CHAPTER XIX.
THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS, AND BUTLER'S ADMINISTRATION.
Capture of Island No. 10. The impending Attack on New Orleans. The unsatisfactory Military Situation. Confidence of Everybody in the River Defences. My Apprehensions of Defeat. The Fall of New Orleans. Excitement in the City on the News of the Passage of the Forts being received. I resolve to abandon the Career of a Soldier,and to resume the Garments of my own Sex. Appearance of the Fleet op posite the City. Immense Destruction of Property. My Congratula tions to Captain Bailey of the Navy. Mayor Monroe's Refusal to raise the Federal Flag. General Butler assumes Command of the City. Butler's Brutality. I procure the foreign Papers of an English Lady, and strike up an Acquaintance with the Provost Marshal. Am introduced to other Officers, and through them gain Access to Headquarters. Colonel Butler furnishes me with the necessary Passes to get through the Lines. I drive an active Trade in Drugs and Confederate Money while carrying Information to and fro. Preparations for a grand final Speculation in Confederate Money. I am intrusted with a Despatch for the "Alabama," and am started for Havana.
OLLOWING close upon the defeat at Shiloh came the fall of Island No. 10, a disaster of great moment to the Confederacy, for the strength of its fortifications had been much relied upon to check the advance of the Federals down the Mississippi River; and the loss
of the position almost simultaneously with the Shiloh
affair was well calculated to inspire gloomy apprehensions for the future. I heard the news that Island No. 10 had been captured, after reaching New Or
leans, and the fact that the enemy had been successful in
forcing so strong a defence with comparative ease, taken in connection with the radical inefficiency of many of the military preparations being made for the defence of the city, prevented me from sharing the extreme confidence so many people expressed, and that so many undoubtedly felt, with regard to the entire safety of New Orleans. If a strong fort
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