- description
- # Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.
## Overview
This is a segment of poetry titled "Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh." It was written in April 1863 and is part of the larger collection [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9).
## Context
This poem is one of many works included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection, specifically within the [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9) poetry collection, which was extracted from the file [battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt](arke:01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8). The poem follows "Battle of Stone River, Tennessee. A View from Oxford Cloisters." and precedes "Stonewall Jackson."
## Contents
The poem vividly describes a nighttime naval engagement, likely during the American Civil War, as observed from a vantage point above Vicksburg. It details the stealthy movement of Union gunboats and transports under the cover of darkness, their eventual detection by Confederate batteries, and the ensuing exchange of fire. The narrative captures the dramatic visual spectacle of the battle, with descriptions of muzzle flashes, roaring cannons, and the fires that illuminate the scene. The poem also touches upon the human element, with observers commenting on the intensity of the conflict and the bravery of the participants. It concludes with the successful passage of the Union fleet and a defiant farewell to the enemy.
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- 2026-01-30T20:48:24.466Z
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- description_title
- Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.
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- 1599
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- 2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z
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- text
- Running the Batteries,
As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.
(April, 1863.)
A moonless night--a friendly one;
A haze dimmed the shadowy shore
As the first lampless boat slid silent on;
Hist! and we spake no more;
We but pointed, and stilly, to what we saw.
We felt the dew, and seemed to feel
The secret like a burden laid.
The first boat melts; and a second keel
Is blent with the foliaged shade--
Their midnight rounds have the rebel officers made?
Unspied as yet. A third--a fourth--
Gun-boat and transport in Indian file
Upon the war-path, smooth from the North;
But the watch may they hope to beguile?
The manned river-batteries stretch for mile on mile.
A flame leaps out; they are seen;
Another and another gun roars;
We tell the course of the boats through the screen
By each further fort that pours,
And we guess how they jump from their beds on those shrouded shores.
Converging fires. We speak, though low:
“That blastful furnace can they threadd”
“Why, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego
Came out all right, we read;
The Lord, be sure, he helps his people, Ned.”
How we strain our gaze. On bluffs they shun
A golden growing flame appears--
Confirms to a silvery steadfast one:
“The town is afire!” crows Hugh: “three cheers”
Lot stops his mouth: “Nay, lad, better three tears.”
A purposed light; it shows our fleet;
Yet a little late in its searching ray,
So far and strong, that in phantom cheat
Lank on the deck our shadows lay;
The shining flag-ship stings their guns to furious play.
How dread to mark her near the glare
And glade of death the beacon throws
Athwart the racing waters there;
One by one each plainer grows,
Then speeds a blazoned target to our gladdened foes.
The impartial cresset lights as well
The fixed forts to the boats that run;
And, plunged from the ports, their answers swell
Back to each fortress dun:
Ponderous words speaks every monster gun.
Fearless they flash through gates of flame,
The salamanders hard to hit,
Though vivid shows each bulky frame;
And never the batteries intermit,
Nor the boats huge guns; they fire and flit.
Anon a lull. The beacon dies:
“Are they out of that strait accurst”
But other flames now dawning rise,
Not mellowly brilliant like the first,
But rolled in smoke, whose whitish volumes burst.
A baleful brand, a hurrying torch
Whereby anew the boats are seen--
A burning transport all alurch!
Breathless we gaze; yet still we glean
Glimpses of beauty as we eager lean.
The effulgence takes an amber glow
Which bathes the hill-side villas far;
Affrighted ladies mark the show
Painting the pale magnolia--
The fair, false, Circe light of cruel War.
The barge drifts doomed, a plague-struck one.
Shoreward in yawls the sailors fly.
But the gauntlet now is nearly run,
The spleenful forts by fits reply,
And the burning boat dies down in morning’s sky.
All out of range. Adieu, Messieurs!
Jeers, as it speeds, our parting gun.
So burst we through their barriers
And menaces every one:
So Porter proves himself a brave man’s son.[7]
- title
- Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.