mortar-boats covered with green branches for the purpose of fooling the enemy, as no one could tell at any distance at all whether these were or were not olive-branches, steamed up the river and bombarded forts jackson and st. philip till the stunned catfish rose to the surface of the water to inquire, "why all this?" and turned their pallid stomachs toward the soft southern zenith. sixteen thousand eight hundred shells were thrown into the two forts, but that did not capture new orleans.