Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 01.djvu/362

 well directed shot made them turn tail and again pass their friend, who knew what a tartar they had caught! Slowly but surely we gained on the iron-clad, our shot raking him and making dreadful havoc on his crowded decks. The wooden vessels ahead of her kept up a brisk fire with their rifle guns. One of their shot striking our pilot house, drove in some fragments of iron, which mortally wounded both the Yazoo river pilots, and slightly wounded Captain Brown in the head. As one of the pilots was being taken below, he said "keep in the middle of the river." We had decreased our distance from the iron-clad rapidly, and were only a hundred yards astern, our shot still raking him, when he ceased firing and sheered into the bank; our engines were stopped, and ranging up alongside, with the muzzles of our guns touching him, we poured in a broadside of solid shot, when his colors came down. As we had no pilot, Captain Brown considered it unsafe to stop. So on we pushed, driving the two fleeing boats ahead of us, our speed decreasing all the time, owing to shot holes in the smoke stack; but in a few minutes the "Arkansas" glided out into the broad Mississippi, right into the midst of the hostile fleet. The Yankee tars were soon at their guns, and shot and shell came quick and fast upon our single little ship. Enemies being on all sides of us, our guns were blazing destruction and defiance in every direction. Soon three large rams were seen rushing down the river towards us. The "Arkansas" turned and steamed up to meet them; the leading ram had got within a hundred yards of us, when a well aimed shot, fired by the cool and intrepid Lieutenant Gift, from one of the bow guns, struck the ram's boiler and blew him up. The other two rams, fearing a similar fate, turned and fled. Our steam was now so low that we could manœuvre with difficulty. Turning head down stream we made for Farragut's fleet, and gave them the best we had at close quarters; they replied briskly and seldom missed us; two of their eleven-inch solid shot crushed through our sides, doing fearful execution amongst our men. Slowly we went, fighting our way right and left, until presently we had passed our enemies, and were received with loud hurrahs from the Confederate soldiers on the heights of Vicksburg.

With much difficulty the "Arkansas" was rounded to and secured to the bank in front of the city. The iron on her port side, though pierced but twice, had been so often struck with heavy projectiles that it was very much loosened. A few more shots would have caused nearly all of it to have fallen from the vessel. Our