of Arkansas settled the fate of Missouri.

A month later the final attack was made on Island Number Ten.
Foote's flotilla had been at work there as early as the middle of
March, when the strong Confederate batteries on the island and
east shore bluffs were bombarded by ironclads and mortarboats.
Then the Union General John Pope took post at New Madrid, eight
miles below the island, on the west shore, which the Confederates
had to evacuate when he cut their line of communications farther
south. They now held only the island and the east shore opposite,
with no line of retreat except the Mississippi, because the land
line on the east shore was blocked by swamps and flanked by the
Union armies in western Tennessee.

On the night of the fourth of April the Carondelet started to cut
this last line south. She was swathed in hawsers and chain
cables. Her decks were packed tight with every sort of gear that
would break the force of plunging shot; and a big barge, laden
with coal and rammed hay, was lashed to her port side to protect
her magazine. Twenty-three picked Illinoisian sharpshooters went
aboard; while pistols, muskets, cutlasses, boarding-pikes, and
hand grenades were placed ready for instant use. The escape-pipe
was led aft into the wheel-house, so as to deaden the noise; and
hose was attached to the boilers ready to scald any Confederates
that tried to board. Then, through the heart of a terrific
thunderstorm, and amid a furious cannonade, the Carondelet ran
the desperate gauntlet at full speed and arrived at New Madrid by
midnight.

The Confederates were now cut off both above and below; for the