44 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



broken, and the immediate roar of steam that 

 enveloped the vessel showed that her steam 

 chest had been penetrated. Every thought of 

 saving the steamer was given up, and the exer- 

 .1 tions of all were made to save themselves. 

 i Many .threw bales of cotton overboard and float- 

 ed on them down to the De Soto a mile below, 

 among whom was Col. Ellet. The fort seeing 

 there was no reply to their guns, and conceiv- 

 ing from the rush of steam that something had 

 happened, slackened their fire and sent boats 

 to reconnoitre. By this force the remainder 

 of the crew were captured, and the boat made 

 a prize. 



Meanwhile the De Soto approached as near 

 the point as was safe, and picked up those who 

 were floating, and sent a boat for the crew, 

 which was almost captured by the enemy, who 

 had already reached the Queen. Finding that 

 soldiers were collecting on the shore, the De 

 Soto was turned and slowly floated down the 

 stream. Three miles below she ran aground 

 and unshipped her rudder, and for the next fif- 

 teen miles and during three hours she was un- 

 manageable, and moved with the current. As 

 she reached the Era at eleven o'clock, a second 

 rudder was unshipped, and she became unman- 

 ageable again, when Col. Ellet ordered her to 

 be blown up. 



It was about'twelve o'clock at night before 

 the Era was under way. It was known to 

 Col. Ellet that the swift gunboat "Webb was at 

 Alexandria, about sixty miles up the river, and 

 he was confident that pursuit would be made 

 after him by her. All hands were set to work 

 to throw overboard the corn with which the 

 Era was laden, and amid fog, thunder, light- 

 ning and rain, she worried her way out of the 

 Red rive'r into the Mississippi by morning. All 

 that day, which was Sunday, with no fuel but 

 some of the corn with which she had been 

 laden, and cypress" found on the banks too 

 wet to make steam enough to give her head- 

 way, the fleeing steamer attempted to get up 

 the river. She had made scarcely forty miles 

 in twenty-four hours. At Union Point she was 

 run aground and detained three hours in get- 

 ting off. After passing Ellis's Cliffs, the black 

 chimney of a passing steamer was discovered 

 over the fog which enveloped her hull. The 

 black smoke from her chimney showed that she 

 burned coal, and that it was a Federal steamer. 

 It was the Indianola, and all fear of the "Webb 

 was over. Scarcely was the Era well along- 

 side of the Indianola and the fog had lifted a 

 little, when the Webb hove in sight. A brief 

 pursuit of her was made by the two boats, 

 without success. The Era was then furnished 

 with supplies, and sent up to Admiral Porter. 



The Indianola, which came so fortunately to 

 the rescue of Col. Ellet, was one of the finest 

 of the ironclad gunboats of the squadron : she 

 was new, and was 174 feet long, 60 feet beam, 

 10 feet from the top of her deck to the bottom 

 of her keel, or 8 feet 4 inches in the clear. Her 

 sides (of wood) for five feet down were thirty- 



two inches thick, having bevelled sticks laid 

 outside the hull (proper), and all of oak. Out- 

 side of this was three-inch thick plate iron* 

 Her clamps and keelsons were as heavy as the 

 largest ships. Her deck was eight inches solid, 

 with one-inch iron plate, all well bolted. Her 

 casemate stood at an incline of 26 degrees, 

 and was covered with three-inch iron, as were 

 also her ports. She had a heavy grating on 

 top of the casemate that no shell could pene- 

 trate, and every scuttle and hatch was equally 

 well covered. She was ironed all round, ex- 

 cept some temporary rooms on deck, and, be- 

 sides the amount of wood and iron already 

 stated, had coal bunkers seven feet thick along- 

 side of her boilers, the entire machinery being 

 in the hold. She had seven engines two for 

 working her side wheels, two for her propellers, 

 two for her capstans, and one for supplying 

 water and working the bilge and fire pumps. 

 She had five large five-flued boilers, and made 

 abundance of steam. Her forward casemate had 

 two 11-inch Dahlgren guns, and her after case- 

 mate two 9-inch. Her forward casemate was 

 pierced for two guns in front, one on each side, 

 and two aft, so that she could fire two guns 

 forward, one on each side, and'four at an angle 

 sideways and astern. She had also hose for 

 throwing scalding water from the boilers, that 

 would reach from stem to stern, and there was 

 communication from the casemates to all parts 

 of the vessel without the least exposure. The 

 pilot house was also thoroughly ironclad, and 

 instant communication could be had with the 

 gunners and engineers, enabling the pilot to 

 place the vessel in just such position as might 

 be required fc.' effective action. She left her 

 anchorage at the mouth of the Yazoo, about 

 ten o'clock on the night of February 13th, to 

 run below the batteries at Vicksburg. The 

 night was hazy and cloudy, and thus exceed- 

 ingly dark. After passing entirely through the 

 fleet, and reaching the vicinity of the upper 

 end of the canal, she shut off steam entirely, 

 and suffered the current to bear her along. Its 

 rate was about four miles an hour. In perfect 

 obscurity she rounded the point, and drifted 

 fairly beneath the formidable batteries. The 

 tide bore her down directly toward the levee 

 of the city. Lights were everywhere numer- 

 ous, and the voices of citizens and soldiers 

 sounded as if they were close alongside. Still 

 the black and noiseless mass drifted along, al- 

 most rubbing the bank, yet undiscovered. The 

 whole levee was patrolled by sentinels, and at 

 one spot a camp fire was dimly burning. AB 

 the drifting vessel approached this point, a 

 soldier stooping down gathered some faggots 

 and threw them into the fire. A bright blaze 

 flashed up for a moment, exposing everything 

 within its sphere. The Indianola was seen by 

 a soldier, who discharged his musket at her. 

 At that discharge the soldiers everywhere along 

 the bluff sprang to arms. A battery near the 

 centre of the city fired a gun, rockets were sent 

 off, soldiers on the bank discharged their rnus- 



