The Shreveport weekly news., 1861-10-21
Particulars Of the Naval Ce0bal
at ~ Had q ~ Possses

Particulars Of the Naval Cenbat
at ~ lad q ~ Possses a
From our New Orleans exchanges
We glea" The following particulars Of
the above engagement
The design. belongs to Commodore
Hoilins. who determined to show the
enemy wha. we could d..
The vessels got together for this
purpose were:
Gnnl,oat McRa., Capt. Hugcr, car
rying six heavy r4acd cannon and
two howitzcrs.
Gunboat Ivy, Capt. Fry. carrying
n colu,nbiad forward and "A ritied gun
aft.
| Ganl,oa, Calhoun, Commodore
Hollins, the aag ship. carrying two
heavy guns.
| Gmnboat Tuscnrora, Lieut.. Beverly
kennon. carrying an eight-inch Co
lumbiad forward and thirty two
FOUNDER aft.
/ Gunbont jackson, carrying two
long range guns.
The Manassas, alias the Turtle,
alias Nondescript. alias Gyascutis,
with steel prov and one nine-inch
columbiad in the how, Capt. Steven
son, commanding.
The cutter Pickcns. Capt. Brush
, wood, carrying on. eight-inch c"lum-
bad and four "a FOUNDER carronasics.
; Besides these there were six fire
ships" prepared. They were old
coal boats. loaded with fat pine, tar,
and rorin, brac.l apart from each
other by timbers and secured together
:. by a chain cable, making a width Of
about half the distance between the
= two shores If the river.
:. The attack WAS to have been mad,
"Wednesday night but for slight &C.
!. cid-nt happening to the machinery ri
the Manassas. which caused her &c
!, put back. From gentleman who
was all through the fight, We Obtain
4 the following particulars.
). The expedition started down thu
river from the torts at VII early hon.
:. Saturday morning. the Hreboat.
4 ahead and til. gunboats following
!, hut I'll. span OF tirrboats could no
b. controlled by the tug that was at
: tempting TO guide il, and very 500,
>. it commenced To slew round, ant
:. then. despite every effort. it ran int
;, the bank.
" The plan Of firing the feet was i'm
=. ,nr,lia,cly abandoned by Comm"d"r
:, Uoliins on the occurrence of this ac
:, cid.nt, and he proceeded down til
,. river with the guuboats, tor the pm
J. 1,osc Of making legitimate atsac
upon them.
I'll. y.ss.ls If tn" enemy fnun
s. living Mt I'll. head Of the pn--rs, wer
~ the steam trisatr Richmond. the sal
:, ing -lo"p-"t-war Ninc.nnr-, 'hc sal
IN ing sloop-M-~ar prblr. and III
n, steam :unioat Water Witch.
u, They were taken completely T.
y. surprise. and had not the steamer
=. had steam TIP a, the time. Pcrlsal
r.. none Of them would have c-cap'-i.-
~ Ar !, war. their firing. manHuvr,.
to and general conduc, showed TIN
\. they ~.r. ,hunder-truck and frigh
in rnrd.
u Tie Manassas led I'll. way ii "'
ri it'll. fleet. sud. steering straight Il
al Oh. of til. -i.."p- of war, ran high ii
H. Ia her. The force of the caHc,i-.i1
ID was tremendous: 80 mich n I" p'
-, the machinery Of the Manassas III
IL OF gear and render l,.r perfectly u-
IN lrss. floating about in an u"manas
t.. able condition on the water.
lSut the ..ne,ny were very quick
making arrangements ia move, al
l,c til. two steamers -acl, t."k one
|t- tn. sloo,,s-uf war ia tow. and start'
mt down til. river. making the best sln.'
on IF which, they wcrr capable.
They defended their retreat wi
&c every gum they could bring TO h.,
ed upon their pursuers, but their al
. was wild and showed that their -,
rir n.,-s were terribly alarmed.
ID" The McRa., Ivy and Tuscaru
Fsc led our feet. and w.r. the boats til
All kept up the fire on the retreaiing w
'rt sells the others of our fleet followed
he down ~ we'll a. they could.
'H. The enemy = vessels took the sou,
go west pass tor their avenue OF e-cal
NV bu, some Of them got aground On I
IN bar there. III. boats Of our H.
IN then came up with them, about
.ht O'Clock \. NJ, and firing now CO
"a meuced in earnest. 1t being ola
- light, they discovered the wenkns
cry Of our feet. and they managed tn
H. guns in farablcr manner.
: For over an hour the duel "
- kept up, but a, the end of that III
lew Commodore Hollins signalled {
boats to withdraw from 80 unequa
,a contest, in which nothing more "
to be gained. At the time Of lsavi
they were taking the men OF
ght sloop-of-war.. that had been run il
ak by the Manassas and she was &
ting in the water in a signifies
manner, 80 that there can be no don