March 7th. Weighed anchor for the mouth of the Mississippi River; arrived in the evening, where we found the Pensacola and Brooklyn at Pass á l’Outre on the blockade. Our object in coming here was to go up the river, with the subsequent view of capturing New Orleans. Preparations were immediately made to cross the [...]
March 5th. The Rhode Island arrived, after having been to Galveston, Texas, visiting our ships as she passed them. On her way home she is to call among the blockaders, carrying home the sick and leaving stores. We put four patients aboard her for home. In the evening the U. S. sloop-of-war Richmond arrived from [...]
March 2d. The Niagara left to-day for home; we sent our mails and good wishes with her, and felt rather lonely when this noble frigate was gone.
March 1st. The Pensacola arrived from Key Wrest to-day; also a store-ship which brought us two nine-inch guns, increasing our number to twenty-two nine-inch, and two rifled pivots. This morning a boat expedition left the ship in tow of the New London for Biloxi, a small village on the main land, and returned in the [...]
February 27th. Practiced the ship’s company at target-firing with the battery; thirty to forty rounds were fired, at some fifteen hundred yards, and some splendid shots were made. The marines were also drilled with muskets at a target.
February 25th. Had quite a scare through the bursting of one of our boilers, which made a loud report and a large amount of confusion, but did slight damage.
January 28 to February 22, 1862 On the 28th of January, we sailed for Fortress Monroe, and proceeded down the Delaware, amid a quantity of ice, which was daily increasing. The weather had been stormy for several days, and the men working in the cold rains had in many instances contracted severe lung diseases, so [...]
U. S. Flag-Ship Hartford, Philadelphia, Jan. 19, 1862. This morning, at 10 o’clock, the U. S. screw sloop Hartford was put in commission as the flag-ship of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron. The following is a list of officers ordered to join her: Flag Officer–David G. Farragut. Fleet Captain–Henry H. Bell. Commander–Richard Wainwright. Lieutenant and [...]
Cruise of the U.S. Flag-Ship Hartford — From the Personal Journal of Wm. C. Holton April 26th. The Mayor of the city has surrendered it to Flag-officer Farragut, and a battalion of marines, under Capt. J. L. Broome, went ashore to raise the Stars and Stripes, but were opposed by the citizens and returned to [...]