. In
February the Federal gunboat Queen of the West, armed with a
thirty-pound Parrott and five field guns, ran the batteries at Vicksburg
and caused much alarm on the river below. The tow-boat Webb, before
mentioned, had powerful machinery and was very fast, and I determined to
use her as a ram and attempt the destruction of the Queen. A
thirty-two-pounder, rifled and banded, was mounted forward, some cotton
bales stuffed around her boilers, and a volunteer crew organized.
Pending these preparations I took steamer at Alexandria and went down to
Fort De Russy, and thence to Butte a la Rose, which at this season could
only be reached by river. The little garrison of sixty men, with their
two twenty-fours, had just before driven off some gunboats, attempting
to ascend the Atchafalaya from Berwick's Bay. Complimenting them on
their success and warning them of the presence of the Queen in our
waters, I turned back, hoping to reach De Russy; but at Simmsport, on
the west bank of the Atchafalaya, a mile or two below the point at which
it leaves the Red, I learned that the Federal boat had passed up the
latter river, followed by one of our small steamers captured on the
Mississippi. Accompanied by Major Levy, an officer of capacity and
experience, I took horse and rode across country to De Russy, thirty
miles.

It was the 14th of February, a cold, rainy day; and as we emerged from
the swamps of Deglaize on to the prairie of Avoyelles, the rain changed
to sleet and hail, with a fierce north wind. Occasional gusts were so
sharp that our cattle refused to face them and compelled us to halt.
Suddenly, reports of heavy guns came from the direction of De Russy,
five miles away. Spurring our unwilling horses through the storm, we
reached the river as night fell, and saw the Queen of the West lying
against the opposite shore, enveloped in steam. A boat was manned and
sent over to take possession. A wounded officer, with a surgeon in
charge, and four men, were found on board. The remainder of the crew had
passed through the forest to the captured steamer below, embarked, and
made off down river. A shot from De Russy had cut a steam pipe and the
tiller rope, but in other respects the Queen was not materially injured.
She was an ordinary river steamer, with her bow strengthened for
ramming. A heavy bulwark for protection against sharp-shooters, and with
embrasures for field guns, surrounded her upper deck.

Pushing on to Alexandria, I