The Burlington weekly hawk-eye., 1863-02-14
Rspoys Of Col. Ellse, q Ran OueSn ~
~ ite q tAo west lg adj m qrfS

1WAsHIEGrox Feb. l1..-Admlrsl Porter in
terms Of commendation communicates. q the
Navy Department the report Of Col Rnet com-
mandipg the Ram Queen Of the West, giving
sn account of heri passage Of the batteries st
Vicksburg. The following is the rsport:1a a31
ssea o. S. SrBAA RAN, QUEEM o. fHr WIsrl
ssW 81 Below VlcKsBuRa, Feb. ID, ls4s (
-ADNIRAL-tn compliance with your instruc-
tieas started on the Ram Queen of the West
athalf past fonr, 70 pass the batteries at Vicks.
burg and sinki the rebel steamer lying before
that city. s5a.4s gsit bae4 "a isf,sts,ff efli
-ldiscovered Immediately On stae,inx that The
hange of the wheel from its former poeition 70
the narrow space behind ths Queen's bulwsrks
did not permit the boat 70 bs handled with suia.
cisnt accuracy. An hourvor more was spsnt ip
rsarranging the appsratus, and when we round-
ed the point the sun had risen and any adyan-.
tage which would have resulted from darkensss
wasi!ost to U.s. e,..,sa fss., sGg
The Rebels opened heavy 6ss, but 10 were
only atruck three times bsfore reaching the
steamer. She wss lying in nearly The came po-
sition that the Arkansas did, when Gen Ellet
ran the Queen into her on . forner occssion.-.
The same causes which saved the, Arkansss then
saved the City Of Vicksbnrg this morning.
Her position was such that ii W had run OBJ
iquely into her % We came down the bow of
the Queen would have inevitably glanced. We
were compelled to round to in order to strike,
the consequences was that At the very moment
Of collision, the current being very rapid at this
point, the s,earn of the Qceen acting on her
bow as pivot swingiag around 90 rapidly that
nearly all her momentum was lost. q.
] had anticipated thie and therefore caused
the stsrboard gun to so shotted with three of
these incendiary projectiles as recommended
in your order, as eswung round, sent Camp
bell there for the purpose Of arranging this gun.
AGA pound shell crushed the barricade just be.
fore We received the shot but be did not falter.
The discharge took place ct the right moment,
and soon the rebel steamer was In flames, which
they subsequently succeeded in extinguishing -
At this moment one OF the enemy's shells Get
cotton on fire near the starbosrd wheel, while
the discharge ofguns ignitsd that portion which
was on the bow the flames soon spread rapidly
and the emoke making its way inls the engine
room, suffocated the engineers ~ f,f'
I saw that if l attempted to run into the city
of Vicksburg again my boat would certainly BE-
burnt ordered her to bs headed down stream
and ordered every man to extinguish the flames.
After much exsrtion they finally put the fire
ost BY cutting loose the burning bales. The ene~
my Of course were not idle and We were struck
twelve times, and although the cabin door wa
knocked off no material injury to the boat or
any of those on board was inflicted. ris4
About two regiments Of rebel sharpshooters,
il rife pits, kept up continual fire. but did no
damsge. The Queen vas struck twice in the
hull, out above water line. One of our guns
WAS dismounted and ruined. $500 +,
I can only speak in the highest terms Of the
conduct of every man on board, all of whom
behaved With COOL and determined courage.
remain very respectfully,
CHAs. RIvERs ELLlr,
-.stIs Commanding Ram Flotiila
40 D. D. Porter, Acting Rear Admiral