Ellet's brother Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet newly in command took his Federal rams, now referred to as the Mississippi Marine Brigade, were a part of the Western Flotilla in the charge of Charles Henry Davis. The flotilla moved downstream from Memphis towards the besieged Vicksburg, Mississippi on 25 June, where they intended to run its batteries, link up with Farragut, and attack Vicksburg on 28 June. Ellet was on his flagship "Monarch", and had with him "Lancaster", "Mingo", "Lioness", and "Dick Fulton". The rams had 300 hand-picked sharpshooters with them from the 53rd Illinois Infantry Regiment, an observer described the fleet as "dark, silent, and sinister".