On the night of the 23d his vessels were stripped of every rope and spar that could be spared, the masts and rigging of the gunboats and mortar vessels being trimmed with the limbs of trees, to conceal their identity from the Confederate watchers.
At two o'clock in the morning the signal was hoisted on the _Hartford_, Captain Farragut's flagship, and the fleet started in single line to run the fearful gauntlet.

The _Cayuga_ led, the _Pensacola_ followed, and the _Mississippi_ was third.

The rebels had huge bonfires burning on both shores, and as the _Pensacola_ came opposite the forts they opened their furious fire upon her.
A good deal of uneasiness prevailed in the Union fleet regarding the rebel rams.

It was known they were formidable monsters, which the Confederates believed could smash and sink the whole Union squadron.
While it was known that much was to be feared from the forts, it was the ironclads that formed the uncertain factor and magnified the real danger in many men's minds.
The _Mississippi_ was hardly abreast of Fort St.Philip when the dreaded _Manassas_ came plunging down the river out of the gloom at full speed, and headed directly for the _Mississippi._ She was not seen until so close that it was impossible to dodge her, and the ironclad struck the steamer on the port side, close to the mizzenmast, firing a gun at the same time.

Fortunately the blow was a glancing one, though it opened a rent seven feet long and four inches deep in the steamer, which, being caught by the swift current on her starboard bow, was swept across to the Fort Jackson side of the river, so close indeed that her gunners and those in the fort exchanged curses and imprecations.
[Illustration: SHELLING FORTS PHILIP AND JACKSON.] The passage of the forts by the Union vessels forms one of the most thrilling pictures in the history of the Civil War.