Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-06-11

ter did not take part ia the engagement the Ian
casters steaming apparatus being Ogt OF order,
end the Switzerland not coming up until The en- \
eagement Was principally over.
The battle was in three distinct parts. the first
being
THE ENGAGEMENT At Long TAw.
Immediately upon perceiving the movement Of
she rebel feet. own gunboats let 90 their an
choFs and awaited Their approach. lhey came
steadily forward until within the distance of
nile when the Little Rebel fired the first shot IL
vas aimed at the Benton, but passed over and at
least three quarters of mile beyond. showing that
the hostile fleets within easy distance OF each
sther. No reply was made to this shot, nor to
the next, which was also fred by the Little Reb-
FL. The third shot. from the same rebel, was
better aimed and struck the water but short dis
lance from the flag officers tug, Jessie Benton,
~hch stood some distance at the rear OF the flag
ship
The Cairo now opened her stern guns upon the
rebel boat Van Dom, occupying the extreme
leit OF the enemy's foremost line of bat
Gle. The shot was well aimed, but passed over
che rebel. doing no injury. IL was speedily fol
lowed by second shOt which called forth the
IAN Dorn's fire IN response. The cannonading
Immediately became general. The rebel feet
ceased TO advance; but held its position in the
FLYER and blazed away with great vigor. Our
ewn guns were served with equal yigOr, and tor
twenty minutes huge missiles of destruction filled
che air with their hssings as they sped upon their
terrible errand. The vessels of both fleets
manned nearly stationary, and ii Is surprising that
so little damage was done by this terrible hre.
Some Of the enemy's shots cut away portions Of
Che top hamper OF one or two OF our boats, but
not one OF them entered a casemate. or did any
serious injury. And il is probable that our own
shots, during this twenty minutes, did very little
damage to the enemy; at all events none OF his
boats were disabled. This constituted the first
part of the engagement
Perceving that this fighting at "long taw"
vas not likely TO accomplish the end desired in
ihe shortest space OF time, and finding the rebels
not disposed To venture any nearer. flag officer
Davis signaled the fee. TO turn bows on and en-
gage the enemy at short range. At the same
time the rams, which had been waiting impatient
~ for their turn in the battle were directed TO
sail IN" while the guDboats were executing the
desired maneuver The Monarch and Queen i'm
nediatey advanced M their hig hest speed, Eager
tor the fray" The Queen aimed for the General
3eauregard, and would undoubtedly have sent
that craft to the bottom with a single blow, but
ihe Beturegard "shcared or IN time to avoid it,
The Queen kept straight on. passing the Beaure
gard and aiming for the General Price. which
was trying To Get her bow in position 10 strike
the Queen. This the Queen did not let her do:
she struck the Price with all her force in diago
nal d ection taking the rebels wheel house
completely of, wheel and all, and leaving her in
5 sinking condition. The Price fell back, raised
4 flag Of truce. and with It's remaining wheel
made its way with all possible diligence to the
Arkansas shore. where it went down
Ia passing the Beauregard. tie Queen receiv
ed broadside from the latter. two OF the shots
passing through her upper structure. Col. Ellet,
~ Niagara bridge repute, under whose supern
fendeDce the Federal rams were built, was on
Board the Queen. and received a sli Iht wound
from splinters. In the collision with the Price,
che Queen received some damage TO her machine
~, which disabled her for the time being, and
prevented her from taking any further part IN the
engagement. She hoated down with the cur
rent, passing beyond the rebel boats, which were
bow too busiIy engaged IN taking care of them
selves TO paw any particular attention 10 the disa
bled Federal ram. They had already commenced
To fall back, the lines of battle occupied at the
opening of the engagement were broken up,
and every rebel gunbOat was fighting on its
cwn hook. and looking out especially tor number
enc.
The Monarch, in going into the engagement,
made the rebel gunboat Gen Lowell the object OF
Der special regards. The rebel. although king
the effort, did not succeed 80 well as the Beaure-
gard had done, in lodging the attacking ram
the Monarch struck her squarely amidships, cut
tng her almost in two In two minutes after
the collision, the Gen Lowell went to the bottom,
carrying down nearly all on board number of
her officers and crew were picked up 10y the crew
Of a small boat sent by the Monarch for that pur-
pose; all Others we're dtOwned. Probably not less
than fifty or sixty rebels met death in this fearful
collision
The Monarch was not Injured in the least She
row tunred her attention To the Gen. Beauregard.
which had succeeded in lodging the Queen. BE
Ing too near to strike with sufficient force to sink
SINK tie rebel, the Monarch ran along,Ide aud
Throwing her grapnelS aboard. opened her hot
water batteries, pouring in streams Ot boiling hot
water with pressure of 300 pounds 10 the square
inch Many persons must have been fatally
scalded by this terrible engine of death. Speed
Iy, however, the rebel ram Sumter was seen ap-
preaching with all speed To run into the Mon
arch. The latter let 90 Of the Beauregard and
moved out of the way Just in time 10 let the
Sumter run into the Beauregard which she did
leaving the latter in a disabled and sinking cOndi
ton. She hOated down with the current. and
would have speedily gone to the bottom. but upon
striking her flag. the Monarch went To her as
sistance and towed her TO the Arkansas shore.
where she sunk in shallow water. Her officers
and crew were taken as prisoners board the
Monarch. winch then went To the disabled Queen
aud towed her To the shore Thus ended the en-
Gigement of the rams three of:he rebel gunboats
having been sunk, and the rest routed
THE ENGAGEMENT AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
The gunboats, which had withheld their fire
while the buttng WAS in progress, now opened
Their batteries again upOn the remnant of the re
bel feet The rebels replied with spirit. but con
tinuei gradually 20 retreat down the river. while
our gunboats continued steadily advancing Only
few shots had been exchanged when 80
FOUNDER ParrOtt shot struck the Gen. Bragg pass
ing entirely through her near the water line
About the same time she was discoy cred to be on
tire The rebel crew her ashore. where she
vas boarded by our marines, who extlngaisheu
the hre and saved the vessel Her officers and
crew escaped To the woods This was the fourth
rebel craft put out of the way. The other three
sal retaeated down the rives, hard pressed bv
cur sunhoats. The jeff Thompson receivei
several shots and was soon discovered to be on
ire, but whether fired by shells or her own
crew Is not known. The crew ran her ashore
a3id after burning for short time the fire
reached her magazine and she blew up, with j,
Tremendous report filing the air With tmbers
and fragments
The Little Rebel was also shot through her
bull. and commenced sinking. Can't Montgom-
e.y. the rebel tag officer ran her on the Arkan-
sps shore and took 10 the woods, followed by his
officers and crew
Only two boats of the rebel feet now remained
1.-The Sumter and the Van Dorm. Tie former.
without receiving any injury, run ashore AMI
abandoned by her officers aud crew. who. ike the