ARMY OPERATIONS. 



43 



Queen, and it was evident that to repeat the 

 blow would involve the loss of the steamer. 

 The effort was then made to turn her head out 

 toward the stream, which, owing to the action 

 of the wind and current, was, after some delay, 

 accomplished. She then proceeded down the 

 stream with all hands at work to extinguish 

 the fire. Meantime the discharge from the 

 batteries became quick and incessant, and she 

 now received most of the dozen shots which 

 hit her from the artillery and the sharpshoot- 

 ers on the shore. No material injury, howev- 

 er, was done, and she anchored below the out- 

 let of the canal until one o'clock p. M., when she 

 proceeded down the river. 



On this expedition, down the river, her of- 

 ficers Captured, below Natchez, and burned 

 three small steamers, the Moro, Berwick Bay, 

 and A. "W. Baker ; one of them was laden with 

 pork, and another with molasses and sugar. She 

 ran fifteen miles up the Red river, and returned 

 on the fifth for a supply of coal. During the 

 night a flatboat loaded with coal was cast loose 

 in the stream, and passing the batteries safely, 

 floated down to the steamer. 



On the night of the 10th of February, this 

 steamer started 'on another expedition down 

 the Mississippi. . The first object of the ex- 

 pedition was to capture Confederate steamers. 

 It was also proposed to run up the Big Black 

 river, which empties into the Mississippi at 

 Grand Gulf, to visit the Atchafalaya, and per- 

 haps the Red river, and, if practicable, to pass 

 the batteries at Port Hudson, and effect a junc- 

 tion with the fleet below under Com. Farragut. 

 A tender was provided for the Queen of the 

 "West in the steamer De Soto, a small ferry 

 boat once running between De Soto, the ter- 

 mination of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and 

 Texas railroad, across to Vicksburg. The bat- 

 teries at Warrenton, eight miles below, were 

 passed without molestation. At Taylor's Point, 

 above Natchez, at the plantation once owned 

 the late President Taylor, a short stop was 

 made. It was found to be occupied by friendly 

 owners. ' Natchez was next passed, and on "Wed- 

 nesday evening the steamer reached the mouth 

 of Old river, into which Red river runs. This 

 was the channel of the Mississippi before the 

 cut-off was formed. The Red river extends 

 from the northern side of Old river, first north- 

 westerly, and then nearly west, across the 

 State of Louisiana, into Texas. At high water 

 it is navigable to Paris, nine hundred and sixty 

 miles from New Orleans. 



Passing the night at anchor at the mouth of 

 Old river, on the next morning, the 12th, leav- 

 ing the De Soto as a guard near the mouth of 

 Old river, the Queen of the West entered the 

 Atchafalaya, which flows north and empties 

 into Red river just above its junction with 

 Old river. A train of eleven army wagons 

 was captured about five miles up the river, and 

 at Semmes's port, ten miles farther up, seventy 

 five barrels of beef and a mail with despatches 

 was taken, but a Confederate steamer at that 



place had escaped. Returning down the river 

 near dark, the steamer was fired on at the 

 point where the wagons had been captured, 

 and the first master mortally wounded. A land- 

 ing was not made, but the steamer returned to 

 the anchorage of the previous night. On the 

 next morning Col. Ellet, having been informed 

 of the parties who fired on the boat, returned 

 and destroyed the dwellings, mills, and negro 

 quarters on six sugar plantations above the 

 mouth of the Atchafalaya. During the after- 

 noon the steamers entered the Red river, and 

 moved up as far as the mouth-of Black river, at 

 dark, where they anchored for the night. The 

 Black river, formed by the junction of the 

 "Washita and Tensas rivers, flows south and 

 empties into the Red river, a short distance 

 above the mouth of the Atchafalaya. At day- 

 light on the next morning they were under 

 way up the river. About ten o'clock, the 

 Era, No. 5, a steamer of one hundred tons, was 

 discovered approaching. At the same time 

 she discovered the Queen, and attempted to 

 turn for the purpose of escaping, when a shot 

 from the former demolished her wheelhouse, 

 and her officers surrendered. Fourteen Texan 

 soldiers and a number of citizens were found 

 on board. The former were paroled and the 

 latter dismissed, except a quartermaster, hav- 

 ing $28,000 in Confederate fitnds, and two 

 lieutenants. The boat was loaded with 4,500 

 bushels of corn in the ear, destined for the 

 Confederate forces at Little Rock. Nothing 

 further of importance was discovered during 

 the passage of the next twenty miles up the 

 river. In fact the stream is so crooked in 

 some parts, that a distance of two miles across 

 the land would strike a point to reach which a 

 steamer would be obliged to go twenty miles. 

 Thus information was easily sent of the ap- 

 proach of hostile vessels. Some twenty miles 

 farther up was located Fort Taylor, a post 

 which was supposed to be manned by about one 

 hundred and fifty men, with two or three guns. 

 It was situated on the south bank of the river, 

 just above a bend which its guns commanded, 

 that was made by an abrupt turn of the river 

 to the north. From the point opposite this 

 bend a long bar projected, on which the water 

 is shallow, and it is necessary to " hug " the 

 south shore to avoid being driven on the bar by 

 a strong eddy. 



The Era had been left with the three pris- 

 oners under a guard about twenty miles below. 

 It was about nightfall as the Queen approached 

 the bend of the river, with the De Soto a con- 

 siderable distance astern. The pilot of the 

 captured Era had been forced to assist at the 

 wheel, owing to the intricacies of the channel. 

 Upon turning the point, the Queen struck up- 

 on the bar and became fast aground in a posi- 

 tion in which none of her guns were effective. 

 The guns of the fort immediately opened upon 

 her with fearful accuracy and rapidity. The 

 shot and shell struck all about her. The lever 

 of the engine was shot away, the escape pipe 



