It is much for untried men to recognise in their surroundings something which gives the unity of a common purpose, and thus the coherence which discipline imparts.
Although there was in Parker's dispositions nothing open to serious criticism,--nothing that can be ascribed to undervaluing his opponent,--and although, also, he had good reason to expect from the army active cooeperation which he did not get, it is probable that he was very much surprised, not only at the tenacity of the Americans' resistance, but at the efficacy of their fire.

He felt, doubtless, the traditional and natural distrust--and, for the most part, the justified distrust--with which experience and practice regard inexperience.

Some seamen of American birth, who had been serving in the _Bristol_, deserted after the fight.

They reported that her crew said, "We were told the Yankees would not stand two fires, but we never saw better fellows;" and when the fire of the fort slackened and some cried, "They have done fighting," others replied, "By God, we are glad of it, for we never had such a drubbing in our lives." "All the common men of the fleet spoke loudly in praise of the garrison,"-- a note of admiration so frequent in generous enemies that we may be assured that it was echoed on the quarter-deck also.

They could afford it well, for there was no stain upon their own record beyond the natural mortification of defeat; no flinching under the severity of their losses, although a number of their men were comparatively raw, volunteers from the transports, whose crews had come forward almost as one man when they knew that the complements of the ships were short through sickness.