Explore "Running the Batteries, as Observed from the Anchorage above Vicksburgh. (April, 1863.)" by Herman Melville on Textopian.
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?