O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME VI, Chapter XVI [S# 6]
APRIL 18-MAY 1, 1862.--Bombardment and capture of Forts Jackson and Saint Phillip, and occupation of New Orleans, La., by the Union forces.
No. 8. -- Proceedings of the Court of Inquiry upon the fall of New Orleans.
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Capt. GEORGE N. HOLLINS was next sworn and examined as a witness.
By Maj. Gen. MANSFIELD LOVELL:
Question. What position did you hold at New Orleans and in the West in the latter part of 1861 and the first part of 1862?
Answer. At New Orleans I commanded all the vessels afloat and the naval station. In the West, near New Madrid and Island No. 10, I only commanded the vessels afloat. I left New Orleans in January or February, 1862, Commander Whittle then assuming command of the station, but not the vessels afloat.
Question. State the force you took with you from New Orleans above and what force you left there.
Answer. I took with me from New Orleans eight vessels, averaging six guns each, except the Manassas; that had but one gun. I left no naval force at New Orleans. General Lovell urged me to leave some of the vessels there, but this I could not do, as my orders from the Navy Department were to take them all above.
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Question. From what failure, if any, to take necessary and possible measures of defense did the capture of New Orleans result?
Answer. Had my squadron been at the mouth of the river I could have kept the enemy from crossing the bar; their heavier ships had to be lightened very greatly; their armament, &c., taken out before they could have been put over; I could then have whipped their smaller craft with my squadron, and have prevented their larger vessels from getting over if it had not been in my power to have destroyed them. Subsequently, when the enemy's fleet was in the river, if I had been permitted, I could have taken my squadron and have driven him back at the time he passed the forts. The refusal of the Secretary of the Navy to allow these measures to be carried out is the cause, in my judgment, of the fall of New Orleans.
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Commander J. K. MITCHELL was then duly sworn and examined as a witness.
By the JUDGE-ADVOCATE:
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Question. State the number of vessels, their armament, condition, &c., constituting your command.
Answer. The principal vessel of my command was the steamer Louisiana, iron clad, mounting sixteen guns; was without sufficient motive power even to stem the current of the Mississippi without the aid of her two tenders, the Landis and W. Burton. Her two propellers were not ready for use, and were designed more to assist in steering than in the expectation of adding to her speed, and her rudders had little, if any, power to control her movements. Most of her guns had to be dismantled after arriving at Fort Saint Philip and shifted to points where they could be worked, and one of them was not in position in the action of April 24, being dismounted. The crew of the Louisiana, aided by men from the McRae, was employed constantly, night and day, in arranging the battery for action. The decks were thus, from this cause and the presence of numerous mechanics employed in completing machinery for the propellers, the ironing of the decks, and calking wheel-houses, much incumbered, and being very cramped at best for room, prevented the proper exercise of the men at their guns. This condition of her motive power and battery rendered her not only unfit for offensive operations against the enemy, but also for defense, as, being immovable, her guns all around could only command about 40 degrees of the horizon, leaving 320 degrees of a circle on which she could have been approached by an enemy without being able to bring a gun to bear upon him. Her guns, from the small size of her ports, could not be elevated more than 4 to 5 degrees, which with our best guns would not have given a range probably of more than 2,000 yards. The means for purchasing her anchors were inadequate, and it was utterly impossible to weigh them, when once they were let go, either from the bow or stern, and, indeed, her steering apparatus prevented her being anchored by the stern in the middle of the river, a position, under all the circumstances, I should have preferred to being tied to the river bank, by which more guns might have been used against the enemy, and the vessel might have been warped or sprung, so as to bring some of her guns to bear upon any given point. The quarters for the crew of the Louisiana were wholly insufficient, and for her officers there were none at all, except on the shield deck or roof, under a tented awning. Most of the officers and crew had to live on board two tenders, which were also required as tugs, without which the vessel could not be moved at all. The shield of the Louisiana was effective, for none of the enemy's projectiles passed through it; but as it only extended to the water line, a shot between wind and water must have penetrated the perpendicular pine sides. In addition to the Louisiana, the following vessels of the C. S. Navy were under my command at the forts, viz: The steamer McRae, Lieut. Commanding Thomas B. Huger, with six light 32-pounder smooth-bore broadside guns, and one 9-inch shell gun pivoted amidships--total, seven; the steamer Jackson, Lieut. Commanding F. B. Renshaw, two pivoted smooth-bore 32-pounders, one forward and one aft; the iron-plated ram Manassas, Lieut.-Commanding A. F. Warley, one 32-pounder in bow; launch No. 3, Acting Master Telford, and one howitzer, 20 men; launch No. 6, Acting Master Fairbanks, one howitzer, and 20 men. Also the following converted sea steamers into Louisiana State gunboats, with pine and cotton barricades to protect the machinery and boilers, viz: The Governor Moore, Commander Beverly Kennon, two 32-pounder rifled guns; the General Quitman, Captain Grant, two 32pounder guns. All the above steamers, being converted vessels, were too slightly built for war purposes. The following unarmed steamers belonged to my command, viz: The Phœnix, Captain -----, tender to the Manassas; the W. Burton, Captain Hammond, tender to the Louisiana, and the Landis, Captain Davis, tender to the Louisiana. The following-named steamers, chartered by the Army, were placed under my orders, viz: The Mosher, Captain Sherman, a very small tug; the Belle Algerine, Captain--, a small tug; the Star, Captain La Place, used as telegraph station, and the Music, Captain McClellan, tender to the forts. The two former were in bad condition, and were undergoing such repairs as could be made below previous to the 24th. On arriving below I delivered to Captain Stephenson written orders from Maj. Gen. M. Lovell, requiring him to place all the river-defense gunboats under my orders, which consisted of the following converted tow-boats, viz: 1st, the Warrior, under the immediate command of Captain Stephenson; 2d, the Stonewall Jackson, Captain Philips; 3d, the Resolute, Captain Hooper; 4th, the Defiance, Captain McCoy; and, 5th, The General Lovell,------ ----- The R. J. Breckinridge, ---------, joined the evening before the action. All of the above vessels mounted from one to two pivot 32-pounders each, some of them rifled. Their boilers and machinery were all more or less protected by thick double pine barricades, filled in with compressed cotton, which, though not regarded as proof against heavy solid shot, shell, and incendiary projectiles, would have been a protection against grape and canister, and ought to have inspired those on board with sufficient confidence to use their boats boldly as rams, for which they were in a good measure prepared with flat bar-iron casing around their bows. In thus using them their own safety would be best consulted, as well as the best way of damaging the vessels of the enemy.
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Question. If the fire rafts and guard boats were under your command, state why they were not used to watch the enemy's movements the morning the enemy's fleet passed the forts.
Answer. The fire boats were under my control, and Captain Stephenson reported to me the evening of the 23d that each me of his vessels and the two tugs had a fire boat secured to her, ready for firing, and to be towed against the enemy's vessels in the event of an attack. I was getting, however, most of the fire boats into position to be chained or strung together, and so made to form a cordon, if possible, entirely across the river on the enemy's attempting to pass the forts, for which purpose they had been specially prepared, chiefly under my direction, and with some aid from General Smith, before they were sent down from New Orleans, the chains for which had, however, been scattered about so that the fire boats could not be made ready in this manner before the attack of the enemy. The little unarmed tug Mosher, it is thought, was the only one that succeeded in towing one of the fire boats against a vessel of the enemy by which she was set on fire, but it was soon extinguished, and the Mosher sunk by the enemy's shot. I am not aware of more than one or two of the fire boats having been fired during the passage of the enemy. The night of April 20, on my way down in the Louisiana, the enemy's boats are said to have visited the raft obstructions and cut the chain. To prevent further injury to it, and to break up the night reconnaissances of the enemy, and to watch and report all his movements, I was unsuccessful in my efforts to get Captain Stephenson to employ one or two of his gunboats below the obstructions at night. Although favoring the idea, he seemed to have no confidence in the fitness of his commanders for the service, and I could not induce him to give the necessary orders.to them. I had no suitable vessels for this duty under my command—the only one that would have answered (the Jackson) having been sent with launch No. 3 5 miles above to the quarantine station, at the request of General Duncan, to watch the enemy in that neighborhood and prevent his approach through any of the adjacent bayous and canals. The vessels under Captain Stephenson having guns aft, and being converted tow-boats, were well calculated for the duty of making reconnaissances or keeping guard below from their light draught, easy management in the river, and being comparatively low in the water. The McRae, Manassas, Governor Moore, and the General Quitman were all converted sea steamers of a deep draught, great length, high out of the water, except The Manassas, and very difficult to handle, and none of them, I think, had after guns. One of the two launches (No. 6) was kept near me, for the special purpose of acting as a guard boat for the two nights preceding the action, and was well provided with the means for signaling the approach of any unusual movement of the enemy by firing its howitzer and setting off' rockets. She was stationed below Saint Philip, but on the appearance of the enemy, or sooner, her commander deserted his station, returned clandestinely to the Louisiana, made no report of it, and, consequently, no alarm was given, at least by him.