But the stronger and better-armed Union ships quickly
destroyed the Confederate flotilla, with the single exception that two
of the enemy's gunboats rammed the _Varuna_ from opposite sides and sank
her. Aside from this, the Union fleet sustained much miscellaneous
damage, but no serious injury in the furious battle of an hour and a
half.
With but a short halt at Quarantine, six miles above the forts, Farragut
and his thirteen ships of war pushed on rapidly over the seventy-five
miles, and on the forenoon of April 25 New Orleans lay helpless under
the guns of the Union fleet. The city was promptly evacuated by the
Confederate General Lovell. Meanwhile, General Butler was busy moving
his transports and troops around outside by sea to Quarantine; and,
having occupied that point in force, Forts Jackson and St. Philip
capitulated on April 28. This last obstruction removed, Butler, after
having garrisoned the forts, brought the bulk of his army up to New
Orleans, and on May 1 Farragut turned over to him the formal possession
of the city, where Butler continued in command of the Department of the
Gulf until the following December.
Farragut immediately despatched an advance section of his fleet up the
Mississippi. None of the important cities on its banks below Vicksburg
had yet been fortified, and, without serious opposition, they
surrendered as the Union ships successively reached them.
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