March 6, 1863, The New York Herald
Our Mississippi River Correspondence.
NEAR VICKSBURG, Feb. 22, 1863.
The daring of the Union ram fleet during the year which has passed, has furnished themes for the admiration of the country. What was accomplished at Memphis before the Union occupation of that city, is still fresh in the minds of your readers. The more recent operations on Arkansas, White and Yazoo rivers, cannot have been forgotten. In this respect, not a boat has acquired more renown than the “Queen of the West.” We well remember her later exploits in running the batteries at Vicksburg, and Warrenton, six miles below, her capture of the rebel steamers below Natchez, and the excitement they occasioned here and elsewhere. Her glory is departed! She is now in the hands of our enemies!
From gentlemen who accompanied her on her last and unsuccessful trip, and arrived yesterday, through much tribulation and after hair breadth escapes, I am able to give you the following account of her adventures:–
THE QUEEN OF THE WEST.
The “Queen” was an old freight boat formerly in the St. Louis, Cincinnati and New Orleans trade, and in her prime, ten years ago, was considered a model of strength and speed. When Colonel C. R. Ellet, the originator of the ram fleet, who died less than a year ago, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Memphis, was organizing this branch of the service, this boat was one of the first selected. She was strengthened as to her hull by heavy oak timbers, and as to her machinery by a bulwark of solid wood work, twenty-four inches thick, extending from stem to stern, and so enclosing the boilers and engines that they were considered safe from shot and shell from guns of no heavier calibre than six or twelve pounders. When she ran the batteries at Vicksburg she was further strengthened by two rows of cotton bales, extending entirely around her, from the guards to the upper deck. To guard against the effect of plunging shot there was a layer of cotton bales upon the gun deck.
ARMAMENT.
Her armament consisted of a bow gun, a large thirty-pounder rifled Parrott upon her main deck, one twenty-pounder rifled Parrott and three twelve-pounder brass howitzers upon her gun deck. Besides these she had fifty or sixty Mississippi rifles, carbines, cutlasses, pistols, &c.
CREW.
Her crew consisted of a first, second and third master, two pilots, three engineers, blacksmiths, carpenters and deck hands. There was also a detail of twenty-six soldiers from the Eighteenth regiment Illinois infantry, under Capt. Conner and Lieut. Tuthill. The entire expedition and the forces were commanded by Col. Charles R. Ellet, son of the originator of the ram fleet.
COLONEL ELLET.
Colonel Ellet entered the service as lieutenant of infantry, attached to the fleet. His father was colonel, his uncle, now General Ellet, lieutenant colonel. Young Ellet, now scarcely twenty years old, was a medical cadet when the rebellion first broke out. The death of his father caused the promotion of his uncle to a colonelcy and himself to a lieutenant colonelcy. The uncle was subsequently made a brigadier and young Ellet a colonel.
General Ellet is now engaged in forming a brigade, consisting of infantry, cavalry and artillery, to be placed upon transports, the whole to form a part and parcel of the ram fleet. General Ellet commands the ram fleet brigade, and Col. Ellet the ram fleet proper.
THE DE SOTO.
Three weeks since the De Soto, a small steam ferry boat formerly running between De Soto, the terminus of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad and Vicksburg, was captured by General Blairbrigade, and after the passage of the batteries was turned over to Col. Ellet, as a tender to the Queen of the West.
Col. Ellet had surrounded her too with a bulwark of cotton bales and mounted an excellent thirty-two pounder rifle upon her bow. She was of little account in running batteries, and would be only useful on account of her light draught in running up creeks and bayous where the Queen could not venture.
OBJECT OF THE EXPEDITION.
A barge of coal had been floated past the batteries at Vicksburg and caught below, and the two steamers were coaled preparatory for an expedition down the river. The object of the expedition was primarily to capture rebel steamers. Colonel Ellet’s commission was a roving one. He intended, in case he passed the batteries at Warrenton in safety, to steam up Big Black river, which empties into the Mississippi at Grand Gulf, with the Queen, as far as prudence would justify, and then push on with the De Soto. He also hoped to find some steamers between Natchez and Old river. He expected to visit the Atchafalaya, and possibly the Red. Under favoring circumstances, he proposed to pass the batteries at Port Hudson and effect a junction with Farragut below. How much of the work laid out was accomplished will be seen as the narrative progresses.
THE DEPARTURE.
Three journalists accompanied the expedition – Finley Anderson, special correspondent of the NEW YORK HERALD; Bodman, of the Chicago Tribune, and McCullogh, of the Cincinnati Commercial. It was intended to start on Monday evening, February 9, but this was found impracticable. Tuesday night, the 10th, was fixed upon, and at dark both boats were fixed up, and preparations made for their departure. The boats were lashed together, the De Soto on the larboard and the coal barge on the starboard of the Queen, and in this manner moved down the stream
UNDER WEIGH.
At nine o’clock precisely the steamers swung out into the stream and silently moved down the river. The crew expected to be fired upon by the batteries at Warrenton, and made preparations accordingly. Everybody supposed there were heavy batteries there. When the Queen, in her previous passage up and down the river, passed Warrenton she found eight and twelve guns. To their great surprise they were unmolested. Not a shot was fired. The explanation of the phenomenon is, doubtless, that the enemy, anticipating the movement up the Big Black, had removed the battery to protect the railroad bridge, which would naturally be an […..] of interest” to the federals. Whether this explanation is correct is, of course, unknown. One thing is certain, they did not fire. Beyond the delay of an hour or two occasioned by running the De Soto aground a few miles below Warrenton nothing of interest occurred Tuesday night.
GRAND GULF.
Grand Gulf was a flourishing town, situated on the bluffs at the confluence of the Big Black and the Mississippi river. It is a ruined waste.
There is a bit of history connected with Grand Gulf. In May, 1862, Farragut’s fleet passed up the river. The citizens were disposed to pleasantry and fired upon him. He sent word to them that if the offence was repeated he would burn the town. The offence was repeated, and the town was burned.
A railroad extended from Grand Gulf to Port Gibson, twelve miles into the interior, but this is now destroyed.
Three miles below Grand Gulf is the point from whence to New Orleans, in 1853, the steamers Eclipse and A. L. Shortwell made their great twenty-four hours run. The only towns or landings of importance between Grand Gulf and Natchez are St. Joseph, Rodney and Waterproof.
GEN. ZACH. TAYLOR’S PLANTATION.
At Taylor’s Point, nearly opposite Waterproof, is the plantation formerly owned by General Taylor. This is now owned by Dr. New, of Kentucky, who purchased it of his heirs – of whom the President of the Southern confederacy is one. Dr. New is, or was before the secession of Louisiana, a Union man, and was the candidate of the anti-secession element for State Senator. He is a gentleman of taste and culture, and since the failure of his political aspirations has maintained a dignified retiracy. The plantation is an excellent one, and employs a force of a hundred hands, young and old. The Doctor complained of the exactions of the Confederate government, and expressed a wish that the troubles would speedily end and the Union become restored. Colonel Ellet had been informed that President Davis owned the plantation, and intended to seize for the use of the government the cotton and the negroes. Inquiry in proper quarters established the ownership in other hands, and Dr. New was undisturbed.
NATCHEZ.
Thirty miles below Taylor’s Point, upon the summits of magnificent bluffs, lies the beautiful city of Natchez. “Natchez On the Hill” has for many years been the synonym for wealth, culture and refinement, as “Natchez Under the Hill” was the synonym for poverty and crime.
The Queen of the West and the De Soto steamed slowly up and down the river under the bluffs, and the people came out in crowds to see them. There were no offensive demonstrations on either side, and Colonel Ellet was allowed to land and get the papers. He destroyed several skiffs and flatboats, and then visited Vidalia, directly opposite, on the Louisiana shore. Vidalia is a rebel courier post, from whence messengers are despatched North and South whenever any unusual demonstration is made at Natchez or elsewhere.
OLD RIVER.
Wednesday evening Col. Ellet reached the mouth of what is called Old River, into which Red river runs. This was the channel of the Mississippi before the cut off was formed. It describes a large circle, enclosing an island of considerable extent, and seeks the river again through the same entrance. The channel is deep and the water destitute of current. Red River Landing is the southern entrance of Old River.
THE ATCHAFALAYA.
A very singular stream runs out of Old River, through which there is uninterrupted natural communication with the Gulf by way of Berwick Bay and Grand River. The enemy have a battery at Butte La Rose. When this is passed or destroyed we have free passage through the Atchafalaya to New Orleans. There is also a bayou which connects the Atchafalaya with the Mississippi at Pluckerman, below Port Hudson, and in the vicinity of Baton Rouge. The entrance to this bayou is defended by spikes and a battery.
RED RIVER.
This river extends from the northern side of Old river, first northwesterly, and then nearly due west across the State of Louisiana and a long distance into Texas. It is a crooked stream, narrow, with a powerful current, and at this present stage of water is navigable to Paris, nine hundred and sixty miles from New Orleans. Steamers do not usually run farther than Shrevesport, as beyond that point there is what is called the […..] raft,” consisting of the accumulations of drift wood for hundreds of years. This accumulation extends a distance of twenty-five miles, and would have effectually stopped navigation had not the Red River Packet Company constructed a canal through side streams and bayous at a cost of $5,000, through which they go around the raft. The Packet Company are allowed to charge a toll of fifty cents a bale for cotton, and ten cents a barrel for other freight.
IN THE ATCHAFALAYA.
Wednesday night the Queen of the West anchored at the mouth of Old river, with the De Soto a mile in advance, as picket guard. Thursday morning, leaving the De Soto to stand guard near the mouth of Red river, the Queen entered the Atchafalaya. Five or six miles from its mouth a train of eleven army wagons, each driven by two negroes and drawn by six mules, and attended by a squad of cavalry, was discovered coming up the road on the left bank of the river. They had taken salt and provisions to the army. Colonel Ellet halted the train, landed and took possession. The wagons were partially destroyed, mules were turned loose, harnesses were thrown into the river, the negroes were taken aboard, but the escort escaped to the forests on the left. From the negroes Colonel Ellet learned that the rebel steamer Minerva was lying at Simmesport, ten miles below, and concluded to defer the destruction of the wagons until evening. He arrived at Simmesport shortly after, but found that the Minerva had escaped. She left behind her seventy-five barrels of excellent beef, which fell into Colonel Ellet’s hands. This he destroyed. Here he also captured a rebel mail and intercepted important rebel despatches, from one of which he learned of the capture of Berwick Bay and the destruction of the rebel gunboat Cotton by Commodore Farragut. He also captured an artillery baggage wagon filled with fixed ammunition, and officers’ baggage, belonging to Captain Sayers of the Texas Valverde Battery.
GUERILLAS.
The Queen cruised about until nearly dark, shelling the forest in which the balance of the artillery trains had taken refuge, and then turned her prow towards Old River again. Colonel Ellet intended to land at the point where he had captured the wagons in the morning and finish their destruction. Just as the pilot at the wheel was making preparations to land the boat, while the crew were at supper and no one in sight upon the deck of the Queen but the sailing master, a murderous fire of musketry was opened upon her from a squad of citizens behind the levee, and First Master Thompson fell to the deck mortally wounded. The expected landing was, of course, abandoned, and the steamer made the best of her way to her old anchorage.
RETALIATION.
During the night some one came aboard the Queen of the West and informed Colonel Ellet who were the perpetrators of the outrage, and early Friday morning he started to pay them a visit, and take steps towards retaliation. From the mouth of the Atchafalaya to Simmesport there are six splendid sugar plantations, each with fine dwellings, negro quarters and sugar mills upon them. Time was given the women and children to remove their furniture and personal effects from the houses, and every house, barn, shed and mill was burned to the ground. In every instance the people admitted that they had fired upon the Queen, and only regretted that the number was not larger. In one instance a beautiful young lady, the daughter of one of the guerillas, sang the “Bonnie Blue Flag” while her house was burning.
IN RED RIVER.
Friday afternoon the boats entered Red river, and a little after dark reached the mouth of Black river, where they anchored for the night, the De Soto in advance as before, with instructions to fire upon any steamer, no matter what its character, which might approach.
CAPTURE OF THE ERA NO. 5.
Nothing occurred to disturb the little fleet during the night, and by day light on Saturday morning the boats were again under weigh. About ten o’clock the lookout reported smoke approaching. The decks were cleared for action, and shortly after the Era No. 5, a boat of a hundred tons burthen, hove in sight. She saw the Queen almost at the same instant, and was half turned about as if attempting to escape, when Colonel Ellet ordered the bow gun of the Queen to be fired at her. This took effect in her wheel house, demolishing the stove in the cook room, and wounding the negro cook. The people on the Era then went on the hurricane roof, and displayed white flags in token of surrender, and Colonel Ellet ran the Queen along side and took possession. Fourteen privates were found on board, belonging to a Texas cavalry regiment. These he paroled and set ashore, as he did also all the citizens without parole, upon their pledge of honor that they would not attempt to leave the position for four hours. One quartermaster, who had in his possession $28,000 in Confederate funds, was retained, with his money, as were also two lieutenants of Texas troops – Lieutenant Daly and Lieutenant Doyle. The Era was laden with corn, in the ear – 4,500 bushels – worth, in the currency of the confederacy, over $10,000, which was en route for Camden, Arkansas, by way of the Black and Washita rivers. It was intended for the use of the army at Little Rock. There were, as Colonel Ellet afterwards learned, several important despatches on board, which were destroyed, as soon as our character was known, by the officer in charge of them. This officer is now a brigadier general under Major General Hindman, and one against whom and indictment is still pending in Missouri for bridge burning. He escaped by insisting that he was a citizen only; and, as he appeared to be an honorable man, his statement was unquestioned.
THE ERA LEFT BEHIND.
From the place where the Era was captured, to a point twenty miles below Gordon’s Landing, nothing occurred of interest. The lookout was still kept aloft in the hope of discovering other prizes, but because the intelligence of the capture had been carried to the fort at the landing across the country, or from other causes unknown, no craft more imposing than a skiff or a dugout made its appearance. Some idea of the ease with which information can be carried in that country can be had, when I state, that so crooked is the river at this point, that what requires twenty miles of difficult navigation by steamer, can be accomplished by land in two miles. Where the river is most crooked, and where the current runs the swiftest, the Era was left, with the coal barge, still containing a thousand bushels, lashed to her side. Both were in charge of a corporal and three men, who also undertook to guard the prisoners.
APPROACH TO GORDON’S LANDING.
The next twenty miles were most difficult of passage. So intricate was the channel, and so powerful the current, that it required the united efforts of both pilots to keep the “Queen” from beaching and landing high and dry among the timber. As Colonel Ellet approached the fortifications called Fort Taylor, from General Taylor, who commands at Alexandria, La., sixty miles above the landing, he captured several fishermen and others in dugouts, from whom he obtained a clear idea of the character of the works. Some thought there were two guns mounted, others three, but all agreed that the fort could not withstand an hour the weight of the metal the Queen could bring against it. The troops there were variously estimated at from seventy-five to two hundred men. They all said, too, they would not fight, that the first broadside from the Queen would put them to flight. When still two miles distant a gentleman with his wife rode along the levee in his carriage, the gentleman swinging his hat and the woman her handkerchief. Either they were loyal, and thus gave expression to their hopes for her success, or rebels, and thus waved her on to destruction.
As we approach Fort Taylor from below the bends grow larger and more formidable, until we are almost within six hundred yards of the guns. Here the river takes an abrupt turn to the east. A long bar from the point of land opposite the bend of the river, where the water is shallow, and near which is a powerful eddy which draws the boat upon shore with the certainty of fate, unless it is avoided by keeping closely in the bend of the river opposite.
It was just at nightfall – almost dark – when the Queen approached this point. The enemy knew she was coming, both because he had doubtless received the intelligence by courier, and because, while a mile below, she had fired two of her rifled Parrotts at some retreating steamer above the fort.
LOSS OF THE QUEEN.
Colonel Ellet had pressed into his service the pilot of the captured Era, and placing him in the pilot house, forced him to assist at the wheel. She moved slowly up the river at […..] bell,” but with a full head of steam in her boilers, and instead of taking the bend of the river outside the eddy, ran inside, and in an instant was hard aground and immovable as the hills. It was at this very instant that the three rifled thirty-two pounders in Fort Taylor opened fire. Each shot told with fearful accuracy. Solid shot crashed through her cabins as if they were made of paper. Shell exploded between her chimneys, upon her decks, over her pilot house – all about her, and she fixed and immovable. Every exertion was made to back her off, but all was of no avail. In her present position none of the Queen’s guns were effective. The rebels had the range perfectly, and if firing at a target in broad daylight could not have done better execution. Presently word came from the engine room that the lever was shot away, then that the escape pipe was broken, and almost immediately after the terrible roar and tumult of rushing steam showed that her steam chest was penetrated.
At this time no one thought of saving the boat. It needed all their exertions to save themselves. It was at first thought the boiler had exploded, but though the vessel shook and reeled as if from an earthquake shock, it was soon discovered the boilers were unhurt. Soon the rushing steam entered every part of the vessel, the main deck, the hold, the cabin and pilot house. My informant was in the pilot house, and with a woolen rag lying hard by. With some difficulty he escaped to the cabin and from thence to the hurricane roof, where many of the crew and the three journalists were gathered.
All this time the crash of the shell and roar of the guns were fearfully distinct, the shot hissing and screaming in dangerous proximity to their heads. Some leaped overboard and were drowned. Others tumbled cotton bales into the river and attempted to float with the current. Mr. Anderson was last seen standing, undecided whether to risk escape on a cotton bale or risk capture by remaining. Bodman swung himself from the hurricane roof, and reached the De Soto in a skiff. McCullough sought a cotton bale, and debated whether he should trust his precious body upon it. While thus engaged the bale floated beyond his reach, and immediately thereafter a shell alighted upon it, and exploding blew it into a thousand fragments. “Mack” seized another bale, and reached the De Soto in safety. Colonel Ellet escaped in like manner.
The enemy hearing no reply to his guns, and discovering from the rush of steam that some accident had occurred, slackened his fire and sent boats to reconnoitre. Three yawls loaded with men, approached the vessel, to whom the crew remaining on board signified their surrender. Thus the Quest of the West, with all her guns and ammunition, fell a prize into the hands of our enemies.
THE DE SOTO.
The De Soto was less than a mile below where the accident to the Queen of the West occurred, and came up as near the point as prudence justified. She picked up the floaters, and sent her yawl for the survivors, but before it reached the Queen of the West all who remained on board were in the enemy hands and prisoners, herself narrowly escaping capture. The river banks began to be lined with soldiers, who demanded, in voices plainly discernible by those on board, the surrender of men swimming for their lives. Fearing a re-enactment of the White river tragedy, Colonel Ellet thought proper to order the De Soto to move down the river. She was turned, and slowly floated down with the current, picking up poor unfortunates as she ran. The steamer had not proceeded more than three miles before she ran aground in a sharp turn of the river, and unshipped her rudder. For fifteen miles and for three hours she was unmanageable, and moved with the current, sometimes head on and at other times stern on. At eleven o’clock she reached the Era, and found the men and prisoners undisturbed. The coal barge had sunk, and Col. Ellet was forced to leave it.
DESTRUCTION OF THE DE SOTO.
Just as they reached the Era the pilot caused the second rudder to be unshipped. She was now totally unmanageable, and there was no alternative left but to destroy her. A man was sent on board, who knocked out her water pipes and then laid a train to a keg of powder placed under the boilers, and setting a slow match on fire the Era had barely time to move a hundred rods or so before the De Soto exploded with a tremendous report. Her magnificent thirty-two pounder Parrott, the chief object of Colonel Ellet’s care, lies forty feet below the surface of the river.
INTO THE MISSISSIPPI.
It was nearly twelve o’clock Saturday night before the Era was well under weigh again. Colonel Ellet knew that the gunboat Webb was at Alexandria, sixty miles above Gordon Landing, and he was certain she would attempt to pursue him. All hands were set to work to throw overboard the corn with which she was laden, and in the fog, thunder, lightning and rain she worried her way out of the Red river into the Mississippi. They cursed the fog then; they blessed it afterwards.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
Sunday morning the Era had reached the mouth of Old river. All day long, with no fuel but the corn with which she was laden, and a few cords of water soaked cypress, which she found on the bank of the Mississippi, and with which she found it impossible to make steam enough to give her headway, the fleeing steamer attempted to get up the river. Forty miles in twenty-four hours is poor sailing under the most unfavorable circumstances; yet the Era made scarcely that. At Union Point she was run aground. This delayed her three hours. How this delay affected the fugitives may easily be imagined. They knew that the Webb was at Alexandria, sixty miles above Gordon Landing, and they felt assured she would start in pursuit when she heard of their repulse at Fort Taylor. At the best, even if she laid over for the fog – a thing hardly likely under the circumstances – she could be but a short distance behind. Those on board, anticipating their capture, were discussing the probabilities of escape by skiffs and yawls to Port Hudson.
THE IRON CLAD INDIANOLA.
The carpenter had managed to construct a spar form the forest near where the Era was aground, and after three hours’ hard work the steamer was afloat again. Colonel Ellet’s first duty afterwards was to place the pilot under arrest.
They had just passed Ellis’ Cliffs, when, through the fog, the lookout discovered the black chimney of some passing steamer. At that distance, and because the hull of the steamer was still enveloped in dense vapor, it was impossible to make her out. That she burned coal, as was evident from the black smoke pouring from her chimneys, was enough to satisfy the crew of her character. “It was the federal steamer Indianola.” No more fear of the Webb.
The Era was laid alongside the Indianola and coaled. The crew had eaten nothing for thirty-six hours, and were nearly famished. The Indianola fed them. They were coatless and bootless, some of them, and the Indianola clothed them. They had lost their arms and ammunition in the Queen, and these were supplied by the Indianola.
THE WEBB IN SIGHT.
Scarcely was the Era well settled in her new position beside the Indianola when a steamer hove in sight. The fog was just lifting, and she could easily be distinguished. It was the veritable Webb. In two hours she would have recaptured the Era. The anchor was hoisted and the decks of the iron-clad cleared for action. Two of her eleven-inch bow guns were trained upon her, and when within two miles of Ellis’ Cliff, under the shadow of which the Webb was lying, two shot, each weighing 180 pounds, were sent bowling over the waters after her. They unfortunately fell short, and the rebel steamer turned upon her heel and started down the river like a greyhound, not slackened her speed until two hours after she entered the mouth of Red river. Her consorts – the Doubloon, Grand Duke and Grand Era were but a short distance behind, and they, too, disappeared up the Red river with the Webb.
AGAIN UNDER WAY.
The Indianola, with the Era, lay to during the night for the fog. The Webb could run three miles to their one, and it was madness to continue the chase.
The fog did not clear off until next day, just as they reached the mouth of Old River. Here they laid at anchor until Wednesday noon, when the Era cast off and started on her perilous journey up the river.
“COTTON” CLAD.
The Era stopped at the plantation of the minor heirs of the late Dr. Jenkins, five miles above the mouth of ginhouse for cotton. Three hundred bales were found, and all the negroes on this and the neighboring plantations were impressed to roll it a hundred rods to the bank of the river. Three rows of cotton were then placed on the guards of the Era, around her boilers and machinery, and a breastwork formed high enough to protect the crew from rebel sharpshooters. Colonel Ellet had no fear of rebel gunboats so long as the Indianola was below him; but he did fear their rifles and batteries, and protected himself as well as possible from them.
NATCHEZ AGAIN.
The Era passed Natchez Thursday morning, and, as before, the citizens came out in crowds to see her. Just as she passed three men crossed the river in a skiff. They doubtless belonged to the courier post stationed there, and from thence the fact of the Era’s escape would be widely known.
CAPTURED MAIL.
At St. Joseph, La., early Friday morning, Colonel Ellet captured a rebel mail. Some of letters were from soldiers to their friends at home, and from these he learned of a rod in pickle at Grand Gulf and New Carthage. At the latter place is a rebel army, the soldiers said, six thousand strong, and they hoped […..] to the Era hell” as she passed up the river.
GRAND GULF BATTERY.
The rebels had placed a masked battery of two small field pieces in one of the ravines across the face of the bluffs at Grand Gulf, twenty feet above the water’s edge, with which they opened upon the Era as she came abreast of them. The shot whistled alarmingly near, one exploding just at the water edge, another between the pilot house. Fortunately not one of the forty shots fired proved effective, and just as the Era was out of range and the last shot exploded the pilot most tauntingly blew his steam whistle.
BATTERIES AT NEW CARTHAGE.
At New Carthage Colonel Ellet had been led to expect an attack. Just before he reached the town the enemy sharpshooters opened upon him from the opposite side of the river. It was doubtless their intention to compel the Era to take the shute of the island nearest the batteries. This would have taken her within a hundred feet of its guns. Colonel Ellet, anticipating this, instead of taking the left shute, kept up the right all the time, and was for several miles exposed to the fire of their sharpshooters. The Era’s cabin still bears the evidences of this persistent fire; but the crew were kept below, behind the cotton bulwark, and so escaped unhurt.
Palmyra Island lies directly in front of New Carthage. When the Era passed the upper point of this island the batteries opened like a pack of hounds in full chorus. These guns were more formidable than those at Grand Gulf. There were three of them – twelve pounder rifles. Owing to the foresight of Colonel Ellet, in taking the proper channel around the island, they fell considerably short. There were thirty-six shots from this battery.
BATTERIES AT WARRENTON.
When the Queen passed down the river she was not fired upon at Warrenton, and it was supposed the guns there had been removed to protect the bridge across Big Black. If this was correct, Col. Ellet thought they might still move a battery of field artillery from Vicksburg for […..] night only,” to intercept the Era. This supposition proved correct, for at twelve o’clock on Friday night when opposite Warrenton, the batteries opened their oft heard roar of welcome. The same good fortune attended the Era. She was under fire forty minutes, and thought many times escaping by a hairbreadth apparently. Not one of the forty shots fired raised so much as the smell of powder upon her. The Era now lies moored to the shore, unharmed and in as good condition as when a week ago she departed from Alexandria for Camden.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The prisoners were yesterday placed on board the Admiral’s ship, whence they will soon be sent to Camp Chase. During the fire they behaved with great coolness, particularly Lieutenant Daly, of the Seventeenth Texas cavalry.
The last seen of Mr. Anderson he was standing upon the hurricane deck of the Queen soon after her explosion. A deserter from the Webb, whom Colonel Ellet found at a plantation near Ellis Cliff, says he was taken prisoner and is now at Alexandria, La. He will doubtless be well taken care of, and will return to us on the next flag of truce….