paddle
steamer of one hundred and sixty tons to go on, did Fitch stop the
chase, which had led him five hundred miles from his usual station.
His efforts and their useful results were cordially acknowledged by
Generals Burnside and Cox, at Cincinnati.

During the siege of Port Hudson the enemy on the west bank of the
Mississippi made several demonstrations against Donaldsonville and
Plaquemine, with a view to disturbing General Banks's communications;
threatening also New Orleans, which was not well prepared for defence.
Farragut stationed the Princess Royal, Commander Woolsey, at
Donaldsonville; the Winona, Lieutenant-Commander Weaver, above at
Plaquemine, and the Kineo, Lieutenant-Commander Watters, some distance
below. The Confederates attacked the fort at Donaldsonville in force
at midnight of June 27th. The Princess Royal kept under way above the
fort, engaging the assailants, the Winona arriving at 4 A.M. and
joining with her. The Kineo also came up from below, but not in time
to take part. The storming party of the enemy succeeded in getting
into the fort, but the supports broke and fled under the fire of the
gunboats, leaving the advance, numbering 120, prisoners in the hands
of the garrison. On the 7th of July, as the Monongahela was coming up
the river, some field batteries of the enemy attacked her, and her
commander, Abner Read, an officer of distinguished activity and
courage, was mortally wounded. Her other loss was 1 killed and 4
wounded; among the latter being Captain Thornton A. Jenkins, on his
way to assume command of the Richmond and of the naval forces off Port
Hudson.

CHAPTER VII.

TEXAS AND THE RED RIVER.

Upon the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson two objects in the
Southwest were presented to the consideration of the Government at
Washington--Mobile and Texas. General Banks, commanding the Department
of the Gulf, was anxious to proceed against the former; a desire fully
shared by the navy, which knew that sooner or later it must be called
upon to attack that seaport, and that each day of delay made its
defences stronger. Considerations of general policy, connected with
the action of France in Mexico and the apparent unfriendly attitude of
the Emperor Napoleon III. toward the United States, decided otherwise.
On the 10th of June, 1863, just a month before the fall of the
strongholds of the Mississippi, the French army entered the city of
Mexico. On the 24th of July General Banks was