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Civil War Naritave

"Sargent Jacob Hall get out of your bed Now! We only have 1 hour until we start the battle." "I’m up, I’m up Sir." "well get to the galley for your mess, it’s almost over." So I slipped on my uniform and sauntered down to the galley slowly with my eyes still half closed. As is forcefully pushed open the stubborn door a burst of laughter, excitement, and smoke from the candles on the wall hit me in the face like a blast of cold air on a winter morning. As my friend signaled me over to his table I walked over and sat down. "What’s for breakfast," I asked "The usual salted pork and 2 cups of coffee," he said with a joyful expression on his face. "Why the extra coffee." "Captain said it would make us more energized during the battle," he replied with a puzzled look on his face and I looked down at my disgusting piece of heavily salted pork. As I took off a piece and forcefully shoved it down my throat it felt like someone had shoved a piece of sandpaper down my throat because of the million and one pieces of salt stuck to its sides. As it finally drooped into the bowels of my stomach I could hear sounds of footsteps coming down the hallway towards the galley. As the doors swung open I saw that it was the caption of my ship the Chickasaw and I knew what he was going to say. "Men hurry up and give your dishes to cook John and then quickly get to you posts, it’s time for battle." As soon as my suspicions were confirmed I burst in to happiness think this would be the best and funniest experience in my life. So I scurried to my post like a little mouse and waited for the battle to begin. "Are you ready Tom?" I asked my friend. "I don’t know," he replied. "I’ve never seen battle before and I don’t know what to expect." "Neither have I" I replied and I knew how scared he was. As the ship fell silent I felt like a little scared mouse who had scurried into a corner and was weighting for the worst and I could sense the immense anticipation growing in everyone else. As the ships engine hummed through the water I could hear the in the Distance the dreaded cannon fire from the Confederate controlled Fort Morgan growing louder and louder and suddenly I didn’t feal so happy any more. Then the order was given. "Open Fire" captain George screamed from the bridge. As we loaded pur first shot I had no idea what to expect and as the first shot was fired I was stunned by the power and force of the gun. Standing next to this massive black giant of a gun it sounded like 40 cannons going off at the same time. As I watched the cannon ball hurl and whiz through the air my partner helped by reloading the cannon. As it impacted the wall of Fort Morgan sending out a dust cloud as big as our ship. I was so tense the whole time it was in flight until it hit Fort Morgan and I let out a tremendous sigh of releaf the Chickasaw proceeded I heard Captain George scream " The Tennessee’s straight ahead". I started to panic. The Tennessee was the Confederate’s best ironclad and as we were ordered to open fire on it, the cannonballs were just bouncing off its side. This will be impossible I thought to myself and we still had to defeat Fort Morgan. As we crept forward as slow as a snail, I began to see other ships zooming past us and I realized it was because we were going so slow and they were getting pummeled by Fort Morgan. Then as I turned to my left I saw a ship explode from underneath and remembered what Captain George had said about the Confederate torpedoes surrounding the whole bay. As the ship quickly sank below the rippling water surface I saw many sailors being sucked down with it and my heart sank in my chest like a rock thrown into a pond of water. "Hey", the Captain screamed up to me. "Start firing the cannon, our fleet’s getting pummeled by the Confederates." "Yes Sir," I replied. As I fired more shots into Fort Morgan, I began to see the walls crumble and topple like it was made out of wooden blocks. "We’re heading towards the Tennessee" the Captain yelled up to me in the turret. "We’re out of range of Fort Morgan so now we can focus on the Tennessee," he said. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, a blanket of terror surrounded and engulfed me. As I plunged into a state of total fear. The ship slowly but shurley crept up on the Tennessee. As I fired the cannon I watched the ball hurl through the air with great anticipation . As the ball closed in on the Tennessee, my heart leap, but felt like a rock when again it just bounced off and made a large splash next to the ship. As I kept of firing the ship kept lurching forward and we were finally only inches from the Tennessee. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to expect until I heard a large boom come from underneath me. "What was that?" , I asked my friend. "We were rammed", he explained. Oh great now I was even more scared and terrified. As I peered out of the corner of the gun port, I saw that we were not the only ship attacking the Tennessee. Almost the whole federal fleet was there attacking it. As I shot the cannon again at one of the gun ports on the Tennessee, destroying the mechanism that opened and closed them. Since it was disabled it could no longer damage us using it’s cannons. Now it was only a matter of time until the Tennessee would surrender and we would win. Then as I starred at the Tennessee, I saw a white flag come out of it’s turret. My heart exploded, we had won the battle, I was so happy and filled with joy. As with me I could tell all 150 of my crew members were also filled with joy. The battle had only lasted 3 hours, starting at 9:00am and ending at 12:00pm. As reports of death came in only 319 of 3,000 men had died. Then as I sat down to a lunch of hardtack, salted beef and vegetables I realized that war wasn’t as exciting and fun as I thought it would be.

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