for my courtesy, my vessel instead of the Carleton would have been sunk.

During the bombardment many amusing incidents occurred, of which but a few can be mentioned here. Just as one of the mortars was being fired, a shell struck fair in the mortar, and was fired back far enough before it exploded to clear the vessel, thereby doing no injury. Another mortar was struck on the face by a shell, which glanced off, doing no harm, leaving only a small indentation, proving what Pat had said in the beginning, that "that baste was better able to take it than he was." My ship's cook had been to the side and drawn a bucket of water, which he was taking to the galley, when a piece of shell (which I now have at home) struck his bucket, knocking it, as the printer would say, "into pi," yet nobody was hurt.

The ves

On the morning of the 24th the fleet, under Farragut, started to pass the forts at about 3.30 o'clock. This was no doubt one of the most brilliant sights of the war sels, seventeen in number, carrying about one hundred and fifty guns; the forts, mounting one hundred guns of various sizes; twenty thirteen-inch mortars, and the steamers of the mortar flotilla that engaged the lower or water battery, about thirty guns-say three hundred heavy guns, with their exploding shells; the fire-rafts sent down the river by the rebels; and, later on, the blowing up of several rebel steamers, combined in making one of the grandest spectacular scenes ever witnessed.

The rebels had a chain across the river, near the forts, supported on hulks. Farragut wanted it removed, and sent an expedition to accomplish this object; in his report he said, "Commander Porter, however, kept up such a tremendous fire on them from the mortars, that the enemy's shot did the gunboats no injury, and the cable was separated, and their connections broken sufficiently to pass through on the left bank of the river."

Commander Porter, in his detailed report of the capture of the forts, to the Secretary of the Navy, adds: “It would be an interminable undertaking, sir, if I were to

attempt to give a minute account of all the hard work performed in the flotilla, or mention separately all the meritorious acts and patient endurance of the commanders and crews of the mortar-vessels. All stuck to their duty, like men and Americans; and, though some may have exhibited more ingenuity and intelligence than others, yet the performance of all commanded my highest admiration."

It is not generally known, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that Forts Jackson and St. Philip were surrendered to the mortar flotilla--article fourth of the capitulation being: "On the signing of these articles by the contracting parties, the forts shall be formally taken possession of by the United States naval forces, composing the 'mortar flotilla'; the Confederate flag shall be lowered, and the flag of the United States hoisted on the flag-staff of Forts Jackson and St. Philip."

It is very proper to mention the congratulatory letter from the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, to Commander David D. Porter.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, May 10, 1862.

SIR: Your dispatch of April 30th, inclosing the articles of capitulation of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, which surrendered on the 28th ultimo, after a bombardment of one hundred and forty-four consecutive hours by the mortar flotilla, has been received. I have also to acknowledge the receipt of the flags taken in the two forts on that occasion, including the original one hoisted on Fort St. Philip, when the rebel forces declared the State of Louisiana to have seceded from the Union, which have been sent forward to the department.

The important part which you have borne in the organization of the mortar flotilla, and the movement on New Orleans, have identified your name with one of the most brilliant naval achievements on record, and to your able assistance with the flotilla is Flag-Officer Farragut much indebted for the successful results he has accomplished.

To yourself, and the officers and seamen of the mortar flotilla, the department extends its congratulations.

I am, respectfully, etc.,

Commander DAVID D. Porter,

GIDEON WELLES.

Commanding U. S. Mortar Flotilla, Gulf of Mexico.

It was not my privilege to witness the final surrender, for on the day succeeding the passage of the forts, the 25th of April, I received orders to have my "vessel ready for sea in two hours"; and sailed for Havana, carrying the reports of the passage of the forts by Farragut's fleet. I also took with me the report for "The New York Times," which was the first report published in New York city. I made the remarkably quick run of four days to Havana, and there intercepted the steamer Columbia, and forwarded my dispatches to New York. The Cayuga arrived in Hampton Roads about the same time that the Columbia reached New York; but the Bummer got in ahead, as he did in many cases in the army, during the civil war.

SOME INCIDENTS IN THE TRIAL OF

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSINS.

GENERAL HANCOCK'S RELATION TO THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF MRS. SURRATT.

A paper read by GEN HENRY L. BURNETT, late U. S. V., at a Meeting of the Commandery, State of New York, Military Order, Loyal Legion, Dec. 5, 1888.

My transfer from the line to the staff of the army was an accident, and one which I regarded at the time as a personal misfortune.

I was serving with my regiment on the Cumberland, in the latter part of the year 1863, or the beginning of 1864, when the Judge Advocate on the staff of General Burnside, Major J. Madison Cutts (brother-in-law of the late Senator Douglas) committed an offense for which charges were preferred against him. General Burnside sent inquiries to the front for some officer who was a lawyer and capable of trying his Judge Advocate. I was recommended, and ordered back to Cincinnati, where General Burnside's headquarters then were, he being in command of the Department of the Ohio.

After finishing this case I was kept on court-martial duty at Cincinnati, Lexington, and Louisville for some time; and finally, at request of Governor Morton, in September, 1864, I was ordered to Indiana to act as Judge Advocate of the court detailed to try the members of the "Knights of the Golden Circle" or "Sons of Liberty." These trials were finished some time in December of that year, and I entered almost immediately upon the trial of the Chicago conspirators-St. Leger, Grenfel, and others, you will remember-who had come over from Canada to engage in the enterprise of releasing the rebel prisoners

from Camp Douglas. While making the closing argument in this case on the 17th of April, I received from the Secretary of War the following dispatch :

"WASHINGTON, April 17, 1865.

"COLONEL H. L. BURNETT, Judge Advocate:

"Please report in person immediately to this department to aid in the examinations respecting the murder of the President. Acknowledge this telegram.

"EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War."

I started for Washington the same evening, reaching there on the morning of the 19th, and was "specially assigned (by the Secretary of War) for duty on the investigation of the murder of President Lincoln and the attempted assassination of Mr. Seward," and a room was assigned to me in the War Department.

The gloom of that journey to Washington, and the feeling of vague terror and sorrow with which I traversed its streets, I can not adequately describe, and shall never forget. To this day I never visit that city without some shadow of that dark time settling down over my spirit. All the public buildings and a large portion of the private houses were heavily draped in black. The people moved about the streets with bowed heads and sorrow-stricken faces, as though some Herod had robbed each home of its first-born. When men spoke to each other in the streets there were tremulous tones in their voices, and a quivering of the lips, as though tears and violent expressions of grief were held back only by great effort. In the faces of those in authority-Cabinet ministers, officers of the army-there was an alert expression of the eye, as though a dagger's gleam in a strange hand was to be expected; and a pale, determined expression, a set of the jaw that said: "The truth about this conspiracy shall be ascertained, and the assassins found and punished; we will stand guard, and the Government shall not die."

For no ruler who ever lived, I venture to say, not excepting Washington himself, was the love of the people so