The Bay Fight. Henry Howard Brownell (1820-1872). Southern States: Mobile, the Bay, Ala. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. America: Vols. XXV-XXIX

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

Southern States: Mobile, the Bay, Ala.

The Bay Fight

Henry Howard Brownell (1820–1872)


(August 8, 1864) (Excerpt) THREE days through sapphire seas we sailed,
The steady Trade blew strong and free,
The Northern Light his banners paled,
The Ocean Stream our channels wet,
We rounded low Canaveral’s lee,	5
And passed the isles of emerald set
In blue Bahamas’ turquoise sea.

By reef and shoal obscurely mapped,
And hauntings of the gray sea-wolf,
The palmy Western Key lay lapped	10
In the warm washing of the Gulf.

But weary to the hearts of all
The burning glare, the barren reach
Of Santa Rosa’s withered beach,
And Pensacola’s ruined wall.	15

And weary was the long patrol,
The thousand miles of shapeless strand,
From Brazos to San Blas that roll
Their drifting dunes of desert sand.

Yet, coastwise as we cruised or lay,	20
The land-breeze still at nightfall bore,
By beach and fortress-guarded bay,
Sweet odors from the enemy’s shore,

Fresh from the forest solitudes,
Unchallenged of his sentry lines,—	25
The bursting of his cypress buds,
And the warm fragrance of his pines.

Ah, never braver bark and crew,
Nor bolder flag a foe to dare.
Had left a wake on ocean blue	30
Since Lion-Heart sailed Trenc-le-mer!

But little gain by that dark ground
Was ours, save, sometime, freer breath
For friend or brother strangely found,
’Scaped from the drear domain of death.	35

And little venture for the bold,
Or laurel for our valiant chief,
Save some blockaded British thief,
Full fraught with murder in his hold,

Caught unawares at ebb or flood;	40
Or dull bombardment, day by day,
With fort and earthwork, far away,
Low couched in sullen leagues of mud.

A weary time,—but to the strong
The day at last, as ever, came;	45
And the volcano, laid so long,
Leaped forth in thunder and in flame! * * * * *
“Man your starboard battery!”
Kimberly shouted;
The ship, with her hearts of oak,	50
Was going, mid roar and smoke,
On to victory!
None of us doubted—
No, not our dying—
Farragut’s flag was flying!	55

Gaines growled low on our left,
Morgan roared on our right—
Before us, gloomy and fell,
With breath like the fume of hell,
Lay the Dragon of iron shell,	60
Driven at last to the fight!

Ha, old ship! do they thrill,
The brave two hundred scars
You got in the River-Wars?
That were leeched with clamorous skill	65
(Surgery savage and hard),
Splintered with bolt and beam,
Probed in scarfing and seam,
Rudely linted and tarred
With oakum and boiling pitch,	70
And sutured with splice and hitch,
At the Brooklyn Navy-Yard!

Our lofty spars were down,
To bide the battle’s frown
(Wont of old renown),—	75
But every ship was dressed
In her bravest and her best,
As if for a July day;
Sixty flags and three,
As we floated up the bay,—	80
Every peak and masthead flew
The brave Red, White, and Blue,—
We were eighteen ships that day.

With hawsers strong and taut,
The weaker lashed to port,	85
On we sailed, two by two,—
That if either a bolt should feel
Crash through caldron or wheel,
Fin of bronze or sinew of steel,
Her mate might bear her through.	90

Steadily nearing the head,
The great flag-ship led,—
Grandest of sights!
On her lofty mizzen flew
Our leader’s dauntless blue,	95
That had waved o’er twenty fights.
So we went, with the first of the tide,
Slowly, mid the roar
Of the rebel guns ashore,
And the thunder of each full broadside.	100

Ah, how poor the prate
Of statute and of state,
We once held with these fellows:
Here, on the flood’s pale-green,
Hark how he bellows,—	105
Each bluff old sea-lawyer!
Talk to them, Dahlgren,
Parrott, and Sawyer!

On in the whirling shade
Of the cannon’s sulphury breath,	110
We drew to the line of death
That our devilish foe had laid;
Meshed in a horrible net,
And baited villanous well,
Right in our path were set	115
Three hundred traps of hell!

And there, O sight forlorn!
There, while the cannon
Hurtled and thundered,—
(Ah, what ill raven	120
Flapped o’er the ship that morn!)
Caught by the under-death,
In the drawing of a breath,
Down went dauntless Craven,
He and his hundred!	125

A moment we saw her turret,
A little heel she gave,
And a thin white spray went o’er her,
Like the crest of a breaking wave;
In that great iron coffin,	130
The channel for their grave,
The fort their monument
(Seen afar in the offing),
Ten fathom deep lie Craven
And the bravest of our brave.	135

Then, in that deadly track,
A little the ships held back,
Closing up in their stations:
There are minutes that fix the fate
Of battles and of nations	140
(Christening the generations),
When valor were all too late,
If a moment’s doubt be harbored;
From the maintop, bold and brief,
Came the word of our grand old Chief,—	145
“Go on!”—’t was all he said;
Our helm was put to the starboard,
And the Hartford passed ahead.

Ahead lay the Tennessee,—
On our starboard bow he lay,	150
With his mail-clad consorts three
(The rest had run up the Bay),—
There he was, belching flame from his bow,
And the steam from his throat’s abyss
Was a Dragon’s maddened hiss,—	155
In sooth a most cursèd craft!—
In a sullen ring, at bay,
By the Middle Ground they lay,
Raking us, fore and aft.

Trust me, our berth was hot,	160
Ah, wickedly well they shot;
How their death-bolts howled and stung!
And the water-batteries played
With their deadly cannonade
Till the air around us rung;	165
So the battle raged and roared—
Ah, had you been aboard
To have seen the fight we made!
How they leaped, the tongues of flame,
From the cannon’s fiery lip!	170
How the broadsides, deck and frame,
Shook the great ship!

And how the enemy’s shell
Came crashing, heavy and oft,
Clouds of splinters flying aloft	175
And falling in oaken showers:
But ah, the pluck of the crew!
Had you stood on that deck of ours,
You had seen what men may do.

Still, as the fray grew louder,	180
Boldly they worked and well,—
Steadily came the powder,
Steadily came the shell.
And if tackle or truck found hurt,
Quickly they cleared the wreck;	185
And the dead were laid to port,
All a-row, on our deck.

Never a nerve that failed,
Never a cheek that paled,
Not a tinge of gloom or pallor:	190
There was bold Kentucky’s grit,
And the old Virginian valor,
And the daring Yankee wit.

There were blue eyes from turfy Shannon,
There were black orbs from palmy Niger,—	195
But there alongside the cannon,
Each man fought like a tiger!

A little, once, it looked ill,
Our consort began to burn;
They quenched the flames with a will,	200
But our men were falling still,
And still the fleet was astern.

Right abreast of the Fort
In an awful shroud they lay,
Broadsides thundering away,	205
And lightning from every port,—
Scene of glory and dread!
A storm-cloud all aglow
With flashes of fiery red;
The thunder raging below,	210
And the forest of flags o’erhead!

So grand the hurly and roar,
So fiercely their broadsides blazed,
The regiments fighting ashore
Forgot to fire as they gazed.	215

There, to silence the foe,
Moving grimly and slow,
They loomed in that deadly wreath,
Where the darkest batteries frowned,—
Death in the air all round,	220
And the black torpedoes beneath!

And now, as we looked ahead,
All for’ard, the long white deck
Was growing a strange dull red;
But soon, as once and agen	225

Fore and aft we sped
(The firing to guide or check),
You could hardly choose but tread
On the ghastly human wreck,
(Dreadful gobbet and shred	230
That a minute ago were men!)

Red, from mainmast to bitts!
Red, on bulwark and wale!
Red, by combing and hatch!
Red, o’er netting and rail!	235

And ever, with steady con,
The ship forged slowly by;
And ever the crew fought on,
And their cheers rang loud and high.

Grand was the sight to see	240
How by their guns they stood,
Right in front of our dead
Fighting square abreast—
Each brawny arm and chest
All spotted with black and red,—	245
Chrism of fire and blood!

Worth our watch, dull and sterile,
Worth all the weary time;
Worth the woe and the peril,
To stand in that strait sublime!	250

Fear? A forgotten form!
Death? A dream of the eyes!
We were atoms in God’s great storm
That roared through the angry skies.

One only doubt was ours,	255
One only dread we knew:
Could the day that dawned so well
Go down for the Darker Powers?
Would the fleet get through?
And ever the shot and shell	260
Came with the howl of hell,
The splinter-clouds rose and fell,
And the long line of corpses grew:
Would the fleet win through?

They are men that never will fail,	265
(How aforetime they ’ve fought!)
But Murder may yet prevail,—
They may sink as Craven sank.
Therewith one hard fierce thought,
Burning on heart and lip,	270
Ran like fire through the ship:
Fight her, to the last plank!

A dimmer Renown might strike
If Death lay square alongside;
But the Old Flag has no like,	275
She must fight, whatever betide:
When the war is a tale of old,
And this day’s story is told,
They shall hear how the Hartford died!

But as we ranged ahead,	280
And the leading ships worked in,
Losing their hope to win,
The enemy turned and fled:
And one seeks a shallow reach,
And another, winged in her flight,	285
Our mate, brave Jouett, brings in;
And one, all torn in the fight,
Runs for a wreck on the beach,
Where her flames soon fire the night.

And the Ram,—when well up the Bay,	290
And we looked that our stems should meet
(He had us fair for a prey),
Shifting his helm midway,
Sheered off, and ran for the fleet;
There, without skulking or sham,	295
He fought them, gun for gun,
And ever he sought to ram,
But could finish never a one.

From the first of the iron shower
Till we sent our parting shell,	300
’T was just one savage hour
Of the roar and the rage of hell.
With the lessening smoke and thunder,
Our glasses around we aim,—
What is that burning yonder?	305
Our Philippi—aground and in flame!

Below, ’t was still all a-roar,
As the ships went by the shore,
But the fire of the fort had slacked
(So fierce their volleys had been);	310
And now, with a mighty din,
The whole fleet came grandly in,
Though sorely battered and wracked.

So, up the Bay we ran,
The Flag to port and ahead,	315
And a pitying rain began
To wash the lips of our dead.
A league from the fort we lay,
And deemed that the end must lag;
When lo! looking down the Bay,	320
There flaunted the Rebel Rag:
The Ram is again under way,
And heading dead for the Flag!

Steering up with the stream,
Boldly his course he lay,	325
Though the fleet all answered his fire,
And, as he still drew nigher,
Ever on bow and beam
Our Monitors pounded away,—
How the Chickasaw hammered away!	330

Quickly breasting the wave,
Eager the prize to win,
First of us all the brave
Monongahela went in,
Under full head of steam;	335
Twice she struck him abeam,
Till her stem was a sorry work;
(She might have run on a crag!)
The Lackawanna hit fair;
He flung her aside like cork,—	340
And still he held for the Flag.

High in the mizzen-shroud
(Lest the smoke his sight o’erwhelm),
Our Admiral’s voice rang loud:
“Hard-a-starboard your helm!	345
Starboard! and run him down!”
Starboard it was; and so,
Like a black squall’s lifting frown,
Our mighty bow bore down
On the iron beak of the Foe.	350

We stood on the deck together,
Men that had looked on death
In battle and stormy weather;
Yet a little we held our breath,
When, with the hush of death,	355
The great ships drew together.

Our Captain strode to the bow,
Drayton, courtly and wise,
Kindly cynic, and wise,
(You hardly had known him now,—	360
The flame of fight in his eyes!)
His brave heart eager to feel
How the oak would tell on the steel!

But, as the space grew short,
A little he seemed to shun us;	365
Out peered a form grim and lanky,
And a voice yelled: “Hard-a-port!
Hard-a-port!—here ’s the damned Yankee
Coming right down on us!”

He sheered, but the ships ran foul;	370
With a gnarring shudder and growl,
He gave us a deadly gun;
But, as he passed in his pride,
(Rasping right alongside!)
The Old Flag, in thunder-tones,	375
Poured in her port broadside,
Rattling his iron hide,
And cracking his timber bones!

Just then, at speed on the Foe,
With her bow all weathered and brown,	380
The great Lackawanna came down
Full tilt for another blow:
We were forging ahead,
She reversed; but, for all our pains,
Rammed the old Hartford instead,	385
Just for’ard the mizzen-chains!

Ah! how the masts did buckle and bend,
And the stout hull ring and reel,
As she took us right on end!
(Vain were engine and wheel,—	390
She was under full steam),—
With the roar of a thunder-stroke
Her two thousand tons of oak
Brought up on us, right abeam!

A wreck, as it looked, we lay;	395
(Rib and plankshear gave way
To the stroke of that giant wedge!)
Here, after all, we go;
The old ship is gone!—ah, no,
But cut to the water’s edge.	400

Never mind then; at him again!
His flurry now can’t last long;
He ’ll never again see land;
Try that on him, Marchand!
On him again, brave Strong!	405

Heading square at the hulk,
Full on his beam we bore;
But the spine of the huge Sea-Hog
Lay on the tide like a log,—
He vomited flame no more.	410

By this he had found it hot:
Half the fleet, in an angry ring,
Closed round the hideous thing,
Hammering with solid shot,
And bearing down, bow on bow—	415
He has but a minute to choose;
Life or renown?—which now
Will the Rebel Admiral lose?

Cruel, haughty, and cold,
He ever was strong and bold,—	420
Shall he shrink from a wooden stem?
He will think of that brave band
He sank in the Cumberland:
Ay, he will sink like them.

Nothing left but to fight	425
Boldly his last sea-fight!
Can he strike? By Heaven, ’t is true!
Down comes the traitor Blue,
And up goes the captive White!

Up went the White! Ah, then,	430
The hurrahs that, once and agen,
Rang from three thousand men,
All flushed and savage with fight!
Our dead lay cold and stark,
But our dying, down in the dark,	435
Answered as best they might,—
Lifting their poor lost arms,
And cheering for God and Right! * * * * *

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