New Orleans: "The Expected Summons from Flag Officer Farragut"
The following account appeared in the Richmond Enquirer in Virginia on May 16, 1862, containing an account of the capture of New Orleans a couple of weeks earlier. The author of this article writes with a Confederate view of the events and tries to show readers that New Orleans did not surrender.
At about ten o'clock the Federal ships appeared in sight off the Chalmette batteries about five miles below the city. From the top of the City Hall, they were distinctly visible as they came on delivering their broadsides in passing the batteries. It must be remarked that these works were not intended for river defence, but constituted the flanks of lines of infantry redoubts, constructed to guard against a land assault. They mounted a few twenty-four and thirty-twos, the fire of which though well delivered and well sustained, while the ammunition lasted, was totally ineffectual against the heavy ships opposed to them. While this engagement was in progress, Mayor Monroe remarked that it was time to raise the flag, saying at the same time that he had been the first man to elevate it and would be the last to take it down. The Louisiana flag, the only one belonging to the city government, was then hoisted upon the City Hall, where it floated for five days, flaunting defiance in the face of a powerful fleet, lying within point blank range, with its guns threatening destruction upon the obdurate city.
Passing the lower batteries, the ships came up the river under full headway, the Hartford leading, then the Brooklyn, the Richmond, the Pensacola and six gunboats.—On and on they came until they had extended their line from the stock landing to the barracks, a distance of about five miles, taking positions at intervals of about 900 yards apart. In the meantime the scene within the city was of the most extraordinary character.—
The troops were marching through the streets to their place of rendezvous at the Jackson railroad depot; the Confederate regiment encamped in Lafayette Square and Annunciation Square, was formed and despatched to the depot; carts, drays, vehicles of all descriptions laden with the multifarious articles constituting the paraphernalia and implements of warfare, while officers on horseback and officers on foot were hurrying hither and thither, giving orders, receiving orders, executing orders. Here was to be seen galloping along Gen. Lewis, Major General of the State militia with his staff; there General Lovell and his aids; here were crowds of women and children rushing about with parcels of sugar, buckets of molasses, and packages of provisions, plundered from the public stores; there went rumbling along huge loads of cotton on its way to the levee to be consumed in full view of the invaders. When the Federal fleet turned the point, and came in sight of the city, a spectacle was presented which no one of those on board can ever forget, and which must have impressed all of them with the hopelessness of their mission of subjugation.—
Vast columns of smoke ascended to the sky, darkening the face of heaven, and obscuring the noon-day sun; for five miles along the levee fierce flames darted through the lurid atmosphere, their baleful glare struggling in rivalry with the sunlight; great ships and steamers wrapped in fire, floated down the river, threatening the Federal vessels with destruction by their fiery contact. It was the offering of a resolute people on the altar of liberty.—
In front of the various presses, and at other points along the levee, the cotton had been piled up and submitted to the torch. But this constituted scarcely a tithe of the material now embraced in the awful conflagration. About a dozen large river steamboats, twelve or fifteen ships, some of them laden with cotton, a great floating battery, several unfinished gunboats, the immense ram, the Mississippi, and the docks on the other side of the river, were al embraced in the fiery sacrifice. As the vessels burned, they broke from their fastenings and floated down the river—solemn messengers of disappointment to the invaders. In the meantime an immense concourse of people had assembled on the levee to witness the arrival of the enemy, and to give vent to their feelings in groans of rage and defiance for the invader and tremendous cheers for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy....
At this moment, the Mayor and a number of citizens, were waiting, at the City Hall, for the expected summons from Flag Officer Farragut, who was understood to be in command of the hostile fleet. An aid of General Lovell had waited on the Mayor with a statement that General L. desired to see him in relation to arrangements for a surrender. The Mayor's answer was, that this was entirely useless, as he intended to go through no such ceremony as a surrender of the city....
At one o'clock a boat arrived at the levee, bearing Capt. Baily, second in command of the fleet, and his son. These officers proceeded to the City Hall, whither they were followed by an infuriated multitude, who could with difficulty be restrained from inflicting personal violence upon them. At the City Hall, in the streets, on the steps and portico, around the doors of the offices, an immense crowd assembled who gave utterance to the most emphatic expressions of hate and rage and defiance against these emissaries of an execrated government. On achieving admittance to the Mayor's parlor, Capt. Baily introduced himself to the Mayor, and announced the object of his mission.—
He said he had come, under the instructions of Flag Officer Farragut, commanding the United States squadron then lying in the river, to demand the surrender of the city of New Orleans, the removal of the flag flying over the City Hall, and the raising of the United States flag over the Mint, Post Office and Custom House. The Mayor replied that General Lovell, commanding the Confederate forces, was in the city, and that the communication must be addressed to him; as to the flag, he would not take it down. Captain Baily said that his mission was to the Mayor and Council, and his demand peremptory. The Mayor joined that he would return no reply so long as General Lovell remained in command.—Captain Bailey finally consented to remain until General Lovell could be sent for....
On the arrival of Gen. Lovell at the City Hall, Capt. Baily again stated the object of his mission, Gen. Lovell replied that he would surrender nothing—not a gun, not a man—nor would he permit anything to be surrendered so long as he remained in command. He would evacuate the city with his forces to save it from bombardment, though a large number of even the women had implored him to remain and risk the enemy's shells. More conversation ensured.... Captain Bailey finally agreed to Gen. Lovell's terms.—He consented to await the evacuation which was to be reported to the Flag Officer by the Mayor.... The officers, on returning to their ships, requested protection against the threatened violence of the populace, and Gen. Lovell accordingly directed two of his staff, Col. Lovell and Major James, to accompany them. They left the Hall by the rear, and were driven away in a carriage. Gen. Lovell then, in response to a general call, addressed the people from the steps of the City Hall, and afterwards proceeded to the Jackson Railroad depot, where he took the last car, his army having been previously sent away.
The next day, (Saturday, the 26th,) in fulfillment of the agreement made by the Mayor with Captain Baily, the former despatched his Secretary, Marion A. Baker, with an oral communication to Flag Officer Farragut. Mr. Baker was received on board of the Hartford, the Flag Ship, anchored off the head of Julia street, and invited into the cabin of the Flag Officer, who had just finished a communication addressed to the Mayor. The purport of this communication, which he requested the Secretary to deliver, was a demand upon the Mayor, to prevent at once the further display of secession flags in the city, intimating, in rather forcible language, that his men would fire upon them wherever they might see them....The Flag Officer stated that he hoped there would no collision between himself and the city authorities....
[Later that day] Flag officer Farragut again received the Secretary alone, but upon ascertaining that the communication was the final answer of the city, he sent for Captain Bell, commanding the Flag ship; and to him he read aloud the Mayor's letter.—Captain Bell commented very harshly upon some of the language used, and the position the city had taken. He remarked to the Flag officer, that if the authorities of New Orleans wished to avoid the issue by placing the women and children in the front rank, that the women and children must be shot down; that he, the Flag officer, had a plain duty to perform on the part of his government, and that it should be performed at all hazards. The Flag Officer remarked, after hesitating for some moments, that he had hoped there would be no collision between himself and the city. He did not want his men to go on shore if he could possibly keep them on board. his duty was to take cities, and it was the business of the army to occupy them. he added: "you can tell the Mayor that if he persists in keeping that flag flying I shall shoot it away from my ships, or send my men and cut it down...."
It is just here to state that during the morning a force landed from the sloop-of-war Pensacola, lying opposite Esplanada street, and hoisted a U.S. flag upon the Mint. It had not remained there long before some young men, belonging to the Pinckney Battalion, who had participated in the fight at the fortifications on the right bank of the river the day previous, and had reached the city by the ferry boat, from the Algiers side, discovering the flag as they landed, mounted to the dome of the Mint and tore it down. The Pensacola thereupon threw a volley of shell at them, which, fortunately, did no damage, except to frighten the women and children in the houses, upon the roofs of which, the shells lodged and exploded. Flag Officer Farragut, in alluding to this outrage, as he termed it, that when he hoisted his flags again, as he intended to do, upon the Custom house and Mint, he would drop his ships down opposite and protect them with his guns.
Just as the Secretary was getting into his boat....a volley of musketry was fired on board of the Brooklyn, which vessel was lying a few hundred yards astern of the Hartford. The volley was followed by quite a commotion on shore among the crowd, in the midst of which a Confederate flag was flying. Upon inquiry, it was found that an old man who had been an innocent spectator, had been killed by a minnie ball from the fleet, and that two or three others had been wounded. Thus Saturday passed away, there being nothing more from the fleet, and at night the immense concourse of people who had been crowding around the City Hall, and the newspaper offices, quietly returned to their homes....
Sunday, the 27th of April, was a bright and beautiful day, and it being generally understood that there would be no communication from the fleet upon the Sabbath, one could scarcely have told that the enemy were in front of the city. The church bells chimed away as merrily as before, and as the hour of worship drew near, families could be seen wending their way to church as usual, casting, it is true, furtive glances at the corners of the streets, towards the huge black men-of-war in the river, and then hurrying along as if anxious to escape the strange and oppressive sight. In all the churches invocations were offered for the safety of the Republic, and the solemn service of the Episcopal Church was characterized as usual by the prayer for the President of the Confederate States.
The monotony of this day was interrupted by the arrival of the Confederate steamer McRea, under a flag of truce, having on board the wounded from below. The intelligence soon spread abroad throughout the city. Immense crowds of people flocked to the levee to welcome the gallant vessel....
On Monday morning, the City Hall, from which the flag of Louisiana still waved proudly and defiantly, again became the centre of attraction, and the vast crowd of anxious citizens gazed up at it from time to time, with unmistakable satisfaction and pride. At ten o'clock Captain Bell, accompanied by a Lieutenant from the Flag Ship, arrived at the City Hall, and delivered to the mayor...[an] ultimatum....
[The flag still remains after more discussion and letters between ships and shore; Farragut trying to avoid firing on the city]
It will be seen, by what has been stated…that the Federal commander had involved himself in a maze of incongruities and absurdities, without succeeding in swerving the city from her position. First, he demanded peremptorily that the flag should be taken down, then he insisted that it should be removed before 12 M. on Saturday, the 28th; on Monday he repeated the demand, under the threat of bombardment, giving forty-eight hours for the removal of the women and children. On Tuesday morning he reiterated his peremptory demand, but, within an hour, he agreed to waive everything he had claimed, and reluctantly consented to send his own forces to take down the flag. Thus, the honor of New Orleans was fully vindicated....
And now came the saddest and most solemn act of this strange and eventful drama.... The flag which for six days had floated from her City Hall, was at last to be removed; not, it is true, by her, but by the ruthless hand of the invader. It was only now that women began to weep and men to yield to overwhelming emotions. Grief and triumph contended with each other in the hearts of the people. A great victory and a great humiliation were to be consummated in a single act.—
At 11:30 A.M. a Federal force consisting of about 200 armed marines, and a number of sailors dragging two brass howitzers, the whole under command of Captain Bell, landed at the head of Canal Street, here they proceeded to raise the United States flag over the Custom house. This accomplished they direct their course towards the City Hall, entering Lafayette Square by the Camp Street gate. The marines formed on the square; the cannons were dragged through into St. Charles street, and planted so as in range up and down the street, the sailors standing alongside and ready to discharge them on the slightest demonstration of hostility from the immense crowd congregated around the open space of the Hall.—
In the Mayor's parlor were the Mayor, his Secretary, some members of the Council and a few citizens. At 12 o'clock an emphatic knock at the door announced the presence of the Federal officers. Capt. Bell, accompanied by a single sailor, entered the room. "I have come" said he to the Mayor, "to receive the flag which floats over this building." "I do not understand you, sir," returned the Mayor. "I have come," said Captain Bell, correcting himself, "to take down the flag which floats over this building." "I now understand you, sir," was the reply of the Mayor, and then he [made a lengthy speech].
The Mayor having concluded, Capt. Bell remarked that he would proceed to the top of the building in fulfilment of the purpose for which he was sent, and left the room with that object. The Mayor then walked out, accompanied by all who had been present at the interview, descended the steps of the Hall, and took his position with his friends, in the open space in front. There remained not a soul in the building except the Federal emissaries. Profound silence pervaded the immense crowd below.—
Not event a whisper was heard. The very air was oppressive with stillness. The marines stood statue-like within the square, their bayonets glistening in the sunbeams, and their faces stoled with indifference. Among the vast multitude of citizens, the wet checks of women and the compressed lips and darkened brows of men, betrayed their consciousness of the great humiliation which had overtaken them. But not a single eye was directed to the summit of the Hall. Curiosity itself was quelled by sadness and solemnity of the occasion. No one but those engaged in the work saw the flag descend. It was only when Capt. Bell reappeared, bearing the trophy under his arm, that the people knew....
The word was then given to retire. The marines filed off through the Square; the cannon were dragged in the rear, with their threatening mouths still turned upon the multitude. Before they had gained the opposite gate, the immense crowd of citizens closed up in front of the Hall, and the strange quiet of the previous moment was dispelled by tremendous and enthusiastic cheering for Jeff Davis, the Southern Confederacy, Beauregard, and Mayor Monroe....
Source:
Richmond Enquirer, "The Fall of New Orleans: A Complete History," May 16, 1862, Page 4. (Accessed through Newspapers.com)
