Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[568] lifted by the vortex, passes between the ends of the two wings, it was like being in a desert, according to the reports of eye-witnesses, so great was the silence. The fall has more than three feet, but the force of the current and the volume of the water cover the shelves of rock which would otherwise have been impassable with a liquid inclined plane—such as is formed when the sluice of a mill is suddenly opened—which hastens to mingle with the deeper waters below these last rapids. The Lexington, lifted like a straw by the current, rocks two or three times, remains for a moment balanced on the boiling waters near a rock; then, hurried on anew, she reaches the deep and tranquil waters, where she rides unharmed. A deafening shout greets this successful venture, the almost certain pledge of the deliverance of the whole fleet. However, everything is suddenly hushed again, for another vessel is about to take its turn in trying the difficult pass. Porter, in fact, had given orders to the three vessels arrived the evening before to hold themselves ready to follow the Lexington if she passed successfully. The Neosho is now approaching the breach: she is already caught by the irresistible current; it is the moment when boldness is prudence—when, as the admiral directed, the vessel must be put under a full head of steam in order to outstrip the current and so get steerage-way. But at the sight of the raging waters the pilot of the Neosho loses his head and stops the engines. The vessel is at once tossed about; it disappears two or three times submerged in the midst of the waves, collides with the jetties and the rocks, but finally reappears at the end of the pass, seriously damaged, it is true, but afloat, her machinery intact and without having lost one of her crew. This time the emotion of the spectators has been greater than before, for all of them, the admiral included, have for a moment believed the Neosho lost. The pilots of the Fort Hindman and the Osage, profiting by this dangerous experiment, follow the example of the Lexington and meet with equal success. Four vessels, then, have reached the part of Red River where no serious obstacle hinders them from reaching the Mississippi. But the others are still blockaded above the rapids, which once more present only a series of rocks and surging waters. Not one has had time to follow the Lexington.

At the sight of their work destroyed in an instant and twothirds