were accurate. Ten years later, in the War of the Triple Alliance, the fort defied a strong Brazilian naval force for 40 days. On 1 February 1855 USS Water Witch, Lieutenant Jeffers, carrying an Argentine pilot, approached Fort Itapirú where it guarded the Canal Privado. He must have known he was risking confrontation, because he moved the starboard gun to the port side, cleared for action, and ordered forty shrapnel, twelve regular shells, and thirty stand of grape prepared. He knew López had banned foreign warships from Paraguayan waters — with Water Witch in mind — and he was carrying a pilot who knew the river. His excuse was that he had tried to go through the main channel but had run on a sandbar. One source says the move was probably a calculated insult to López. At about 1:20 pm the fort sent a Paraguayan canoe alongside and a man offered Jeffers a copy of López's decree banning foreign vessels. Jeffers refused to accept it on the ground that it was in Spanish. Jeffers did this, not because there was nobody on board who knew Spanish — there was — but in retaliation for Paraguay's earlier refusal to receive the friendship treaty in English. Thus Jeffers was navigating in waters claimed by Paraguay while refusing to communicate with its officials. When within 300 yards of the fort Jeffers received a hail in Spanish. "Not understanding", he continued. According to Jeffers, the fort then fired two blank shots, followed by a live round. The live shot killed the helmsman, Samuel Chaney. Water Witch retaliated with her three howitzers. His way ahead uncertain because of a risk of grounding, Jeffers reversed course and ran the gauntlet again. The fort hulled Water Witch ten times, destroyed two boats and damaged a paddle wheel. Water Witch limped into an Argentine port. When Lieutenant Page found out about it he went downriver and tried to persuade Commodore William D. Salter, commander of the U.S. squadron in South America, to give him orders to attack the fort. Salter refused, and referred it to Washington. Assessment Back in the U.S., Lieutenant Page claimed the Paraguayan fort had fired at Water Witch without provocation while she was in international waters. Lieutenant Jeffers claimed he was never in the Canal Privado. Modern scholars have not been persuaded, and neither was Secretary of State William L. Marcy, who found