The Des Arc weekly citizen., 1861-10-23
The Late Naval Engagement below
 New Orleans.

head of the Passes, below New Orleans. The
 following from the New Orleans Crescent of
 the 14th, gives full account of the fight. | The following vessels constituted the force engaged, and the most of them were old two-
 boats, razeed and shaved down into gun-boats: | The "Manassas,o the iron clad marine bat
 tering ram built by private parties as an ex- | pertinent, was armed with one sixty four pound Dahlgren gun, and was commanded by
 Lieut.. Marley, of the cRae The Calhoun, l Holins' flag ship, carrying one 24-pounder
 ano two brass 10-pound Dahlgrens The Tus-
 carora, Lieut.. Beverly Kennon, commanding,
 carrying one 8-inch columbiad and one 32-
 pound rihed cannon. The Ivy, Capt. Fry, carrying one 8-inch columbiad and one 32- pound rifled cannon. The Jackson, carrying two S-inch coumbiads. The Confederate
 steamer McRae, Capt. Huger, armed with one 1 64-pound pivot gun. four S-inch columbads and one 24-pound rided gun. A launch, hav- 1 ing on board one 24-pound brass ri1ed piece and two fire barges, was also along. This was the whole force, and including the crews of all the boats, the number of men engaged in the expedition was about 3e0, all told. The boats left the city on Wednesday after noon and arrived, without accident, at the forts that night, where they lay all Thursday and Friday, getting ready. It was, at first, the intention to have made the attack on Thursday night, but the fog was too thick,
 and it was deferred.
 On Friday night, about I2 o'clock, the little fleet left the forts in the following order: The Manassas leading the way, with orders to go right in among the fleet and run down the first vessel she could get at, sending up rocket at the instant she made an attack. Then came the Tuscarora, and the towboat Watson with the fire barges in tow; these had orders to set fire to the barges the moment they saw the rocket from the Manassas. After these were
 the Calhoun. Ivy, McRae and Jackson, and
 last was the launch, bringing up the rear. The towboat Watson was under the command of Lieut. Avette.
 1 The night was intensely dark, and it was al- most impossible to see twenty wards ahead. The Manassas put on heavy head of steam
 and dashed on in the direction where it was thought the enemy were lying. Suddenly a l large ship was discovered only about a length
 ahead, and before Lieut.. Marley could have
 time to fire the signal rocket, into her they
 went, with an awful crash. An appalling
 shriek was heard on board of the doomed
 ship, and the iron steamer was borne off by
 the current, and found herself in the midst of
 the enemy's fleet. The signal rocket was fired
 the enemy beat to quarters, and a perfect storm
 of iron hail was falling upon and around the
 Manassas, the machinery of which, it was
 soon discovered by her commander, had in some manner become deranged. This was most inopportune and perilous and the Rich
 mond, soon observing that something was
 wrong, began playing upon her with all the
 power of her guns. Lieut.. Warley, found that
 only one engine would work, and with this he began working his way out of reach, towards shore; but the shot fell thich and fast around
 and upon the told turtle," and Ter fate seem-
 ed hanging on hair, when the brave little Tuscarora and the Watson came up with the
 five barges on fire, and soon cut them adrift on | the stream.
 The Manassas had, no doubt, pretty badly
 scared the Yankees; but they might have re-
 covered from that, and showed Com Rollins
 a hard fight but for the barges; these caused
 a regular stampede to take place. and, unfor- tunately for our side, it was not expected,
 and consequently they got long start in the
 race which was to follow.
 Com. Rollins did not know what had been the result of the firing, neither did the rest of the commanding officers It was too dark to
 make observations, and they did not like to fisk signals. So daylight was waited for im- patiently. It came at last, and presented the following picture: The enemy, some miles down, heeling it for the open sea by way of the Southwest Pass. with one of their ships sunk on the middle ground. The Manassas close in shore, among the willows, concealed as we'll as possible; the Watson and the Tus- carora aground on the bank, not far off. The Tuscarora was soon pulled off by the rest, and the fleet commenced pursuit of the retreat ing enemy. They soon came within range, and heavy eannonade began. The sunken ship seemed to be in in a very bad fix, as she was nearly on her beam ends. The Richmond drew up on the outside and protected her with her full broadside. The other vessels of the enemy soon got aground but near by, and in a great measure protected also by the Rich mons guns. Our fleet pitched shot and shell into them with vengeance, and our inform ant tells us that he saw at least two shots hit the Richmond, which were fired from the Tus- carora, and two or three from the Ivy. The shots from the Yankees were all badly aimed, and not one touched any of our vessels, though over five hundred passed all around them. Af- ter continuing the cannonade until about 8 o'clock, Com. Rollins concluded that the sport did not pay for the powder, and feeling that he had won glory enough for one day, and that the enemy were in fix that it would take them sometime to get out of, he ordered his fleet back to town. On their way up they came across the Yankee tender schooner Jo- seph E. Toons, loaded with coal, deserted, and he captured and brought her along. All the vessels arrived at the city yesterday morn- ing.
 The Manassas struck the vessel which she ran into Git is not exactly known whether she was the Vipcennes or Prebe) near the bow, and cut into her upwards of twenty feet, if we may judge from the facts that splinters, copper and nails, were found in the cracks of the iron on her sides to at least that distance She drew off from the collision without trouble,