all day long, and far into the evening, it was kept up without cessation.
The yards of the British ships hung nearly over the American battery;
and there were musketeers stationed in their tops who immediately shot
down every man who showed himself on the platform of the fort. Our men
displayed, as I have said, wonderful bravery and endurance; there seems
to have been no thought of surrender; but long before night palisades,
block houses, parapet, embrasures--all were ruined.

"Early in the evening Major Thayer sent all but forty of his men to Red
Bank. He and the remaining forty stayed on in the fort until midnight,
then, setting fire to the remains of the barracks, they also escaped in
safety to Red Bank.

"Lossing tells us that in the course of that last day more than a
thousand discharges of cannon, from twelve to thirty-two pounders, were
made against the works on Mud Island, and that it was one of the most
gallant and obstinate defences of the war.

"Major Thayer received great credit for his share in it, and was
presented with a sword by the Rhode Island Assembly as a token of their
appreciation of his services there."

"Did not Captain--afterward Commodore--Talbot do himself great credit
there?" asked Evelyn.

"Yes; he fought for hours with his wrist shattered by a musket ball;
then was wounded in the hip and was sent to Red Bank. He was a very
brave man and did much good service during the war, principally on the
water, taking vessel after vessel. In the fight with one of them--the
_Dragon_--his speaking trumpet was pierced by bullets and the skirts of