Masquerade of War

“The Masquerade of War. Ingenious method of disguising the masts and hulls of Commodore Porter’s morter flotilla with boughs of trees, etc., to deceive the Confederate artillerists. In order to diminish the Confederate chances of hitting the Federal mortar boats, the masts were dressed with evergreens. Eighteen grim vessels of war were thus converted into shady bowers- a tree lashed to each masthead, interlacing its branches with the rigging, jutting out into queer-looking arbors. Three of the mortar vessels being stationed on the east bank to operate gainst Fort St. Philip, a different ‘disguise’ was adopted, since to dress them up arborically would be only to render them the more conspicuous. The sides of these vessels were therefore covered with a shaggy wall of aquatic growth, and really looked like a continuation of the marsh. Anything more characteristic of Yankee invention was never beheld."— Frank Leslie, 1896

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