Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

[363] miles a marsh covered with water and short shrubbery, but still, troops who were in earnest could get through it, as Lieutenant Weitzel informed us. Under the cover of night, in a boat from the Saxon, I sent Captain Everett, of my Massachusetts battery, to reconnoitre in the rear of St. Philip from one of the many little bayous [guts] which run out from the river into the Gulf. The first night he went in he explored enough to find that he could get anywhere he wanted to in the rear of the fort without being noticed. The next night he took a slightly heavier boat and some men, and went behind Fort St. Philip again. He ascertained that there were no guns mounted which would prevent our boats coming up the Maumeel Canal, and the only possible difficulty that he noted was the lack of depth of water in the upper canal to float a heavy launch.

The third night after the burning of the buildings in the fort Captain Bell was detached with the Pinola and Itasca. The Pinola was to blow up, by means of torpedoes fired by electricity, one of the hulks which floated the chain, while the Itasca was to board the next schooner, cut the chain and also the cable by which the schooner was anchored, and let the hulk swing round by the force of the current, to be held by the schooner anchored next to it. This would leave a passage of about one hundred and eighty feet, if both were successful.

There was a great rush of water driven down the river by the wind, and although a petard was thrown upon the deck of the hulk, yet her engine being stopped, the Pinola was swept away so quickly as to break the electric connection, so that the petard was not exploded.

In the meantime, the Itasca had laid herself alongside the next schooner near the middle of the river, and had made fast thereto. At that moment, she was discovered. Both forts opened fire upon her, but the darkness and smoke so covered her that the men worked in perfect safety. The chain was cut with sledge and chisel and the cable that held the hulk was slipped. Instantly the Itasca and the schooner were carried down by the wind and tide, taking the end of the chain with them and swinging around to the eastern shore under the fire of both forts. Here the Itasca grounded hard and fast by the bow. The Pinola, however, came to her rescue, and after an hour's tugging, started her, and both boats came down in triumph without a scratch.