hard till dark. Late that night Foote arrived with the rest of
the flotilla.

The fourteenth was another naval day. Foote's flotilla advanced
gallantly, the four ironclads leading in line abreast, the two
wooden gunboats half a mile astern. The ironclads closed in to
less than a quarter-mile and hung on like bulldogs till the
Confederates in the lowest battery were driven from their guns.
But the plunging fire from the big guns on the bluff crashed down
with ever increasing effect. Davits were smashed like matches,
boats knocked into kindling wood, armor dented, started, ripped,
stripped, and sent splashing overboard as if by strokes of
lightning. Before the decks could be resanded there was so much
blood on them that the gun crews could hardly work for slipping.
Presently the Pittsburgh swung round, ran foul of the Carondelet,
and dropped downstream. The pilot of the St. Louis was killed,
and Foote, who stood beside him, wounded. The wheel-ropes of the
St. Louis, like those of the Louisville, were shot away. The
whole flotilla then retired, still firing hard; and the
Confederates wired a victory to Richmond.

Both sides now redoubled their efforts; for Donelson was a great
prize and the forces engaged were second only to those at Bull
Run. Afloat and ashore, all ranks and ratings on both sides
together, there were fifty thousand men present at the investment
from first to last. The Confederates began with about twenty
thousand, Grant with fifteen thousand. But Grant had twenty-seven
thousand fit for duty at the end, in spite of all his losses. He
was fortunate in his chief staff officer, the devoted and capable
John A. Rawlins, afterwards a general and Secretary of War. Two