructionsfrom General Halleck?"
"Looks that way to a man up a tree," said Pennington slowly, andsolemnly winking his left eye.
They were officer and private, but they were only lads together, andthey talked freely with each other. Dick, after a while, returned to hiscommanding officer, Colonel Winchester, but there was little to do, andhe sat on the deck with him, looking out over the fleet, the transports,the floating batteries, the mortar boats, and the iron-clads. He sawthat the North, besides being vastly superior in numbers and resources,was the supreme master on the water through her equipment and themechanical skill of her people. The South had no advantage save thedefensive, and the mighty generals of genius who appeared chiefly on herVirginia line.
Dick had inherited a thoughtful temperament from his famous ancestor,Paul Cotter, whose learning had appeared almost superhuman to the peopleof his time, and he was extremely sensitive to impressions. His mindwould register them with instant truth. As he looked now upon thisfloating army he felt that the Union cause must win. On land theConfederates might be invincible or almost so, but the waters of therivers and the sea upheld the Union cause.
The fleet steamed on at an even pace. Foote, the commodore whohad daringly reconnoitered Fort Henry from a single gunboat in theTennessee, managed everything with alertness and skill. The transportswere in the center of the stream. The armed and armored vessels kept onthe flanks.
The river, a vast yellow sheet, sometimes turning gray under the gray,wintry skies, seemed alone save for themselves. Not a single canoe orskiff disturbed its surface. Toward evening the flakes of snow cameagain, and the bitter wind blew once more from the Illinois prairies.All the troops who were not under shelter were wrapped in blanketsor overcoats. Dick and the colonel, with the heavy coats over theiruniforms, did not suffer. Instead, they enjoyed the cold, crisp air,which filled their lungs and seemed to increase their power.
"When shall we reach the Tennessee?" asked Dick.
"You will probably wake up in the morning to find yourself some distanceup that stream."
"I've never seen the Tennessee."
"Though not the equal of the Ohio, it would be called a giant river inmany countries. The whole fleet, if it wanted to do it, could go upit hundreds of miles. Why, Dick, these boats can go clear down intoAlabama, into the very heart of the Confederacy, into the very state atthe capital of which Jefferson Davis was inaugurated President of theseceding states."
"I was thinking of that some time ago," said Dick. "The water is withus."
"Yes, the water is with us, and will stay with us."
They were silent a little while longer and watched the coming of theearly winter twilight over the waters and the lonely land. The sky wasso heavy with clouds that the gray seemed to melt into the brown. Thelow banks slipped back into the dark. They saw only the near surfaceof the river, the dark hulls of the fleet, occasional showers of sparksfrom smoke stacks, and an immense black cloud made by the smoke of thefleet, trailing behind them far down the river.
"Dick," said Colonel Winchester suddenly, "as you came across Kentuckyfrom Mill Spring, and passed so near Pendleton it must have been a greattemptation to you to stop and see your mother."
"It was. It was so great that I yielded to it. I was at our home aboutmidnight for nearly an hour. I hope I did nothing wrong, colonel."
"No, Dick, my boy. Some martinets might find fault with you, but Ishould blame you had you not stopped for those few moments. A noblewoman, your mother, Dick. I hope that she is watched over well."
Dick glanced at the colonel, but he could not see his face in thedeepening twilight.
"My uncle, Colonel Kenton, has directed his people to give her help incase of need," he replied, "but that means physical help against raidersand guerillas. Otherwise she has sufficient for her support."
"That is well. War is terrible on women. And now, Dick, my lad, we'llget our supper. This nipping air makes me hungry, and the Northerntroops do not suffer for lack of food."
The officers ate in one of the cabins, and when the supper was finisheddeep night had come over the river, but Dick, standing on the deck,heard the heavy throb of many engines, and he knew that a great armywas still around him, driven on by the will of one man, deep into thecountry of the foe.
The decks, every foot of plank it seemed, were already covered withthe sleeping boys, wrapped in their blankets and overcoats. He saw hisfriend, the young hunter from Nebraska, lying with his head on his arm,sound asleep, a smile on his face.
Dick watched until the first darkness thinned somewhat, and the starscame out. Then he retired to one of the cabins, which he shared withthree or four others, and slept soundly until he was aroused forbreakfast. He had not undressed, and, bathing his face, he went out atonce on the deck. Many of the soldiers were up, there was a hum of talk,and all were looking curiously at the river up which they were steaming.
They were in the Tennessee, having passed in the night the little townof Paducah--now an important city--at its mouth. It was not so broad asthe Ohio, but it was broad, nevertheless, and it had the aspect of greatdepth. But here, as on the Ohio, they seemed to be steaming through thewilderness. The banks were densely wooded, and the few houses that mayhave been near were hidden by the trees. No human beings appeared uponthe banks.
Dick knew why the men did not come forth to see the ships. Thesouthwestern part of the state, the old Jackson's Purchase, and theregion immediately adjacent, was almost solidly for the South. Theywould not find here that division of sentiment, w
ith the majorityinclined to the North, that prevailed in the higher regions of Kentucky.The country itself was different. It was low and the waters that cameinto the Tennessee flowed more sluggishly.
But Dick was sure that keen eyes were watching the fleet from theundergrowth, and he had no doubt that every vessel had long since beencounted and that every detail of the fleet had been carried to theSouthern garrisons in the fort.
The cold was as sharp as on the day before, and Dick, like the others,rejoiced in the hot and abundant breakfast. The boats, an hour or twolater, stopped at a little landing, and many of the lads would gladlyhave gone ashore for a few moments, risking possible sharpshooters inthe woods, but not one was allowed to leave the vessels. But Dick'ssteamer lay so close to the one carrying the Pennsylvanians that hecould talk across the few intervening feet of water with Warner andWhitley. He also took the opportunity to introduce his new friendPennington, of Nebraska.
"Are you the son of John Pennington, who lived for a little while atFort Omaha?" asked the sergeant.
"Right you are," replied the young hunter, "I'm his third son."
"Then you're the third son of a brave man. I was in the regular army andoften we helped the pioneers against the Indians. I remember beingin one fight with him against the Sioux on the Platte, and in anotheragainst the Northern Cheyennes in the Jumping Sand Hills."
"Hurrah!" cried Pennington. "I'm sorry I can't jump over a section ofthe Tennessee River and shake hands with you."
"We'll have our chance later," said the sergeant. At that moment thefleet started again, and the boats swung apart. Through Dick's earnestsolicitation young Pennington was taken out of the ranks and attachedto the staff of Colonel Winchester as an orderly. He was well educated,already a fine campaigner, and beyond a doubt he would prove extremelyuseful.
They steamed the entire day without interruption. Now and then the rivernarrowed and they ran between high banks. The scenery became romanticand beautiful, but always wild. The river, deep at any time, was nowswollen fifteen feet more by floods on its upper courses, and the wateralways lapped at the base of the forest.
Dick and Pennington, standing side by side, saw the second sun set overtheir voyage, and it was as wild and lonely as the first. There was ayellow river again, and hills covered with a bare forest. Heavy grayclouds trooped across the sky, and the sun was lost among them before itsank behind the hills in the west.
Dick and Pennington, wrapped in their blankets and overcoats, slept uponthe deck that night, with scores of others strewed about them. They wereawakened after eleven o'clock by a sputter of rifle shots. Dick sat upin a daze and heard a bullet hum by his ear. Then he heard a powerfulvoice shouting: "Down! Down, all of you! It's only some skirmishers inthe woods!" Then a cannon on one of the armor clads thundered, anda shell ripped its way through the underbrush on the west bank. Manyexclamations were uttered by the half-awakened lads.
"What is it? Has an army attacked us?"
"Are we before the fort and under fire?"
"Take your foot off me, you big buffalo!"
It was Colonel Winchester who had commanded them to keep down, but Dick,a staff officer, knew that it did not apply to him. Instead he sprangerect and assisted the senior officers in compelling the others to lieflat upon the decks. He saw several flashes of fire in the undergrowth,but he had logic enough to know that it could only be a small Southernband. Three or four more shells raked the woods, and then there was noreply.
The boats steamed steadily on. Only one or two of the young soldiershad been hurt and they but lightly. All rolled themselves again in theirblankets and coats and went back to sleep.
The second awakening was about half way between midnight and dawn.Something cold was continually dropping on Dick's face and he awoke tofind hundreds of sheeted and silent white forms lying motionless uponthe deck. Snow was falling swiftly out of a dark sky, and the fleetwas moving slowly. In the darkness and stillness the engines throbbedpowerfully, and the night was lighted fitfully by the showers of sparksthat gushed now and then from the smoke stacks.
Dick thought of rising and brushing the snow from his blankets, but hewas so warm inside them that he yawned once or twice and went to sleepagain. When he awoke it was morning again, the snow had ceased and themen were brushing it from themselves and the decks.
The young soldiers, as they ate breakfast, spoke of the rifle shots thathad been fired at them the night before and, since little damage hadbeen done, they appreciated the small spice of danger. The wildnessand mystery of their situation appealed to them, too. They were likeexplorers, penetrating new regions.
"To most of us it's something like the great plains," said Penningtonto Dick. "There you seldom know what you're coming to; maybe a blizzard,maybe a buffalo herd, and maybe a band of Indians, and you take apleasure in the uncertainty. But I suppose it's not the same to you,this being your state."
"I don't know much about Western Kentucky," said Dick, "my part lies tothe center and east, but anyway, our work is to be done in Tennessee.Those two forts, which I'm sure we're after, lie in that state."
"And when do you think we'll reach 'em?"
"Tomorrow, I suppose."
The day passed without any interruption to the advance of the fleet,although there was occasional firing, but not of a serious nature. Nowand then small bands of Confederate skirmishers sent rifle shots fromhigh points along the bank toward the fleet, but they did no damage andthe ships steamed steadily on.
The third night out came, and again the young soldiers slept soundly,but the next morning, soon after breakfast, the whole fleet stopped inthe middle of the river. A thrill of excitement ran through thearmy when the news filtered from ship to ship that they were now inTennessee, and that Fort Henry, which they were to attack, was justahead.
Nevertheless, they seemed to be yet in the wilderness. The Tennessee, inflood, spread its yellow waters through forest and undergrowth, and thechill gray sky still gave a uniform somber, gray tint to everything.Bugles blew in the boats, and every soldier began to put himself andhis weapons in order. The command to make a landing had been given, andCommodore Foote was feeling about for a place.
Dick now realized the enormous advantage of supremacy upon the water.Had the Confederates possessed armored ships to meet them, the landingof a great army under fire would be impossible, but now they chose theirown time and went about it unvexed.
A place was found at last, a rude wharf was constructed hastily, and thefleet disgorged the army, boat by boat. Vast quantities of stores andheavy cannon were also brought ashore. Despite the cold, Dick and hiscomrades perspired all the morning over their labors and were coveredwith mud when the camp was finally constructed at some distance back ofthe Tennessee, on the high ground beyond the overflow. The transportsremained at anchor, but the fighting boats were to drop down the streamand attack the fort at noon the next day from the front, while the armyassailed it at the same time from the rear.
The detachment of Pennsylvanians was by the side of Colonel Winchester'sKentucky regiment, and Colonel Newcomb and his staff messed with ColonelWinchester and his officers. There was water everywhere, and before theyate they washed the mud off themselves as best they could.
"I suppose," said Warner, "that seventy per cent of our work henceforthwill be marching through the mud, and thirty per cent of it will befighting the rebels in Fort Henry. I hear that we're not to attack untiltomorrow, so I mean to sleep on top of a cannon tonight, lest I sink outof sight in the mud while I'm asleep."
"There's some pleasure," said Pennington, "in knowing that we won't dieof thirst. You could hardly call this a parched and burning desert."
But as they worked all the remainder of the day on the construction ofthe camp, they did not care where they slept. When their work wasover they simply dropped where they stood and slumbered soundly untilmorning.
The day opened with a mixture of rain, snow, and fiercely cold winds.Grant's army moved out of its camp to make the attack, but
it washampered by the terrible weather and the vast swamp through which itscourse must lead. Colonel Winchester, who knew the country betterthan any other high officer, was sent ahead on horseback with a smalldetachment to examine the way. He naturally took Dick and Pennington,who were on his staff, and by request, Colonel Newcomb, Major Hertford,Warner and Sergeant Whitley went also. The whole party numbered about ahundred men.
Dick and the other lads rejoiced over their mission. It was better toride ahead than to remain with an army that was pulling itself alongslowly through the mud. The fort itself was only about three miles away,and as it stood upon low, marshy ground, the backwater from the floodedTennessee had almost surrounded it.
Despite their horses, Winchester's men found their own advance slow.They had to make many a twist and turn to avoid marshes and deep waterbefore they came within the sight of the fort, and then Dick's watchtold him that it was nearly noon, the time for the concerted attacks ofarmy and fleet. But it was certain now that the army could not get upuntil several hours later, and he wondered what would happen.
They saw the fort very clearly from their position on a low hill,and they saw that the main Confederate force was gathered on a heightoutside, connected with the fort, and as well as he could judge, themass seemed to number three or four thousand men.
"What does that mean?" he asked Colonel Winchester.
"I surmise," replied the colonel, "that Tilghman, the Confederatecommander, is afraid his men may be caught in a trap. We know his troopsare merely raw militia, and he has put them where they can retreat incase of defeat. He, himself, with his trained cannoneers, is inside thefort."
"There can be no attack until tomorrow," said Colonel Newcomb. "It willbe impossible for General Grant's army to get here in time."
"You are certainly right about the army, but I'm not so sure that you'reright about the attack. Look what's coming up the river."
"The fleet!" exclaimed Newcomb in excitement. "As sure as I'm here it'sthe fleet, advancing to make the attack alone. Foote is a daring andenergetic man, and the failure of the army to co-operate will not keephim back."
"Daring and energy, seventy per cent, at least," Dick heard Warnermurmur, but he paid no more attention to his comrades because all hisinterest was absorbed in the thrilling spectacle that was about to beunfolded before them.
The fleet, the armor clads, the floating batteries, and the mortarboats, were coming straight toward the fort. Colonel Winchester lentDick his glasses for a moment, and the boy plainly saw the great,yawning mouths of the mortars. Then he passed the glasses back to thecolonel, but he was able to see well what followed with the naked eye.The fleet came on, steady, but yet silent.
There was a sudden roar, a flash of fire and a shell was discharged fromone of the seventeen great guns in the fort. But it passed over theboat at which it was aimed, and a fountain of water spurted up where itstruck. The other guns replied rapidly, and the fleet, with a terrificroar, replied. It seemed to Dick that the whole earth shook with theconfusion. Through the smoke and flame he saw the water gushing up infountains, and he also saw earth and masonry flying from the fort.
"It's a fine fight," said Colonel Winchester, suppressed excitementshowing in his tone. "By George, the fleet is coming closer. Not a boathas been sunk! What a tremendous roar those mortars make. Look! One oftheir shells has burst directly on the fort!"
The fleet, single handed, was certainly making a determined and powerfulattack upon the fort, which standing upon low, marshy ground, was notmuch above the level of the boats, and offered a fair target to theirgreat guns. Both fort and fleet were now enveloped in a great cloud ofsmoke, but it was repeatedly rent asunder by the flashing of the greatguns, and, rapt by the spectacle from which he could not take his eyes,Dick saw that all the vessels of the fleet were still afloat and werecrowding closer and closer.
The artillery kept up a steady crash now, punctuated by the hollowboom of the great mortars, which threw huge, curving shells. The smokefloated far up and down the river, and the Southern troops on the heightadjoining the fort moved back and forth uneasily, uncertain what to do.Finally they broke and retreated into the forest.
But General Tilghman, the Confederate commander, and the heroic gunnersinside the fort, only sixty in number, made the most heroic resistance.The armor clad boats were only six hundred yards away now, and werepouring upon them a perfect storm of fire.
Their intrenchments, placed too low, gave them no advantage over thevessels. Shells and solid shot rained upon them. Some of the guns wereexploded and others dismounted by this terrible shower, but they did notyet give up. As fast as they could load and fire the little band sentback their own fire at the black hulks that showed through the smoke.
"The fleet will win," Dick heard Colonel Winchester murmur. "Look howmagnificently it is handled, and it converges closer and closer. Afortification located as this one is cannot stand forever a fire likethat."
But the fleet was not escaping unharmed. A shell burst the boiler of theEssex, killing and wounding twenty-nine men. Nevertheless, the fire ofthe boats increased rather than diminished, and Dick saw that ColonelWinchester's words were bound to come true.
Inside the fort there was only depression. It had been raked throughby shells and solid shot. Most of the devoted band were wounded andscarcely a gun could be worked. Tilghman, standing amid his dead andwounded, saw that hope was no longer left, and gave the signal.
Dick and his comrades uttered a great shout as they saw the white flaggo up over Fort Henry, and then the cannonade ceased, like a mightycrash of thunder that had rolled suddenly across the sky.