Note 18 — XXIV

I think of a few—a very few—out of the number that were recounted to me: McDonnell commanding the machine-guns, trained from the Hotel Terminal, while the blue-jackets were landing under fire. In that exposed position his men (mere boys) were falling all about him; the dash of Wainright and Castle and Wilkinson for the Customs-House; Badger and Townsend pushing up the steel belfry stairs of the cathedral in the hunt for snipers; Courts taking messages to the Chester through the zone of fire. The enlisted men were magnificent. Chief Boatswain McCloy, with a few men in small launches, steamed across the bay to attract the fire of the sharpshooters so the Prairie could get the range. The days of danger were all too short for those gallant hearts.