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Practical Guide to Exercise
Physiology
Bob Murray, PhD
Sports Science Insights, LLC
W. Larry Kenney, PhD
Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Human Kinetics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murray, Robert, 1949- , author.
Practical guide to exercise physiology / Bob Murray, W. Larry Kenney.
p. ; cm.
Includes index.
I. Kenney, W. Larry, author. II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Exercise--physiology. 2. Exercise Movement Techniques.
3. Physical Exertion. QT 256]
RA781
613.7'1--dc23
2015020548
ISBN: 978-1-4504-6180-1 (print)
Copyright © 2016 by Bob Murray and W. Larry Kenney
All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or
utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information
storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written
permission of the publisher.
Permission notices for photos not © Human Kinetics can be found
on pages xi and xii.
The web addresses cited in this text were current as of September 2,
2015, unless otherwise noted.
Acquisitions Editor: Amy N. Tocco
Developmental Editor: Katherine Maurer
Managing Editor: B. Rego
Copyeditor: Jan Feeney
Indexer: Laurel Plotzke
Permissions Manager: Dalene Reeder
Graphic Designer: Nancy Rasmus
Cover Designer: Keith Blomberg
Photograph (cover): © Human Kinetics; photo by Jason Allen and
anatomical art by Jennifer Gibas
Photographs (interior): © Human Kinetics, unless otherwise noted
Photo Asset Manager: Laura Fitch
Visual Production Assistant: Joyce Brumfield
Photo Production Manager: Jason Allen
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Associate Art Manager: Alan L. Wilborn
Art Style Development: Joanne Brummett and Jennifer Gibas
Illustrations: © Human Kinetics unless otherwise noted
Printer: Versa Press
Printed in the United States of America
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The paper in this book is certified under a sustainable forestry
program.
Human Kinetics
Website: www.HumanKinetics.com
United States: Human Kinetics
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e-mail: [email protected]
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E6026
 Contents
Preface
Organization of the Book
Special Features
Acknowledgments
Photo Credits
Part I: Warming Up: Physiology 101
Chapter 1: Muscles Move Us
How Do Muscles Work?
How Do Muscles Adapt to Training?
How Do Muscle Cells Get Bigger and Stronger?
Chapter 2: Food Really Is Fuel
From Food to Energy
How Do Nutrients Fuel Muscle?
What About Vitamins and Minerals?
Water Is a Nutrient, Too
Chapter 3: Muscles Need Oxygen
How Does Oxygen Get to Muscles?
How Does Oxygen Use Relate to Fitness and Energy Expenditure?
How Does Training Help the Body Use More Oxygen?
Oxygen Delivery and Performance Enhancement
Chapter 4: Fatigue: What Is It Good For?
What Causes Fatigue?
What’s the Difference Between Fatigue and Overtraining?
What Role Does Fatigue Play in Adaptations to Training?
Part II: The Science of Training Program Design
Chapter 5: Principles of Designing Training Programs
What Are the Basics of Program Design?
What Makes an Effective Training Program?
Training Terms
Chapter 6: Training to Improve Muscle Mass and Strength
How Do Strength and Mass Increase?
What’s the Best Way to Gain Strength and Mass?
What’s the Role of Nutrition?
Chapter 7: Training for Weight Loss
 Weight Loss Is All About Energy Balance
Why Do Some People Have Difficulty Losing Weight?
What’s the Best Way to Lose Fat but Protect Muscle Mass?
Chapter 8: Training for Speed and Power
What Are Speed and Power?
What Adaptations Are Needed to Improve Speed and Power?
What Kinds of Training Improve Speed and Power?
What Does a Speed and Power Training Session Look Like?
Chapter 9: Training for Aerobic Endurance
What Are the Main Adaptations to Aerobic Training?
What’s the Best Way to Improve Aerobic Endurance?
Should Endurance Athletes Engage in Strength Training?
Why Is Endurance Capacity Important for Sprinters and Team-
Sport Athletes?
Part III: Special Considerations
Chapter 10: Heat, Cold, and Altitude
Exercise in the Heat Impairs Performance
Cold Stress Chills Performance
Exercise at Altitude
Chapter 11: Training Children, Older Adults, and Pregnant
Women
Do Children Respond Differently Than Adults to Exercise Training?
Can Children Improve Strength With Training?
Can Older Adults Adapt to Training?
Should Women Exercise During Pregnancy?
Index of Common Questions From Clients
About the Authors
 Preface
You are likely a strong believer in the benefits of regular exercise
and are interested in learning more about how the body responds to
exercise and training. In your quest for knowledge, you should be
aware that there are many excellent exercise physiology textbooks
to choose from. In fact, Dr. Kenney is the coauthor of one of the
best-selling exercise physiology textbooks for undergraduate
students, Physiology of Sport and Exercise, Sixth Edition (Kenney,
Wilmore, & Costill, Human Kinetics 2012).
We decided to write a different kind of exercise physiology textbook,
one that is long on illustrations and short on text, because we
understand that busy sport fitness professionals need quick and easy
access to accurate and up-to-date scientific information. This text is
intended for a variety of people, from those new to the field who
want to learn the fundamentals of exercise physiology to
professionals who have taken exercise physiology classes in the past
and acquired certifications but need to quickly refresh their
memories about the scientific underpinnings of exercise and sport.
This book provides an easy, straightforward way for you to review
the principles of exercise physiology or learn something new that
you can put to immediate use in your own training. It will also help
you refine or design training programs or educate others about the
ability of the human body to respond and adapt to regular physical
activity. Whether the goal of exercise is to lose weight or gain
strength, speed, or stamina, understanding how the body responds
physiologically to the stress of exercise should be basic knowledge
for all sport fitness professionals.
 Organization of the Book
Practical Guide to Exercise Physiology is divided into three parts. Part
I covers how the muscles, heart, lung, and nervous system respond
to exercise and training, how food and drink are converted to fuel,
how oxygen enables the breakdown of food into fuel, and how
fatigue limits the capacity for exercise.
Part II focuses on the design of training programs by reviewing the
principles that should be the basis of every training program and
then highlighting specific design features for programs tailored to
improve mass and strength, speed weight loss, enhance speed and
power, and maximize aerobic endurance.
Part III is devoted to special considerations such as training clients
and athletes to withstand the rigors of heat, cold, altitude, and air
pollution. Also covered is the design of training programs for
children, older adults, and pregnant women.
Special Features
In addition to the numerous photos and detailed illustrations,
Practical Guide to Exercise Physiology contains special features to
make the science come alive in practical form:
Scientific terms and concepts are defined and explained using
everyday language.
Numerous examples help you apply physiology as you help
clients meet their goals.
Art and photos integrated with the content provide an engaging,
highly visual reading experience.
Sidebars highlight important topics and common questions in
exercise physiology.
Fun facts add interest throughout the text.
The index of common questions from clients is a quick reference
to help you educate clients.
If you have little background in exercise science, Practical Guide to
Exercise Physiology gets you started on your sport science journey.
And if you have taken classes in exercise physiology, this text will
quickly refresh your memory about the fundamental concepts and
practical applications of the science related to human physiology,
metabolism, and nutrition. We hope the information in this book
makes that science come alive for you and your clients.
 Acknowledgments
We would like to express our appreciation to the staff at Human
Kinetics for their foresight in identifying the opportunity for this
book, their persistence in nudging us to write it, and their unending
patience in getting us to finish it. Special thanks to Amy Tocco and
Kate Maurer for shepherding us through the process from start to
finish. Additional thanks to Joanne Brummett for her artistic
guidance in creating illustrations that bring the science to life in
simple, understandable ways.
And last, but certainly not least, unending thanks to our families,
who endured our absences during the many hours required to finish
this project. The fact that no one complained much about the
amount of time we spent on this book is testimony to their patience,
love, and support. Or perhaps they were just happy that we were
busy enough to leave them alone. Either way, we very much
appreciate the opportunity they helped make possible.
Bob Murray
W. Larry Kenney
 Photo Credits
Chapter 1
Chapter opening photo © MR.BIG-PHOTOGRAPHY/iStock
Man rock climbing © Doug Olson/Fotolia
Muscle micrograph in figure 1.5, reprinted from W.L. Kenney, J.H.
Willmore, and D.L. Costill, 2015, Physiology of sport and exercise,
6th ed. (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics), 39. By permission of D.L.
Costill.
Suspension training © Christopher Futcher/iStock
Stationary cycling © ferrantraite/iStock
Woman on elliptical machine © Andres Rodriguez/Fotolia
Barbell training © Bananastock
Chapter 2
Chapter opening photo © standret/iStock
Woman with dumbbells © Bananastock
Bread © diegofrias/iStock
Bacon © Nirad/iStock
Steak © Alex Kladoff/iStock
Drinking water © 2001 Brand X Pictures
Worker in the heat © Associated Press
Chapter 3
Chapter opening photo © technotr/iStock
Sedentary woman © davide cerati/Age fotostock
Cross-country skier © Gepa Pictures/Imago/Icon Sportswire
Football player © Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire
Chapter 4
Chapter opening photo © Jacob Ammentorp Lund/iStock
Sprinters © Julien Crosnier/KMSP/DPPI/Icon Sportswire
Fatigued athlete with water © BartekSzewczyk/iStock
Weary athlete with barbell © Martin Dimitrov/iStock
Chapter 5
Chapter opening photo © Predrag Vuckovic/iStock
Man on treadmill © Bananastock
Chapter 6
Kayaker © Getty Images
Dumbbell tricep exercise © Anton/Fotolia
Electrical muscle training device © Kyodo/AP images
Sandwich © miflippo/iStock
Cottage cheese © Og-vision/iStock
Chapter 7
Chapter opening photo © Clubfoot/iStock
Bear © Dieter Meyrl/iStock
Chapter 8
Chapter opening photo © Chris Cheadle/Age fotostock
Football players © Jeff Mills/Icon Sportswire
Volleyball player © John S. Peterson/Icon Sportswire
Sprinter © technotr/iStock
Javelin throw © Becky Miller/Gopher Track Shots
Recreational softball © George Shelley/Age fotostock
Stair running © Matt Brown/iStock
Stationary cycling © Amana Productions, Inc. /Age fotostock
Chapter 9
Chapter opening photo © Serge Simo/Fotolia.com
Woman jumping hurdle © Microgen/iStock
Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich © Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire
Man biking in mountains © Maxim Petrichuk/Fotolia
Jump training © Xavier Arnau/iStock
Hill running © Michael Svoboda/iStock
Chapter 10
Chapter opening photo © Einstein
Infrared images, p. 156, Department of Health and Human
Performance, Auburn University, Alabama. Courtesy of John Eric
Smith, Joe Molloy, and David D. Pascoe. By permission of David
Pascoe.
Photo in figure 10.3 © Ed Wolfstein/Icon Sportswire
Fatigued cyclist © Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/Icon Sportswire
Photo in figure 10.4 © Andrea Strauss/Age fotostock
Cyclists at altitude © Gorfer/iStock
Chapter 11
Chapter opening photo © Kevin Dodge/Age footstock
Arm scans in figure 11.6 from W.L. Kenney, J.H. Wilmore, and D.L.
Costill, 2015. Physiology of sport and exercise, 6th ed. (Champaign,
IL: Human Kinetics).
Senior woman with dumbbell © Alfred Wekelo/Fotolia
Pregnant women © kate_sept2004/iStock
 Part I
Warming Up: Physiology 101
 Chapter 1
Muscles Move Us
When you train muscles, you also train the systems that support
them.

© MR.BIG-PHOTOGRAPHY/iStock
Exercise physiology is the study of how the body responds to
exercise and physical training, so what better place to start this book
than with skeletal muscle, the engines that move the body? During
exercise, the muscles take center stage. While you’re also aware that
heart rate has increased and breathing becomes heavier, it’s natural
that you’re most tuned in to your muscles. After all, it’s the muscles
you’re trying to change with exercise training. You might want your
muscles to be stronger, or bigger, or more defined, or more flexible,
or more agile, or faster, or you might want them to have more
endurance. With proper training, any of those improvements are
possible. But muscles cannot function in isolation, and as you train
the muscles, you’re also training the nervous system, heart, lungs,
blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and many other organs and tissues.
Planning an effective training program requires keeping in mind that
big picture—a picture that involves more than just muscles.
But because muscle is the foundation for movement, a review of
muscle physiology 101 is a great place to start.
How Do Muscles Work?
Take a quick look at figure 1.1. Similar figures appear in many
textbooks because certain basic parts to skeletal muscle are
important to recognize. When talking about muscle, you most likely
think of skeletal muscles because those are the muscles that are
involved in exercise and you can feel them working and tiring and
aching. But cardiac muscle in the heart and smooth muscle in blood
vessels and the gastrointestinal tract are also very much involved in
supporting the body’s ability to exercise. Cardiac muscle and smooth
muscle have different structures and functions. The focus here is on
skeletal muscle, the muscles that move the body.

Figure 1.1 The structure of muscle.

Even though skeletal muscles come in many shapes and sizes, they
all share a common internal structure. Skeletal muscles are simply
bundles of individual muscle cells (called fasciculi) arranged in
groups controlled by individual nerves (alpha motor neurons; see
figure 1.2) so that all the cells in the group contract in unison. Each
muscle cell is packed with contractile proteins (the myofibrils actin
and myosin), enzymes (to help speed up reactions), nuclei (for
protein production), mitochondria (for energy production), glycogen
(the storage form of glucose used by the cell for energy), and
sarcoplasmic reticulum (to aid contraction and relaxation; see figure
1.4). The structure of each cell is supported on the inside by a
framework of proteins and on the outside by various types of
connective tissues that support individual cells, bundles of cells, and
the entire muscle. The terms endomysium, perimysium, and
epimysium refer to these connective tissues.
Skeletal muscles are roughly 75% water. In other words, if
you gain 10 pounds of muscle tissue, you actually gain 7.5
pounds of water and 2.5 pounds of contractile proteins
and other cellular components.
The basic job of muscle is to move bones around their joints. This
requires that muscles contract with enough force to get that job
done, whether that entails lifting a heavy weight once, sprinting a
short distance, or cycling a long distance.
The Electrical Connection
Skeletal muscle fibers don’t contract on their own but usually require
input from the brain (though some reflex movements involve spinal
nerves and muscles). Figure 1.2 is a simple illustration of one nerve
(a motor neuron) connected to three muscle cells. The motor neuron
and its attached muscle cells are referred to as a motor unit. A single
motor neuron may be connected to (innervate) dozens, or hundreds,
or even thousands of individual muscle cells, depending on the size
and function of the muscle. When the motor neuron fires, all of the
muscle cells in that motor unit contract maximally. For movements
that require little strength, such as picking up a fork, only a few
motor units are activated. For movements that require maximal
strength, a maximal number of available motor units are activated.
When an untrained person begins strength training, most of the
initial improvement in muscle strength over the first couple months
is due to increased recruitment of motor units by the central nervous
system, a good example of how muscles operate in cooperation with
other organ systems.
Motor units in the muscles controlling eye movements
may contain as few as 10 muscle cells.

Figure 1.2 A motor unit, consisting of a motor neuron and the fibers
it innervates.
It’s important to understand how nerves cause muscles to contract
because if that process is disrupted, strength is impaired, as detailed
in chapter 4. Figure 1.3 is a simple overview of the various steps
required for muscle to contract, which will give you a basic
understanding (or review) of how skeletal muscle cells contract.
Figure 1.3 The series of events that cause muscle cells to contract.
Here is the short version of how a muscle contracts: First, an
impulse travels from the brain to the spine and from the spine down
motor neurons to the muscle cells within those motor units. At the
junction between the motor neuron and each muscle cell (called the
neuromuscular junction), a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine is
released into the space between the nerve and the muscle (that
space is called the synapse or the synaptic cleft). The impulse is
thereby transmitted from the motor neuron to all the muscle cells it
innervates, causing those cells to contract in unison. Before the cells
contract, the impulse has to first travel across the entire muscle cell
membrane (the sarcolemma or plasmalemma), dipping
instantaneously into the interior of each cell through T-tubules
(transverse tubules). Each impulse causes calcium ions (molecules)
to be released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum; this release of
calcium ions causes muscle to contract (see figure 1.3 for more
detail.) When the nerve impulse stops, the calcium ions are instantly
taken back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the muscle cells
relax.
 Some alpha motor neurons can be more than 3 feet
(about one meter) long.
Figure 1.4 makes it clear how the plasmalemma (sarcolemma) is
connected to the T-tubules and how the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)
surrounds the myofibrils within a single muscle cell. Jammed into the
already-packed space inside muscle cells are a variety of enzymes
needed for energy (ATP) production, glycogen molecules (the
storage form of glucose), fat molecules, and other molecules and
structures.

Figure 1.4 A muscle cell is a very crowded space. Everything about

the cell supports muscle contractions, from single, all-out, maximal-
strength contractions to the repeated contractions needed for
sustaining endurance activities.
One of those other molecules is the protein titin. In recent years,
scientists have learned that titin not only aids in maintaining the
overall structure of the muscle fiber, keeping the sliding filaments
(actin and myosin) in line, but it is also important in muscle strength,
particularly as muscle lengthens (eccentric contractions). It seems
that calcium ions cause titin to stiffen, helping to explain why
muscles are so much stronger during eccentric (lengthening)
contractions than during concentric (shortening) contractions. It may
be that muscle cells actually contain three contractile proteins: actin,
myosin, and titin.
Titin is the largest known protein, consisting of 34,350
amino acids. As a result, the formal chemical name for
titin contains 189,819 letters and takes more than 3 hours
 to pronounce, making it the longest word in the English
language.
What Happens When Muscles Stretch?
Why do muscles feel tight whenever they are stretched? For
example, when you try to touch your toes while the knees are
locked, the hamstring muscles stretch and you feel that
tension. But what causes the tension? For many decades, the
prevailing theory was that the passive tension produced when
a muscle is stretched was due to an increased tension in the
connective tissues surrounding the muscles. It turns out
those connective tissues may not be responsible for the
forces produced when a muscle is stretched. Eccentric muscle
contractions stretch muscle cells, reducing the opportunity for
actin and myosin to interact. Yet eccentric contractions are
very powerful. Recent research has shown that the structural
protein titin may play an important role in force production
during eccentric contractions. Titin is an enormous protein
that acts like a spring inside each skeletal muscle cell. Stretch
the cell and the titin molecules are also stretched. Just as a
rubber band increases its tension when stretched, so does
titin, adding to the force produced by actin and myosin. In
that regard, titin may be considered the third contractile
protein in muscle cells.
Different Cell Types for Different Jobs
Not surprisingly, there are different types of muscle cells, a
characteristic that enables humans to perform explosive movements
of short duration as well as complete amazing feats of endurance
exercise. The muscle fiber (cell) types are simply referred to as type
I (slow twitch) and type II (fast twitch). Type I fibers are better
suited for endurance exercise and type II fibers are better suited for
sprints or other brief, powerful movements. Figure 1.5 shows a
cross-section of muscle stained to show the different fiber types.
Motor units contain only one fiber type. The motor neurons that
innervate type I motor units are smaller in diameter than the
neurons that supply type II motor units. In addition to that
difference, type I motor units contain fewer fibers than type II motor
units. As a result, type II motor units develop more force when they
are activated.
 Figure 1.5 Muscle cells are called on to accomplish all sorts of
tasks, so it should be no surprise that cells are specialized for distinct
functions.

Micrograph reprinted from W.L. Kenney, J.H. Willmore, and D.L.

Costill, 2015, Physiology of sport and exercise, 6th ed. (Champaign,
IL: Human Kinetics), 39. By permission of D.L. Costill.
Most muscles are roughly 50% fast-twitch and 50% slow-twitch, but
these proportions can vary widely, as shown in table 1.1. Some elite
distance runners have leg muscles in which over 90% of the muscle
cells are slow-twitch (type I) fibers, while some elite sprinters have
the opposite mix. Although the ratio of fiber types is determined by
genetics, proper training can improve the function of any muscle cell
—the very basis for greater fitness and performance.
Arms and legs contain a similar proportion of type I and
type II muscle cells, although those proportions vary from
person to person.
How Do Muscles Adapt to Training?
In the simplest terms, when muscles are stressed by exercise, they
gradually increase their capacity to handle that stress. For instance,
muscles adapt to strength training by increasing the number of
motor units that are recruited during weightlifting and by producing
more myofibrillar protein (actin, myosin, and other proteins involved
in muscle contraction). Those changes result in increased strength
and often increased muscle size. With endurance training, muscles
adapt by increasing the number and size of energy-producing
mitochondria as well as the enzymes used to break down glycogen,
glucose, and fatty acids for energy.
All of these adaptations occur because regular training results in
changes in the many nuclei contained in each muscle cell. The DNA
in the nucleus of every muscle cell contains genes that are the
blueprints for every protein within a muscle cell, such as contractile
proteins, structural proteins, regulatory proteins, mitochondrial
proteins, and enzymes. With training, changes in gene expression in
the cell lead to increased levels of functional proteins.
As depicted in figure 1.6, the adaptations that eventually result from
the stimulus of exercise training require a variety of facilitators to
maximize the response. For example, the response to training will be
less than optimal if the client or athlete is chronically dehydrated,
eats poorly, and doesn’t get enough rest. Optimal response to
training is made possible by the nervous, immune, and hormonal
(endocrine) systems, all of which are disrupted by poor hydration,
nutrition, and rest. In other words, for optimal responses to occur, a
great training program has to be complemented by proper hydration,
nutrition, and rest.
 Figure 1.6 Muscle cells adapt to the stress of training in ways that
improve the muscle’s capacity for exercise.

Genetics also plays a large role in the adaptations that result from
training. Everyone adapts uniquely to exercise training because
everyone has a unique genetic makeup. Genes determine the speed
and magnitude of the response to training. Even if every athlete or
client began a training program with exactly the same strength and
fitness characteristics, some would adapt to the training faster than
others, making greater gains in strength, speed, and endurance. In
other words, some people are high responders and some are low
responders. Sex also plays a role in the capacity for adaptations to
training. For example, men’s muscles typically experience more
hypertrophy as a result of strength training because of the greater
testosterone levels in men. We’ll learn more about these differences
later in this book.
Genetics plays a large role in adaptation because genetic makeup
determines the upper limits of strength, speed, and endurance. For
example, research has shown that 25% to 50% of maximal oxygen
uptake ( O2max) is determined by genetics. The painful truth is that
no matter how hard some people train, the highest O2max they may
be able to attain might be lower than that of an untrained individual
who has the genetic predisposition for a high O2max. The same is
true for strength, speed, agility, flexibility, and other athletic
characteristics.
If genes determine only part of the ability to adapt to training, what
determines the other part? That’s where work ethic, dedication, rest,
nutrition, and hydration enter the picture. The adaptations that
result from exercise training require months of consistent hard work.
That regular overload on the muscle, combined with adequate rest,
proper hydration, and ample nutrition, creates and supports the
intracellular environment that optimizes the production of all the
functional proteins that are needed for increased strength, speed,
and stamina.
Contracting muscles also operate as a muscle pump that
assists the return of blood to the heart through the veins.
Adaptations to Aerobic, Anaerobic, and
Strength Training
Muscles are the engines that move the body, and like all engines,
muscles have to be fueled and cooled, and waste products have to
be removed. Those jobs fall to the lungs, heart, vasculature, liver,
and kidneys with the help of endocrine glands (such as the pituitary,
hypothalamus, thyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands). As muscles
adapt to training, so do the tissues and organs that support muscle
function.
Following is a list of many of the adaptations that result from aerobic
(endurance) training, all of which help support the continued
contraction of skeletal muscle during endurance exercise. This long
list of adaptations is evidence that exercise is powerful stuff when it
comes to promoting changes that improve health and performance.
 © Christopher Futcher/iStock
Adaptations to Aerobic Training
In the Heart
Increased size of the heart (cardiac hypertrophy)
Increased thickness of the heart’s left ventricle
Reduced resting heart rate
Faster recovery of heart rate after exercise bouts
Exploring the Variety of Random
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received no response.
Commander French of the Preble reports that at 3.45 o’clock a
midshipman rushed into his cabin, exclaiming, “Captain, here is a
steamer right alongside of us!” When Captain French reached the
deck, he says he “saw a ram, that looked like a large whale, steering
toward us; but it changed its course to avoid us and made directly for
the Richmond, and in an instant huge clouds of the densest black
smoke rolled up from the strange vessel and we all expected to see
the Richmond blow up!”
I, meanwhile, had been soundly sleeping, when I was rudely
awakened by a tremendous shock, followed by the sound of the
rattle we used as a signal to night quarters.
Jumping into my trousers, with my coat in one hand and my sword
in the other, I, with the other wardroom officers, rushed on deck, fully
expecting to find that we were boarded by the enemy,—as we very
readily might have been in this moment of surprise!
Emerging from the hatchway, I saw on the port side amidships a
smokestack just above our hammock nettings from which belched
streams of black smoke! The vessel, whatever she was, was then
slowly dropping astern, scraping our side, and at that moment she
threw up a rocket, doubtless as a signal that she had accomplished
her work!
I had but a moment to take in the condition of affairs, as I found
sufficient occupation in getting the guns of my division run out.
Meanwhile, the ram had cleared herself from us and dropped
slowly astern in the darkness. She soon reappeared again, however,
steaming up stream as though preparing to give us another blow. As
she came within range we depressed our guns and fired at her as
best we could in the darkness. But as she was so low in the water
and the mist was so thick she was a most difficult object to
distinguish, and she soon disappeared.
By this time the Head of the Passes was in a state of tremendous
excitement. The signal from the ram had been followed by the
appearance of a line of fire-rafts up the river, drifting ominously down
upon us, while by their light the spars of a bark-rigged vessel, and
the smokestacks of two other steamers, could be seen in their rear. It
was evidently a well planned attack in force.
Our little fleet, meanwhile, had all slipped their cables, and the
Preble came standing across our stern under sail, her commander
hailing: “What are my orders, sir?”
This was the critical point of the whole affair. Of course, it is very
easy to say now what the orders should have been. But just at that
moment things looked very squally for us. We had a hole five inches
in diameter knocked clean through us and three planks were stove in
two feet below the water line.
This was the result of the first blow from a ram that might, for all
we knew, at any moment repeat her blow and send us to the bottom
of the river. We had no idea then that she had disabled herself in her
first essay, as proved to be the case, and might readily have been
captured by us when daylight came.
We did know, however, that with the Richmond out of the way, our
two sailing consorts in that swift-running river would prove an easy
prey to the rebel steamers.
Oh no; it was not an easy question to decide in a moment.
Farragut, as we all know, when in a tight place in Mobile bay, a year
later, and the ship ahead of him answered his question why she had
stopped with a reply, “Torpedoes ahead!” sang out: “Torpedoes be d
—d; go ahead full speed!” But unfortunately in our navy in 1861 we
did not have Farraguts “enough to go ’round.”
After hastily consulting with his executive officer, Captain Pope
gave the order by night signal: “Proceed down the river.”
And down the river we all went, the Preble ahead, followed by the
Vincennes, and we in the Richmond bringing up the rear. Captain
Winslow of the Water Witch appears to have understood our signal
as, “Act at discretion;” as he reports that he steamed over to the
other side of the river, then northerly, easily clearing the fire-rafts,
which drifted harmlessly ashore. At 5.30 A. M. he says “he made out
our fleet three or four miles down the river and no enemy in sight
above; although he could see the smoke of three or four steamers
four or five miles up the river.” He then steamed down after us,
picking up the Frolic on the way.
 At early daylight I was directed by the captain to go up to the
mizzen topmast crosstrees and report what was in sight. I found the
Water Witch and Frolic steaming down to us, and far up the river I
could distinguish the smoke of the Confederate steamers.
We soon came to the bar, and the Preble passed over safely, the
Vincennes followed, but struck the bar with her stern up stream, and
we came last and also took the bottom, fortunately swinging
broadside up stream.
Meanwhile, with the daylight, the Ivy, the McCrea, and another
rebel steamer came down, and, keeping at a very safe distance
commenced their old game of firing at us at long range. It was very
evident that they had a wholesome objection to our 9-inch guns at
closer quarters.
Their shells passed over us and fell near us, but only one, a spent
shell, came in through an after port, but fortunately it failed to
explode, and Lieutenant Edward Terry calmly picked it up and threw
it overboard.
The usual signal, “Chase the enemy,” was made to the Water
Witch, and like a bantam rooster she steamed up toward the two
steamers, and they withdrew out of range.
We now piped to breakfast, and made a signal to two coal ships
anchored outside the bar to “get under weigh.” I was officer of the
deck at the time, and, to my surprise, the quartermaster came to me
at 9.30 and reported, “The Vincennes is being abandoned by her
crew, sir!”
“Abandoned! What do you mean, Knight?”
“They are filling up her boats, sir, as fast as they can. Just look for
yourself, sir!”
I hurried aft, as she lay somewhat on our port quarter, not more
than three hundred yards distant, and sure enough, her boats were
at her gangway and were being filled with men.
I sent the orderly down to report the matter to Captain Pope, and
in a few moments the first boat reached us, and I received Captain
Robert Handy, who came over the side with a very anxious face, and
with a large American flag tied about his waist.
 As he met Captain Pope he said: “In obedience to your signal, sir, I
have abandoned my ship, leaving a slow match, connected with the
magazine, burning!”
I shall never forget the expression of poor old Captain Pope’s face
as he listened to this astonishing report. He was anything but a
profane man in his daily habit, and I am sure that the Recording
Angel dropped a tear over the swear words with which our
commander emphasized his reply.
Meanwhile the important consideration in our minds was, how long
that “slow match” might be expected to burn, and what effect the
explosion of all the powder on board the Vincennes might have upon
us,—perilously close neighbors as we unfortunately were.
By some fortunate chance, however, the match went out, and after
waiting a proper time Captain Handy and his crew were sent back to
their ship, one of her officers being detached, and sent in the Frolic
to Barrataria, to bring the South Carolina to our assistance.
At 1 P. M. a steamer was seen coming out of Pass à L’Outre which
proved to be the transport McClellan from Fort Pickens. She had
supplies for us, and, best of all, our long-desired Parrott rifle gun,
and had actually been almost up to the Head of the Passes in search
of us.
It was a miracle that she had not been captured by the
Confederates. Late that night the South Carolina, Captain James
Alden, arrived.
Our Comedy of Errors is nearly ended. The following morning, with
the aid of the two steamers, our fleet was all got afloat. All was saved
but our honor, and that we felt very anxious about, for as the news of
our affair got around to Pensacola, the other ships seemed to think
we had made too good time down the river, and they spoke of our
brush as “Pope’s Run.”
The outcome of this was that our ship sent a special request to be
allowed to join in the coming attack upon Fort McCrea at Pensacola.
Our request was granted and we joined with the Niagara on
November 24 in that fight.
We were the inside ship, were struck several times, and had
several killed and wounded. This made us all feel better, and during
the next two years the Richmond was in all of Farragut’s fights. She
was at New Orleans, twice passed the batteries at Vicksburg, was at
Port Hudson, with a battery of our guns on shore during the siege,
and was finally in the glorious Mobile fight. So that the Richmond
made a record that placed her among the historic ships of the navy.
 CHAPTER III
THE PASSAGE OF THE FORTS AND THE

CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS

Early in March, 1862, while the Richmond was at Ship Island,

where ten thousand troops had been brought together, Captain
David Glasgow Farragut came out from New York in the United
States steamship Hartford and took command of the West Gulf
Squadron.
On the 20th of the month Major-General Benjamin F. Butler and
his staff arrived at Ship Island, in the transport steamer Mississippi,
and on the 25th the fourteen hundred troops on board of her were
landed, and General Butler established his headquarters on shore.
Meanwhile from day to day, the vessels comprising Captain David
D. Porter’s fleet of twenty-one bomb schooners were dropping in and
anchoring in our vicinity, adding to the formidable appearance of the
preparations now being actively made for the coming attack upon
New Orleans by the army and navy.
There was at last no doubt that we were going at our work in good
earnest, and although in the New Orleans papers, of which we
occasionally obtained copies, the most exaggerated accounts were
given of all that they were doing “to welcome the invaders to
hospitable graves,” we of the navy were anxious to bring the matter
to the test of battle as quickly as possible.
Of certain facts we were assured. We well knew that Forts
Jackson and St. Philip mounted one hundred and twenty-eight heavy
guns; that they were admirably situated in a bend of the river where it
is but half a mile wide, and were calculated with their cross fire to
repel a foe ascending the Mississippi against the current, which in
the spring runs with great rapidity. We also knew that one, if not two
heavy chains had lately been stretched across the river at this point;
and we of the Richmond knew, from our own experience, that the
rebels had at least one iron-plated ram capable of knocking a hole
through any of the wooden vessels of our fleet.
Such of us as had read the history of the war of 1812 were also
aware that the British fleet in 1815 ineffectually threw over one
thousand 13-inch bombs—exactly such as we were now preparing to
use—into Fort Jackson during a nine days’ siege of that work, which
was then vastly inferior in strength to the present fort, and was the
only defense of the river, where there were now two forts.
These facts we knew, but we were also informed by such
deserters as came in to us, and also by the New Orleans papers,
that a line of fortifications had been constructed all the way from the
Forts to English Turn, just below the city, and also that two very large
and very formidable iron-clad floating batteries were just being
completed, to aid in making New Orleans impregnable against any
force we could bring to bear upon it.
Against all this known and unknown force we had, under
command of General Butler, fifteen thousand troops, most of them as
yet untried in battle, and forty-seven vessels of war,—all wooden
ships,—of which the Hartford, Richmond, Brooklyn, and Pensacola
were the largest and heaviest armed ships, while seventeen of them
were small gunboats of the Kennebec and Katahdin class, three
were old-fashioned sailing vessels, of no particular value for the
desired service, and twenty-one were mortar schooners, carrying
one 13-inch mortar each, which threw shells weighing two hundred
and fifteen pounds.
With this force Flag Officer Farragut was expected to accomplish a
feat which up to that time had never yet been performed
successfully,—to reduce two forts situated in swamps on the banks
of a rapid stream, where there was no possibility of coöperation by
the land forces, and then to pass seventy-five miles up a river
guarded, as we believed, by earthworks bristling with guns, to the
conquest of a city garrisoned by fifty thousand troops and defended
by formidable iron-clad batteries!
Decidedly this was not to be child’s play, and although, as I have
said, we of the fleet were eager for the coming fight, we were by no
manner of means over-confident of success.
 We were not to meet Indians nor Chinese; our battle was to be set
against men whom we respected as foes, and who were quite as
fertile in plans for defense as we possibly could be in our scheme of
attack.
But during the next month, although we talked these matters over
in the wardroom in the evenings, our days were too busily occupied
for such thoughts. The first difficulty that confronted us was to get our
fleet over the bar that jealously guards the delta of the Mississippi,
and a full month of really hard work was required to accomplish this
first step.
At last, however, on the 1st of April, all the vessels of the fleet
were gathered something more than two miles below Fort Jackson,
the bomb schooners moored close in to the right bank of the river.
The coast-survey officers at once went to work to establish marks
and to construct a map for the purpose of getting the bomb vessels
in proper position and in correct range for their attack upon the forts,
and on the 18th of April the regular bombardment opened and was
continued, almost without intermission, until our passage of the forts.
This bomb fire at first, to us of the fleet, was a matter of constant
interest, and the topmast heads—we had sent down our topgallant
and royal masts in stripping for the fight—were thronged with
anxious spectators. But as no perceptible effect was produced on the
forts by the bombardment, we soon lost our curiosity and came to
the conclusion that after all this was simply to be the overture, but
the real work would remain for us to accomplish.
Meanwhile the enemy were by no means inactive, and they soon
resorted to one of their cherished plans of offense, from which they
evidently hoped great things.
One night three enormous fire-rafts appeared bearing down upon
us, blazing high with burning pitch and turpentine and sending out
dense clouds of smoke. But for these we were prepared with an
organized naval fire brigade, and before they came dangerously near
our ships a fleet of boats was sent out with grapnels, which they
fastened to the rafts and then quickly towed them into the middle of
the river, where they drifted harmlessly past the ships, affording us
an illumination on a grand scale.
 The night of April 20 it was determined to make an attempt to cut
the chain cable in preparation for our ascent of the river. This chain
was stretched across the river from a point abreast of Fort Jackson
to the opposite side of the river, where a small land battery had been
constructed to cover it. The cable was supported by passing over a
line of seven hulks anchored in the river.
Our plan was to blow up one of these hulks by a petard, to be
exploded by an electric wire, and a “petard-man,” one Kroehl, was on
board the flagship to work the apparatus.
This delicate and dangerous duty was placed in charge of Captain
Bell, with the gunboats Pinola and Itasca, supported by the
Kennebec, Winona, and Iroquois.
It was a wild night selected for the expedition, dark, rainy, with half
a gale of wind blowing down the river. But few of us in the fleet went
below that night, for we were all impressed with the importance and
danger of the work, and we peered out into the darkness as the hour
of ten drew nigh and the two leading vessels steamed noiselessly
past us, every light concealed and their low hulls only visible by the
closest observation.
To cover the attack the bomb schooners kept up a terrific and
continuous fire upon the forts; five, seven, and once I counted nine of
these enormous shells, with their trains of fire, in the air at the same
time.
Anxiously we waited for the expected explosion of the petard, but
time passed and nothing was seen or heard of our brave fellows! At
last a signal rocket was thrown up from the left bank of the river,
which was immediately answered by one from Fort Jackson, and
then both forts opened fire.
Evidently our attack had been discovered. But had it failed? Not a
sound came from our little fleet! A half hour lengthened out to an
hour of fearful expectation. Where were our ships, were they all
captured or destroyed?
Our men were frenzied with excitement, and murmurs went up,
even from our well-disciplined crew, at our seeming inactivity!
At last a light was seen coming down the river, and then another,
until one by one our gunboats appeared in the darkness and passed
us to their anchorage. We counted them and found none missing,
but we were compelled to possess our souls in patience, for not until
morning could we learn the story of their gallant exploit.
The Pinola, with the petard-man on board, ran up to the cable,
and, selecting a hulk near the middle of the line, the petard was
successfully thrown on board, but in backing the ship off the wire
became entangled and broke before the exploding current could be
turned on.
The Itasca, under command of Captain Caldwell, had singled out
her schooner, and running alongside, a party of men was thrown on
board, and while they were endeavoring to unshackle the cable, the
signal rocket was thrown up, warning the forts of our attack.
But nothing prevented Caldwell from accomplishing the work he
had come to do. For, notwithstanding the fire of the fort, our boys
deliberately cut the large cable, using a cold chisel and sledge
hammer, and as the chain was severed and fell overboard, the line of
schooners, with the Itasca fast to her prize, swung down stream, and
our ship found herself grounded on the eastern shore!
Fortunately, the Pinola discovered the Itasca’s condition and came
to her assistance, tugging at her for over an hour and parting two
hawsers before she got her afloat; but at last she succeeded, and
our little fleet returned triumphant, having removed the famous
barrier and successfully accomplished one of the most gallant feats
recorded in naval history.
As a token of their disgust the rebels sent down, toward morning,
the very largest fire-raft they had yet constructed. In fact, it was so
large that the Westfield, a former Brooklyn ferry boat, now armed
and attached to our fleet, was sent out to tackle it.
She quietly put her nose under the raft, and turning on her steam
hose, quenched the fire sufficiently to prevent taking fire herself,
when she pushed it ashore, where it made a superb blaze until
daylight.
On April 23 each ship of our fleet received an order from Farragut
announcing that the passage of the forts would be attempted that
night, and notifying all the commanding officers of the proposed
order of battle.
 The mortar boats were to remain in position and keep up a
continuous fire. The six steamers attached to the mortar fleet were to
join in the attack, but were not to attempt to pass the forts. The other
ships were to pass in three lines, Farragut leading in the Hartford, we
following him in the Richmond, with the Brooklyn astern of us,
forming one division and passing on the Fort Jackson side.
Captain Theodorus Bailey led the line on the Fort St. Philip side, in
the Cayuga, followed by the Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna,
Katahdin, Kineo, and Wissahickon.
Captain Bell was to take the middle of the river in the Scioto, with
the Iroquois, Pinola, Winona, Itasca, and Kennebec following. The
order to all the ships was to keep in line and to push on past the forts
as best they might.
We had not been mere idle observers during the past month on
board the Richmond, but had been devising every method possible
to strengthen our means of offense and defense. Among other ideas,
we originated, through the suggestion of our first assistant engineer
Hoyt, a plan that was adopted by other ships in the fleet, of
protecting the boilers against shot by hanging our spare chain cables
in lengths outside, in the line of the boilers, thus improvising an
armor that was found quite effectual against solid shot as well as
shell.
After receiving our final orders, Lieutenant-Commander
Cummings, our executive officer, who was afterward killed at Port
Hudson, directed that our decks should be whitewashed, a novel
conceit, but one that enabled us to distinguish in the darkness any
loose articles on deck, such as might otherwise have been difficult to
find in the excitement of action.
When hammocks were piped down that evening, it was with the
understanding that the men might sleep until midnight, when all
hands were to be called quietly, without any of the customary noisy
signals.
That was indeed a solemn time for us all as we gathered at the
evening meal in the wardroom. We now had immediately before us a
task the outcome of which none could predict; but, even if we were
successful, it was highly improbable that the little band of eighteen
officers who had now been together for two years, in the close and
intimate relations that can only be found in the wardroom of a man-
of-war, would ever again meet at the table in an unbroken body. Who
would be the missing ones the next morning?
There was none of the merry jesting that usually marked our
meals, and when the table was cleared every officer went to his
stateroom, and I think each of us wrote some lines to his nearest and
dearest in anticipation of what might happen before we saw another
sun. I know, at least, that I wrote such a letter. Then lights were
extinguished and all was quiet throughout the ship; such absolute
quiet as is never found except just before a battle.
It seemed to me that I had scarcely closed my eyes when the
quartermaster, with his hooded lantern, touched me, and said quietly,
“All hands, sir!”
I hastened on deck. The night was dark and the air was chill.
Officers and men were hurriedly but quietly going to their stations for
action, which in our case was at the port battery.
My own division was amidships, where I had four 9-inch guns. My
men came to their stations stripped for work, some of them without
their shirts, their monkey-jackets knotted by the sleeves, hanging
loosely about their shoulders.
Guns were at once cast loose and provided, and then all stood
quietly awaiting developments. In the mean time our anchor was
hove short, and we only waited the order to trip it and steam ahead.
Down in the engine-room I could see, by the hatch near one of my
guns, that the engineers were also on the alert, and the indicator
showed that we had a heavy pressure of steam on.
Ah! here comes the Hartford, steaming up on our starboard
quarter. As she comes abreast of us, our anchor is tripped, hove up,
and we fall into place, a cable’s length astern of her, and steam
ahead.
The other two divisions are dimly seen moving up in echelon.
Everything is done with the utmost silence, save for the thunder of
the mortar fleet, which has now gone at it, hammer and tongs, and
the air above us is filled with the hurtling shells, made visible in their
passage, like comets, by their trains of fire.
 As yet our movement has not become known to the enemy, and
every instant we are getting nearer to the forts, as yet unharmed.
Ah! they have seen us at last; and Fort Jackson belches out upon
the Hartford a hail of shot and shell. We go ahead at full speed! Now
we are ourselves under fire, and “Load and fire at will” is the order
from the quarter deck!
Our ship throbs with the beat of the engines below and trembles
with the shock from the continuous fire of our great guns.
For the next hour it is all madness! The captain of one of my guns
is struck full in the face by a solid shot and his head is severed from
his body; as he falls the lockstring in his hand is pulled and his gun is
discharged! “Hurry the body below and load again!”
I call my junior officer to take my place while I go to my forward
gun, and as I turn a shell explodes and tears his right arm away!
A young master’s mate hurries past me bearing a message to the
captain, who is on the topgallant forecastle; as he goes up the ladder
and touches his cap to his commander a rifle ball from the fort,
whose walls we are close abreast of, strikes him in the forehead, and
the poor boy falls dead, his message not yet delivered!
Now we are so close to the fort that we can look in at the lighted
portholes; a solid shot passes between two of my men and buries
itself in the mainmast not six inches above my head! I am covered
with splinters, but unharmed.
The early dawn is breaking, and by its dim light and the blaze of a
fire-raft drifting down past us I see just abreast of us a light river-boat
crowded with rebel troops. As I look at her the captain of my No. 5
gun loads with grape and cannister, and depresses his gun as he
trains it point blank upon the crowd of trembling wretches.
I dash at him and catch the lockstring from his hand, just in time to
save them from an awful fate! We are all savages now, burning with
the passion to kill, and the man looks at me resentfully as I frustrate
his plan for a wholesale battue!
The fire upon us slackens, then ceases; I glance through a
porthole; we are past the forts; both of them are astern of us, and,
thank God, the battle is won!
 CHAPTER IV
ON TO NEW ORLEANS

When Flag Officer Farragut—soon to be made Rear Admiral for

this night’s work—looked about him from the quarter deck of the
Hartford that glorious morning of the 24th of April which had made
his name immortal, he counted fifteen of the seventeen vessels in his
three divisions that had started with him the night before to pass the
forts.
The Kennebec, as we learned later, had been disabled and had
dropped back out of the fight; and the Varuna had run into a nest of
rebel gunboats above the forts and had been sunk on the left bank of
the river. Barring the loss of two of his smallest ships, his victorious
fleet was now above the dreaded forts, and practically intact and
ready for anything he might require of them at a moment’s notice.
So we all steamed up two or three miles above the forts and
anchored, and the flagship signaled the fleet, “Go to breakfast.”
We gathered at the morning meal in the wardroom of the
Richmond with very different feelings from those of the night before,
for by a great providence death had not come to our mess and our
little circle was unbroken, although two junior officers were among
the dead and wounded. But in the hour of victory one does not stop
to mourn for those who have gone on before; it is accepted as the
fortune of war!
We had, of course, many personal experiences to relate and to
compare, and there were some who said that the worst was yet
before us; but as a rule we were very happy, and so well satisfied
with our success that we did not think much of the future as we
enjoyed our well-earned breakfast.
Coming up from the table and looking along the shore with my
marine glass, I espied a large Confederate flag flying from a flagstaff
on the river-bank where there was evidently a camp. As we all felt
just then as though we owned the earth and the richness thereof, I
went to Captain Alden and, on the ground of priority of discovery,
asked permission to go on shore with my boat and pull down the
flag.
The captain laughed at my eagerness and gave me leave to take
the second cutter and go to the flagship and present my petition for
permission to pull the flag down to Commodore Farragut.
I had the boat called away at once and started for the Hartford. I
was taken into the cabin and there stated my case. “Why, certainly,
Mr. Kelson,” said Farragut good-naturedly, “go ahead and pull down
all the Confederate flags you can find. And, by the way, make my
compliments to Captain Alden and tell him we shall proceed up the
river at once.”
As I went over the side, Captain Boggs of the Varuna came on
board to report the circumstances attending the loss of his ship.
Off I went in great glee. I landed, left a single boat-keeper in the
boat, and with my eleven men walked up to the staff and was just
hauling down the flag when my coxswain said, “Good Lord, Mr.
Kelson, here comes a regiment of rebs!”
I looked, and sure enough, not quite a regiment, but a large body
of Confederates in gray were marching down toward us and were
already within easy gunshot. I supposed, of course, that we were to
be called upon to surrender, and gathered my little body of men
close together, hoping to be able to make a successful retreat to the
boat, when the Confederates halted and I saw that they were all
officers, about forty in number.
One stepped out from their midst and approached us; and as I
came forward to meet him he saluted and said, “Whom have I the
honor of addressing, sir?”
He was a fine looking fellow and his uniform was as fresh as
though it had just come out of a tailor’s shop, while I was unshaven
and was wearing my very oldest fatigue suit, that was powder
stained after last night’s fight.
I informed the officer of my name, rank, and to what ship I
belonged and he responded: “I am Colonel ——, in command of the
—— Regiment, Louisiana Home Guards, and am commanding here
at Camp Chalmette. With the guns of the Federal fleet bearing upon
us, I consider it my duty to surrender my command to the forces of
the United States!”
Never in all my varied experiences, before or since that morning,
have I been so embarrassed as on the occasion when this
remarkably spruce and very fluent gentleman tendered me his
sword, and the other officers in their turn, in strict seniority, also
handed me their side arms in token of their surrender “to the forces
of the United States,” as represented by me and my boat’s crew!
I did my very best, however, to preserve my dignity and to give a
strictly official air to the whole proceeding. But there was something
so supremely ridiculous in these forty officers loading me down with
their weapons, when I had come on shore merely for a flag, that I
could scarcely conceal my mirth.
I informed them that I should duly present the matter for
consideration to our fleet commander, and saluting with great
solemnity retired to my boat, making the best show of my twelve
sailors possible under the circumstances.
I carried my boat load of swords off to the Hartford, and Farragut
sent Captain Broom with a file of marines to parole the officers and
to return them their side arms. I held on to the flag, however, and I
should have had it to this day had it not been lost at a church fair,
where it had been borrowed for decorative purposes, some years
later.
By ten o’clock the fleet got under weigh and steamed slowly up the
river, keeping a careful lookout at every bend for the “line of
batteries” of which we had so long heard but which we never
discovered.
As a matter of fact we did not find a gun placed in position to
oppose us until we came to Chalmette, three miles below the city,
where half a dozen old 32-pounders opened upon us, but were at
once silenced by the leading ship before the fleet could get within
range.
All day of the 24th we steamed quietly up the river, past the sugar
plantations, where sheets were hung out as flags of truce, and the
only people visible were negroes who waved their hats to us in
joyous welcome as we passed.
 That night we anchored, getting under weigh early the next
morning, and just at noon we rounded the bend in the river below the
city, and New Orleans was in sight!
We steamed up close in to the levee, which was alive with people,
and where great heaps of cotton bales were blazing that had been
fired by the authorities to prevent them from falling into our hands. At
the same time the unfinished iron-clad Louisiana came drifting down
stream all ablaze.
Just at this time a sudden thunder-storm burst upon us, and the
rain fell in torrents as we dropped our anchors in the stream nearly
opposite the mint. It was, altogether, a scene not easily to be
forgotten.
The fruitless negotiations which followed between Farragut and
Mayor Munroe, that came so near terminating in the bombardment of
the city by the fleet, are all matters of history, and could not here be
even intelligently summarized, except at great length.
As is known, on May 1 General Butler and his troops came up to
New Orleans and took formal possession of the city we had
captured; and from that time it was fully restored to the Federal
government, from which it had been alienated for more than a year.
A portion of the fleet, with the Richmond as the flagship, soon after
ascended the Mississippi, receiving in turn the surrender of Baton
Rouge and Natchez, but meeting with the first check at Vicksburg,
where, in response to our demand, the city government by a bare
majority of one vote declined to surrender; and as we, unfortunately,
had no co-operating troops, we could not well enforce our demand,
or, indeed, have held the city if we had been able to capture it.
Two regiments of troops at that time would have prevented the
necessity for the terrible campaign of Vicksburg and the sacrifice of
fifty thousand lives in the prolonged struggle which was to come.
The morning we sighted Vicksburg, as we were carefully feeling
our way up the river, where ships of the size of ours had never
before been seen, I had the morning watch, and while yet a few
miles below the city we saw a curious-looking boat drifting down
stream with two negroes as its occupants, who were directing their
frail craft with rude paddles. As they came near us the darkeys made
signs that they wished to communicate, so I slowed our engines and
the men paddled alongside, and, catching the rope that was thrown
to them, to our surprise both climbed on board, setting adrift their
little craft, which was merely an old mortar-box.
The men were brought to me, and proved to be two very intelligent
negroes, who, hearing by underground telegraph that “Massa
Linkum’s big ships had whopped out de Confeds at New Orleans,
and were coming up river to set de niggers free,” had improvised a
boat, and had trusted to the current to drift them down to the ships.
They seemed perfectly convinced that our principal mission was to
set them free, which, as it was before the Emancipation
Proclamation had been written, was very far from being the case. In
fact, it was directly the reverse, and commanding officers were as yet
forbidden to receive or to harbor escaped slaves.
General Phelps had already got himself into trouble because he
declined to return these fugitives to their masters, and it seemed at
first as though these poor fellows would have to be put on shore,
where their fate, if captured after having run away to us, might easily
be imagined.
But Captain Alden of the Richmond was a very kind-hearted man,
and he intimated unofficially that if the presence of these men was
not brought to his notice he should know nothing about them. While
their fate was thus hanging in the balance, the poor fellows were in a
terrible state of anxiety; but when they learned that they might go to
work as wardroom servants, without pay, their gratitude seemed to
know no bounds.
To close this episode here, Jacob, the elder of the men, became
my special servant on board of the Richmond; and when I later
obtained a command, he went with me, rated as captain’s steward,
and for two years he was my devoted servitor, and never have I had
a more faithful, humble friend than this runaway slave.
It was a relief to both army and navy when Butler’s common-sense
classification of the negroes as “contraband of war,” cut the Gordian
knot and enabled us to grapple successfully with one of the most
difficult problems of the war, although why we should have been so
long in thus solving it always passed my comprehension.
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