ironclads, the Indianola, which made the same passage under cover
of night without being even hit, although twenty minutes under fire. The
latter vessel took with her two coal barges; and as the experiment had
already been successfully tried of casting coal barges loose above the
batteries, and trusting to the current to carry them down to the Queen
of the West, the question of supplies was looked upon as settled. The
Indianola was very heavily armed, and both the admiral and her commander
thought her capable of meeting any force the enemy could send against
her.

Unfortunately, on the 14th of February, two days only after the
Indianola got down, the Queen of the West was run ashore under a battery
and allowed to fall alive into the hands of the enemy. The latter at
once repaired the prize, and, when ready, started in pursuit of the
Indianola with it and two other steamers; one of which was a ram, the
other a cotton-protected boat filled with riflemen. There was also with
them a tender, which does not appear to have taken part in the fight. On
the night of February 24th the pursuers overtook the Indianola, and a
sharp action ensued; but the strength of the current and her own
unwieldiness placed the United States vessel at a disadvantage, which
her superior armament did not, in the dim light, counterbalance. She was
rammed six or seven times, and, being then in a sinking condition, her
commander ran her on the bank and surrendered. This put an end to
Porter's attempts to secure that part of the river by a detachment. The
prospect, that had been fair enough when the Queen of the West was sent
down, was much marred by the loss of that vessel; and the subsequent
capture of the Indianola transferred so much power into the hands of the
Confederates, that control could only be contested by a force which he
could not then afford to risk.

The up-river squadron having failed to secure the coveted command of the
river, and, besides, transferred to the enemy two vessels which might
become very formidable, Farragut felt that the time had come when he not
only might but ought to move. He was growing more and more restless,
more and more discontented with his own inactivity, when such an
important work was waiting to be done. The news of the Queen of the
West's capture made him still more uneasy; but when that was followed by
the loss of the Indianola, his decision was taken at once. "The time has
come," he said to Captain Jenkins