NAVAL ACTION AT MEMPHIS. 449 ing to be secessionists." Everywhere boats of the Stonington or Fall river along the stream, as the fleet descended, lines, carrying a walking beam and low cotton was seen floating on the water. It pressure engines. She is smaller than had been thrown into the river by order the Plymouth Rock, but has a general of the rebel emissaries to prevent its resemblance to that boat. When in her capture. Here and there the smoke was original mercantile pursuits she was ascending from the burnt cotton houses known as the Mexico. The remainder on the plantations. At evening the of the rebel flotilla were most of them old squadron lay a few miles above Memphis. coasting or New Orleans boats, with one A decisive engagement with the rebel or two exceptions, authorities differing fleet awaited it on the morrow. as to which of them were constructed for war purposes. Several of them were covered with railroad iron, but the guns were all mounted en barbette, on forward or after deck, and not protected by casemates. The entire fleet was commanded by Commodore Edward Montgomery, formerly a steamboat captain in the river trade. The Union fleet, under command of Commodore Davis, consisted of the following boats and commanders: Benton, Captain Phelps; Carondelet, Captain Walke; St. Louis, Lieutenant com "At daylight," writes a correspondent who accompanied the fleet, the gunboats tripped anchor and slowly steamed, or rather backed, down the river, till they were within three miles of Memphis. The rebel fleet was perceived lying on the Arkansas shore, opposite Memphis, with steam up, ready to move at any moment. It was Commodore Davis' intention not to open battle until the men had taken their breakfast, and, in accordance with this design, he sigualed his fleet to halt, and a few mo-manding McGonigle; Louisville, Captain ments later give additional orders for the boats to move up the river. As soon as the rebels perceived our fleet they at once steamed out into the river and formed in line of battle across it, the flagship taking the centre, a little in advance of the others. When Commodore Davis halted and started up stream the rebel fleet advanced to meet him, and the prospect of battle was hailed with delight by all on board. Dove; Cairo, Lieutenant Bryant. The Union ram fleet consisted of the boats Monarch, Queen of the West, Lioness, Switzerland, Mingo, Lancaster No. 3, Fulton, Hornet, and Samson. They were formerly Pittsburg tow-boats, and were strengthened and fitted with iron prows for running down the rebel boats.. They were in command of Colonel Ellet, the engineer who constructed the Niagara suspension bridge, and were fitted up under his immediate supervision. Government had adopted them, and was to pay for them in case they accomplished the end desired. The result of to-day's operations shows them to be a complete success. But two of them were engaged "The rebel fleet consisted of the General Van Dorn (flag-ship), General Price, General Bragg, General Lovell, Little Rebel, Jeff. Thompson, Sumter, and General Beauregard-all of them being hybrids between rams and gunboats, strengthened for use as rams, and mount-in the battle, a third that attempted to ed with guns for engaging the enemy in the ordinary manner of naval encounters. The Little Rebel was formerly a New Orleans towboat, and was armed with two short 32-pound guns. The General Bragg was once a coasting steamer in the New Orleans and Galveston trade, and in general appearance resembles the take part in the affair, losing her rudder before the scene of action. The control of the rams was entirely independent of that of the gunboats, as also was that of the infantry, none of the three commanders being responsible to either of the others. "As the two battle lines of gunboats moved slowly up the stream, the rebels in pursuit of their foes, Commodore Davis, seeing the enemy's willingness to fight, concluded to commence the action at once, and either whip or be whipped before breakfast. Accordingly he signaled for only sufficient steam to be kept on to stem the current, and awaited the approach of his antagonists. When the latter reached the mouth of Wolf river, at the northern extremity of the bluff on which Memphis stands, the Little Rebel let fly a shot at the Benton, which passed over that boat and fell into the river half a mile beyond. The two lines were then about three-fourths of a mile apart, the Union boats lying in the order given above, the Benton near the Tennessee, and the Cairo near the Arkansas shore. Three guns were fired by the rebels before we replied, the first answering shot being made by the Cairo, and the other boats following immediately. A brisk fire was then kept up for about fifteen minutes, both parties stopping their engines and allowing the boats to drop down with the current. The stern guns of the Union boats were two in number, so that from the five boats there were ten guns firing as fast as possible. As there are three guns on the bow of each boat, and as the ironplating is much thicker there than at the stern, Commodore Davis, at the end of fifteen minutes, gave orders for the boats to wear around and head down the stream. When they wheeled about each boat discharged its broadside guns as fast as they were brought within range. When the boats had taken their new position they renewed their fire. The distance at which the action commenced had been shortened somewhat and the boats were within less than half a mile of each other. Up to this time no damage had been caused either by the Union or rebel guns. A few shots from the latter fell quite near the Benton and Cairo, and one shell struck the water less than ten feet in front of the tug Jessie, in which an anxious journalist had ensconced himself. The spray was thrown completely over the party in the tug, but no one was injured. At the time the action opened, the rams Monarch and Queen of the West were lying at the Arkansas shore, about half a mile in rear of our line of battle. They had on a full head of steam, and at the moment signal was made for the gunboats to wear around, these rams started from their landings and advanced to "go in." As they passed through our line dense clouds of smoke issued from their smoke stacks, and the wheels revolved with unaccustomed rapidity. When the gunboats commenced wearing round the rebels advanced; but when they saw our rams approaching they stopped short, and were evidently thrown into consternation. The Queen of the West was about a fourth of a mile in advance of the Monarch, and made for the Beauregard. As the Queen approached, the Beauregard fired a bow gun at apparently not more than four rods' distance, but the shot went wide of its mark and fell in the river a mile nearer St. Louis than its point of departure. The Beauregard then turned just in time to avoid the stroke of the Queen, which passed on and hit the Sterling Price, which drifted down the stream and stranded on the Arkansas shore. The prow of the Queen encountered the Price just forward of the wheel-house on the larboard side, and as the force of the blow was given diagonally the timbers were crushed in, and the entire larboard wheel carried away. As the Queen went by the Beauregard the latter fired a second shot, which took effect, but did no particular damage. The Little Rebel fired several shots at the Queen, one of which struck the casemating around her boilers, but failed to go through. Almost at the instant the Queen struck and disabled the General Price, she was herself struck by the Beauregard and somewhat injured. Her engines were not in working order, and she drifted down the stream until after PROGRESS OF THE ACTION. 451 wards taken in tow by the Monarch and slackened his speed, and the stroke upon while the rebels were recovering from good condition, but it is feared that her "When the Queen of the West moved toward the Beauregard, the Monarch selected the Lovell as the object of her special attention. The Lovell attempted to evade the blow, but was unable to do so, and she was hit by the Monarch fair-upper works are visible and appear in ly on the starboard side, just forward of the wheel. Her sides were crushed in as if made of pasteboard, and she sunk in less than three minutes, her upper works floating away with several of her crew clinging to it. The water was full of swimming and drowning rebels calling "After the Monarch and Queen of the for aid, and the Benton at once put off West passed our gunboats, on the way her boats for their assistance. One of to join in the engagement, the latter vesthem was swamped in launching, and two sel ceased firing through fear of injuring of the Benton's crew came near drown- their friends. When the Queen retired ing. The other boat hastened to the disabled, and the Monarch, after sinking scene of the disaster, and was followed the Lovell and Beauregard, went to her by the tug Jessie, the tender of the Ben- aid, the Union gunboats, having apton. A few were saved, but it is esti-proached within short range, reopened mated that at least fifty of the Lovell's fire with considerable effect. A shot crew must have drowned. After the from the Cairo passed through the steam Monarch had disposed of the Lovell, she drum of the Little Rebel and she drifted turned to the Beauregard, which was on shore. No balls struck the Sumter, just ending her little affair with the but their proximity to the wheel-house Queen. She was too near to get on a frightened her pilot, and he run her to sufficient head of steam to strike the the Arkansas bank where she was deBeauregard with force enough to dam- serted by her crew. As soon as the age her sides, and she therefore run men manning the rebel boats landed on alongside, and grappled the latter at bow the shore and fled to the timber, three and stern. She then opened with her of our gunboats, the Cairo, Carondelet, hot water hose, and for a few minutes and Louisville, opened upon the woods drenched the decks of the Beauregard with two broadsides of grape and shell, with a scalding flood. Her sharpshooters and completely cleared them of the enekept constantly at work, and their rifles my. Two shots struck the Jeff. Thompcaused considerable havoc among the son, disabling her machinery, and after enemy. Whilst she was in this position drifting slowly down the river two or a rebel boat came up to strike her, but three miles she went ashore, and was she suddenly let go her hold of the set on fire by her own men. The flames Beauregard and backed out, permitting gained rapidly upon her, and in fifthe blow intended for herself to fall upon teen minutes her boilers blew up. Twenty the latter. The pilot of the rebel ram minutes later the fire reached her maga 1 zine and ended the career of the Jeff. Thompson. An enormous and dazzling flash of light, a huge volume of dense black smoke, a sullen roar like that of half a dozen mortars combined, and the air for many seconds filled with falling timbers, comprised the blaze of glory in which the rebel gunboat expired. One shell upon her burst a few minutes before the final crash of the magazine, but its report was as nothing compared with the sound of the final grand explosion. The General Bragg exchanged several shots with the Benton, the fortune of the contest being decidedly adverse to the former. A fifty pound Parrott shot struck the Bragg and passed entirely through her, and she was hulled three times by thirty-two pound shells. One of the latter set her on fire, and she was run upon the Arkansas shore and abandoned by her officers and crew. She drifted off and was boarded by Lieutenant Bishop, of the Benton, who succeeded in extinguishing the fire and saving the vessel. At the time he boarded her he found her boilers red hot, and was obliged to use great caution to prevent their explosion. The Bragg is an old seagoing boat, and is in very good condition, with the exception of the perforations made by the shot and shell of the Benton. Lieutenant Bishop captured her four or five miles below Memphis, and at once brought her back. She was taken in tow by one of the rams until her boilers were in condition to work her own engines, when she came up opposite the city, where she now lies, with her flag humbly drooping beneath the Stars and Stripes. The only remaining boat of the fleet was the General. Van Dorn, which had taken no conspicuous part in the action. Once the Monarch tried to strike her, but she eluded the blow and moved down the river. The Cairo attempted to engage her at short range, but she kept aloof, determined not to be caught at close quarters. Captain Bryant, of the Cairo, threw one shot which is thought to have struck the Van Dorn, though it is not certainly known. After the destruction of the rest of the fleet, the Van Dorn fled towards New Orleans pursued by the Carondelet and Cairo. Being a powerful sidewheel boat, she easily distanced them, and when last seen had disappeared behind a bend, after a chase of nine miles. The gunboats all returned from below, and with ports triced up, and guns out, formed a pleasant spectacle in front of Memphis. "The opening gun from the Little Rebel was fired at forty minutes after five o'clock, the rams passed the Benton at fifty-five minutes after five, and the last gun at the Van Dorn, as she escaped, was discharged at forty-three minutes after six o'clock. The battle was thus an hour and three minutes in its entire duration, and the boast of the rebels that they would whip us before breakfast, was reversed in its fulfillment. The loss of the rebels is not known, and can only be estimated. There were seven boats, with crews of probably fifty or seventyfive men each. Most of the Lovell's crew were lost, and many on the Beauregard were fatally scalded by the steam and hot water from the Monarch. Several were killed by the sharpshooters, as we are informed by the prisoners. Captain William Cabell, commanding the General Lovell, fell by a rifle ball in the forehead. He was an old steam boatman, and personally known to many in our fleet. Though our shot struck the rebel boats several times it is not known that any one was killed by them. By drowning, hot water, and sharpshooters, it is probable not less than a hundred of the insurgents lost their lives. Fifty-four prisoners were taken, among them two former pilots on the Mississippi, well known to most river men. On the Union side, Colonel Ellet, of the ram fleet, was wounded in the leg by a splinter. wound is not serious. Colonel Ellet was on the Queen of the West at the time she His COLONEL ELLET'S REPORT. 453 returned with equal spirit. I ordered the Queen, my flag-ship, to pass between the gunboats and run down ahead of them upon the two rams of the enemy, which first boldly stood their ground. Colonel Ellet, in the Monarch, of which Captain Dryden is first master, followed gallantly. The rebel rams endeavored to back down stream, and then to turn and run, but the movement was fatal to them. The Queen struck one of them fairly, and for a few minutes was fast to the wreck. After separating, the rebel steamer sunk. My steamer, the Queen, was then herself struck by another rebel steamer, and disabled, but though dam was hulled by the enemy's shot. No other person on the Union fleet was in any way injured during the entire battle. The citizens of Memphis turned out in large numbers to witness the action between the fleets, and in twenty minutes from the opening shot, the levee was covered with an anxious crowd. The sterner sex was not alone represented, for the Memphian ladies were nearly as numerous as their masculine companions, and the moving pyramids of silk and calico may have been the cause of the bad aim of the rebel gunners. Even the accidental circumstance of a shot passing over the levee, and striking the city icehouse and passing entirely through, fail-aged can be saved. A pistol shot wound ed to astonish or alarm them. Not less than five thousand persons witnessed the engagement, and probably a new spectacle to all. Not a cheer rose from the vast assemblage, as the tide of battle was hardly in accordance with the sympathies of the Memphians."* Flag-Officer Davis summed up the capture or destruction of the Confederate fleet in a dispatch to Secretary Welles immediately after the action, as follows: "The General Beauregard blown up and burned. The General Sterling Price one wheel carried away. The Jeff. Thompson set on fire by a shell and burned and magazine blown up. The Sumter badly cut up by shot, but will be repaired. The Little Rebel, boiler exploded, and otherwise injured, but will be repaired. Besides this, one of the rebel boats was sunk in the beginning of the action. Her name is not known. A boat, supposed to be the Van Dorn, escaped from the flotilla by her superior speed. Two rams are in pursuit.' To this we may add the brief report made the same day to the Secretary of War by Colonel Ellet: "The rebel gunboats made a stand early this morning onposite Memphis, and opened a vigorous fire upon our gunboats, which was Correspondence New York Herald. Memphis, June 6, 1862. in the leg deprived me of the power to witness the remainder of the fight. The Monarch also passed ahead of our gunboats and went most gallantly into action. She first struck the rebel boat that struck my flag-ship, and sunk the rebel. She was then struck by one of the rebel rams, but not injured. She then pushed on and struck the Beauregard, and burst in her side. Simultaneously the Beauregard was struck in the boiler by a shot from one of our gunboats. The Monarch then pushed at the gunboat Little Rebel, the rebel flagship, and having but little headway, pushed her before her, the rebel commodore and crew escaping. The Monarch then, finding the Beauregard sinking, took her in tow until she sank in shoal water. Then, in compliance with the request of Flag-Officer Davis, Lieutenant-Colonel Ellet dispatched the Monarch and the Switzerland in pursuit of the remaining gunboat and some transports which had escaped the gunboats, and two of my rams have gone below. I cannot too much praise the conduct of the pilots and engineers, and military guard of the Monarch and Queen, the brave conduct of Captain Dryden, or the heroic conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Ellet. I am myself the only person in my fleet who was disabled." |