{"id":"01KG8AJMPZJK5R1DEE26EDRDT8","cid":"bafkreiah7qa6adpd2jjpspjnoh3krkj2ay7o55a5v3kaiityhvnyhehmj4","type":"segment","properties":{"description":"# Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.\n\n## Overview\nThis 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).\n\n## Context\nThis 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.\"\n\n## Contents\nThe 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.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.466Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.","end_line":1599,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.","source_file":"01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8","start_line":1503,"text":"Running the Batteries,\r\nAs observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh.\r\n(April, 1863.)\r\n\r\n\r\nA moonless night--a friendly one;\r\n  A haze dimmed the shadowy shore\r\nAs the first lampless boat slid silent on;\r\n  Hist! and we spake no more;\r\nWe but pointed, and stilly, to what we saw.\r\n\r\nWe felt the dew, and seemed to feel\r\n  The secret like a burden laid.\r\nThe first boat melts; and a second keel\r\n  Is blent with the foliaged shade--\r\nTheir midnight rounds have the rebel officers made?\r\n\r\nUnspied as yet. A third--a fourth--\r\n  Gun-boat and transport in Indian file\r\nUpon the war-path, smooth from the North;\r\n  But the watch may they hope to beguile?\r\nThe manned river-batteries stretch for mile on mile.\r\n\r\nA flame leaps out; they are seen;\r\n  Another and another gun roars;\r\nWe tell the course of the boats through the screen\r\n  By each further fort that pours,\r\nAnd we guess how they jump from their beds on those shrouded shores.\r\n\r\nConverging fires. We speak, though low:\r\n  “That blastful furnace can they threadd”\r\n“Why, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego\r\n  Came out all right, we read;\r\nThe Lord, be sure, he helps his people, Ned.”\r\n\r\nHow we strain our gaze. On bluffs they shun\r\n  A golden growing flame appears--\r\nConfirms to a silvery steadfast one:\r\n  “The town is afire!” crows Hugh: “three cheers”\r\nLot stops his mouth: “Nay, lad, better three tears.”\r\n\r\nA purposed light; it shows our fleet;\r\n  Yet a little late in its searching ray,\r\nSo far and strong, that in phantom cheat\r\n  Lank on the deck our shadows lay;\r\nThe shining flag-ship stings their guns to furious play.\r\n\r\nHow dread to mark her near the glare\r\n  And glade of death the beacon throws\r\nAthwart the racing waters there;\r\n  One by one each plainer grows,\r\nThen speeds a blazoned target to our gladdened foes.\r\n\r\nThe impartial cresset lights as well\r\n  The fixed forts to the boats that run;\r\nAnd, plunged from the ports, their answers swell\r\n  Back to each fortress dun:\r\nPonderous words speaks every monster gun.\r\n\r\nFearless they flash through gates of flame,\r\n  The salamanders hard to hit,\r\nThough vivid shows each bulky frame;\r\n  And never the batteries intermit,\r\nNor the boats huge guns; they fire and flit.\r\n\r\nAnon a lull. The beacon dies:\r\n  “Are they out of that strait accurst”\r\nBut other flames now dawning rise,\r\n  Not mellowly brilliant like the first,\r\nBut rolled in smoke, whose whitish volumes burst.\r\n\r\nA baleful brand, a hurrying torch\r\n  Whereby anew the boats are seen--\r\nA burning transport all alurch!\r\n  Breathless we gaze; yet still we glean\r\nGlimpses of beauty as we eager lean.\r\n\r\nThe effulgence takes an amber glow\r\n  Which bathes the hill-side villas far;\r\nAffrighted ladies mark the show\r\n  Painting the pale magnolia--\r\nThe fair, false, Circe light of cruel War.\r\n\r\nThe barge drifts doomed, a plague-struck one.\r\n  Shoreward in yawls the sailors fly.\r\nBut the gauntlet now is nearly run,\r\n  The spleenful forts by fits reply,\r\nAnd the burning boat dies down in morning’s sky.\r\n\r\nAll out of range. Adieu, Messieurs!\r\n  Jeers, as it speeds, our parting gun.\r\nSo burst we through their barriers\r\n  And menaces every one:\r\nSo Porter proves himself a brave man’s son.[7]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Running the Batteries, As observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9","peer_type":"poetry_collection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJMPYQGG91H9RRNQCE1SM","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJMPZRDJ19REES3Z4SRKN","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.207Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.799Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}