sentences:  From the beginning of the war, believing the city safe, much of its fighting forces were sent to other Southern battlefields, depleting the city of all but a small number of its Confederate Army defenders.When fishermen brought news of the landing of the Union ships off the Louisiana coast in February 1862, the inability of the Confederates to hold the city if the forts failed became obvious.When the forts could not be captured after several days' bombardment, Farragut's fleet slipped past them under cover of darkness and within four days appeared at the city's docks.