Daily national Republican., 1863-03-03
Capture of the US. Gunboat
Indianola, by the Rebels.
A THRILLINa DESCRIPTION OF HER
PASSAGE OF THE REBEL.
BATTERIES AT vICKs-
BURG GOING DOWN.
HER IEVULNERABILrTY AND SPEED.
LIST OF HER OFFICERS.

'N"hu uPOH our OUTSIDE, unuer tue tcleRTapnlC
head.
A still later dispatch, in another column upon
our inside, announces the additional fact, that
the officers and crew are all captured and now
prisoners at vlcksburg
Commodore Porter states, that this great loss
is the result Of the disobedience of his or lers.
We hope, for the credit of the nation, and the
honor of the Navy, that we shall hear no more
such reports. The fool-hardy conduct of Elicit,
In going below Vicksburg, with the "Queen OF
the West, resulted In the loss of that valuable
gunOoat. Subsequent facts prone that she iOdS
cdpt'Ted h an Rinj,Ted condition. Comman-
der Brown, with the Indianola," followed
the example of Elicit, and sho is captured too,
and with the aid of Elett's own vessel-the
Queen Of the West" Now the rebels have a
formidable Navy, furnished them by our own
diSobeCiient officers, with which TO harass and
annoy our land forces, as well as our floating
bat cries. We are satisfied that this extraor-
dinary state of facts will not be passed over In
silence by the President. thorough lnyesti-
CATION, into all the circumstances attending the
loss Of the "Queen of the West" and the
lndianola," will be ordered. This Is right.
Commodore Porter is directly responsible for
the losses which make up this dlsgraceful re.
cord. II behooves him to make haste and ana
lyAe the whole affair, that the public may have
the facts, and know where the blame rests.
The lndlanOla is one of the finest gunboats
in the squadron, having the double excellence
of inyulnerabillty and speed. She was built
at Cincinnati, Ohio and only Joined the squad
ron about the middle of January. She is a
thorough nondescrlpt in architecture, cmbody-
ing some ideas borrowed from the famous
Monitor, and others entirely original in her.
She sits very low in the water, showing for
ward and amidships but about two feet of hull.
She has an oblong stationary turret forward,
standing athwart ship, and is casemated astern,
having an extra battery sweeping AFT. She is
fitted with both side and screw wheels, worked
by separate sets of engines.
Lieutenant CoDmGnder-Gcorge Brown, COM
mandlng.
Acting Maaer-Joln A. Yates, executive
officer.
EHsignS-Wm. S. Pease and Thos. McElwill.
Acting assistant Surgeon-ITenry Mixer.
Actimg ASSISTANT Paymaster-Thos. Carstairl
Acting CHIEF Eugileer-Thos. Dougherty.
Acting Second AssistGnt Engineers Wallace
b. Hoycy and David Hawksworth
Acting Third AssiStdH EIfJinees-Thomas f.
Scholes, George Wardell, George A. BOIce and
Josephus Blake.
Acting Masters Mdtcs-wnliam S. Ward,
Gardner Fitch, p. II. IIipps and Lewis Kenny.
Acting Gunmer-Joseph f. Keys.
PRots-Wm. Anschudz and Daniel V. Stewart.
The lndianola repeated the experiment of
passing the rebel batteries of Vicksburg on the
the night Of the 18th nst.-about two weeks
after the Queen of the West west down. The
blacklist darkness Obscured all things.
From letter dated Mississippi Squadron
near Vicksburg, February l4th, 1868, we CLEAN
the following thrilling account of the affair:
Last evening was one of the most gloomy
imaginable. In addition to tho absence of
moon and the obscurty Of the gimmer of the
stars by heavy black cloud, the atmosphere
was filled with a smoky haze, rendering the
darkness so profound that nothing Could be
seen upon the river, while from the river II
was barely possible TO distinguish the woody
banks In time TO avoid running upon them.
The Indianola left her anchorage at the
mouth of the YaZoo river ut ten O'Clock. Her
only preparation for the extra perllous journey
she was to make had been the moorlng of a
couple of coal 1ats one on either side OF her
each containing sufficient coal TO bear II well
down in the water, and make double assurance
for the protection of the vessels hull. Even
these were not considered necessary, and proba-
bly, would not have been taken, but that the
coal would probably be needed below Vlcks-
burg
As the Indianola steamed down the river
|an--
cradle noise made by her escape pipes and her
double sets of wheels attracted general attention
to her, and gave sufficient notice to all her
friends of what was mp. Nothing could Re seen
of her; but the noise was sufficient to disclose
her whereabouts, the direction she was running,
and the high rate of speed at which she was
moving. After passing entirely through the
fleet, and on reaching the vicinity of the upper
end of the canal, she shut oil steam entirely
and suffered the current TO bear her along. The
current In hebend In front of Nicksburg sweeps
along at the rate of about four miles an hour.
OF course the boat ran along at no less a rate,
and with the advantage of making not particle
of noise. In this manner she rounded the point,
and was fairly beneath the formidable batteries;
still she drifted along in perfect obsCurty. II
was moment Of most thrilling interest The
tide bore her directly down towards the levee
of the city, and she was approaching II rapidly.
Lights were everywhere numerous along the
sounded AS IL they were close alongside. Still
the yenturesOme boat moved on her way undis-
covered. Was 1t possible that she would get
entirely by without being seen What would
the rebels think should they awake IN the morn
Ing aud find her below them Most Rssuredy
they would imagine that we had completed the
canal, and this was the first fruits OF our work.
Now the very houses of the city became plainly
dlstinguishablei and even the forms of men
upon the river bank could be readily made out
In the glimmering light thrown from the win
dOws and occasional lanterns carried by pedes-
trlans. And yet the boat passed ON her way
Not a sound Issued from that heavy black mass
as 1t drifted laZily along the sire I'm, almost
rubbing the bank, 80 close was II. Even the
breathing Of the men on board was half sup
pressed, as If II could carry Intelligence of their
proximity to the enemy.
But II was not TO be the good fortune, even of
this fortunate vessel, tO wholly eludc detection
The rebels were far too yigilant for that. Every
foot of that leyee was patrOcd by wary sunti-
nrls These could not be blamed for falling to
discover the approach Of VIII II rOud neither be
seen or heard. But lcta laBh of light fall upon
that boat, and how quickly It would he hailed.
And such fash was destined soon to fall upon
it, Just ahead a camp fire wis burning dfnly
upou the bank. As the drifting ship approach