lowed, the
Mound City leading; but when six hundred yards from the works a
42-pound shell entered her casemate, killing three men in its flight
and then exploding her steam-drum. Of her entire crew of 175, but 3
officers and 22 men escaped uninjured; 82 died from wounds or
scalding, and 43 were either drowned or killed in the water, the
enemy, in this instance, having the inhumanity to fire on those who
were there struggling for their lives. Unappalled by this sickening
catastrophe, the remaining boats pressed on to the attack, the
Conestoga taking hold of the crippled vessel to tow her out of action.
A few minutes later, at a signal from Colonel Fitch, the gunboats
ceased firing, and the troops, advancing, successfully stormed the
battery. The commander of the post was Captain Joseph Fry, formerly a
lieutenant in the United States Navy, who afterward commanded the
filibustering steamer Virginius, and was executed in Cuba, with most
of his crew, when captured by the Spaniards in 1874. There being no
further works up the stream and but one gunboat of the enemy, the
Ponchartrain, this action gave the control of the river to the fleet.

After taking possession of St. Charles, the expedition went on up the
river as far as a point called Crooked Point Cutoff, sixty-three
miles above St. Charles, and one hundred and fifty-one miles from the
mouth of the river. Here it was compelled to turn back by the falling
of the water. The hindrance caused by the low state of the rivers led
Davis to recommend a force of light-draught boats, armed with
howitzers, and protected in their machinery and pilot-houses against
musketry, as essential to control the tributaries of the Mississippi
during the dry season. This was the germ of the light-draught
gunboats, familiarly called "tinclads" from the thinness of their
armor, which in the following season were a usual and active adjunct
to the operations of the heavier vessels.

On the 29th of June, Flag-Officer Davis, who had received that rank
but a week before, went down the river, taking with him the Benton,
Carondelet, Louisville, and St. Louis, with six mortar-boats. Two days
later, July 1st, in the early morning, Farragut's fleet was sighted,
at anchor in the river above Vicksburg. A few hours more and the naval
forces from the upper waters and from the mouth of the Mississippi had
joined hands.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Letter of Colonel Ellet to Lieutenant McGunnegle. United States
Navy.